Thinking of Purchasing an iPhone

[nmccready]

I was looking at some of the plans available and I have a few of questions about them...

Do the family plan prices include two phones already? They looked a little expensive. Does a family plan mean shared minutes?

Why would you pay extra for a texting plan when you already have an unlimited data plan? Aren't there online services that provide unlimited sending and receiving of text messages for free? Or maybe even an iPhone App that can do this?

How does jailbreaking an iPhone work? How can you dodge the AT&T contract? Is there any risk involved with this process?


Thanks.

[nmccready]

bump.

[Collin Bl]

My solution was to buy my iPhone 3G without a plan swap in the SIM card out of my Nokia which was on GSM network and use it without a data plan and rely on Wifi for when i needed to be on line. 12 months later with a "hand held computer" with built in phone and a MobileMe account i am real happy with my decision.

[chaunce322]

I was looking at some of the plans available and I have a few of questions about them...

Do the family plan prices include two phones already? They looked a little expensive. Does a family plan mean shared minutes?

Generally, a family plan has a main user with each additional user costing a minimum fee. For example, I believe the least expensive AT&T family plan is $70/month for the main user, and $10/month for each additional user. At the time you sign up for this, you will be eligible for discount pricing on phones. I'm sure there are some phones that fall into the "free" category, but the iPhone is not one of them.

In addition, you'll be required to pay for the iPhone data plan, which I believe is $30/month for the 3G units.

Why would you pay extra for a texting plan when you already have an unlimited data plan? Aren't there online services that provide unlimited sending and receiving of text messages for free? Or maybe even an iPhone App that can do this?

Texting is not considered to be part of the data plan, and therefore costs extra. Yes, there are online services that provide this, but they are not as fluidly integrated into the iPhone interface. There are also apps, but most of them are not free, so you'll need to weigh which is more cost beneficial to you.

How does jailbreaking an iPhone work? How can you dodge the AT&T contract? Is there any risk involved with this process?

There are a ton of forums that discuss this, so I won't go into the details. And yes, of course there is risk involved. If you don't know what you're doing, you could "brick" your phone rendering it unusable.

Sean

[nmccready]

Generally, a family plan has a main user with each additional user costing a minimum fee. For example, I believe the least expensive AT&T family plan is $70/month for the main user, and $10/month for each additional user. At the time you sign up for this, you will be eligible for discount pricing on phones. I'm sure there are some phones that fall into the "free" category, but the iPhone is not one of them.

In addition, you'll be required to pay for the iPhone data plan, which I believe is $30/month for the 3G units.

So I could just buy an AT&T plan and then choose the iPhone as my phone and it could be cheaper than going to Apple for an iPhone? Are you saying it costs more per month for the 3G iPhone than the regular one?

Also, does the iPhone come with some sort of protective case/carrier or do I need to buy that separately? If so, what do you recommend?

[nmccready]

bump for unanswered questions, meant more per month for 3GS

[Eric559]

Original iPhone data plan costs $20 which includes a certain amount of text/pic messages I believe.

iPhone 3g and 3GS data plan costs $30 which does not included any text/pic messages.

You can have all your questions answered instantly if you walk into a ATT store or give them a call...