Help an iPhone 3G user moving to Ireland for one year

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Hello, all. My wife and I are moving to Dublin in a little less than a month so that my wife can earn a Masters from Trinity College. We will live there for 12 to 13 months.

We've been AT&T users for five years and upgraded to iPhones last summer. As you might expect, we've become pretty attached to our phones and would like to use the Wi-Fi feature overseas (as well as Skype for international calls, of course). However, we do not want to stay with AT&T the next 12 months (prolonged international AT&T usage = bad idea), and therefore plan on getting some cheap phones in Dublin from a local provider so that my wife and I can communicate when we're apart.

This is where you come in. What can we do to cut ties with AT&T but continue Wi-Fi usage of our iPhones? I did some research this morning and read several accounts of individuals canceling AT&T service, removing the SIM card and using their iPhone like an iTouch without issue. However, other accounts mentioned that AT&T can disconnect Wi-Fi when customers cancel service--not sure how that's possible, but there you have it.

On another note, do you know of a way to suspend AT&T service for one year so that we don't need to pay monthly bills but also don't need to pay the account cancellation fee? Probably a long shot, but it would be the most convenient option.

I thought I would ask around here before making the call to AT&T and showing some CSR all of my cards. Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated!
 
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This is the first i have heard of them being able to disable WiFi on someone's device. If your contract hasn't expired, they can charge you early termination fees, but I don't think they can disable your handset.
 
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chas_m

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However, other accounts mentioned that AT&T can disconnect Wi-Fi when customers cancel service--not sure how that's possible, but there you have it.

That utter and total BS. Whoever said that was confused and probably meant 3G.

On another note, do you know of a way to suspend AT&T service for one year so that we don't need to pay monthly bills but also don't need to pay the account cancellation fee? Probably a long shot, but it would be the most convenient option.

Call AT&T or visit a CORPORATE AT&T outlet and talk to them about it. Unless you're under contract, they'll probably be quite flexible (and may be flexible anyway).

What you really want to do is unlock the iPhone, keep the AT&T sim (but suspending your normal plan if possible), get an Irish SIM while you're there and use that on a Pay-As-You-Go basis.

That's basically what I did when I moved to Canada, but I was off-contract with AT&T by that point.
 

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