switch original iphone to a go plan?

[bridie43]

I'm unable to pay my wireless bill and it will affect myself, my husband and my two teenagers. I would just not care, not pay it and put us all on a pay as you go plan BUT my 13 yr old has an iPhone she got from her dad last year. Does anyone know how I can convert her iPHone to a pay as you go without losing internet? Is it as simple as inputting the pay as you go sim card into it or is there another step to it?

She has the original iPhone, not the new 3G one.

Thanks!

[lrprn]

A question for you, Bridie.....are you paying your credit cards instead of the wireless bill? If you are and you plan to file soon, then it would make more sense to pay the wireless bill instead.

One issue with converting to pay as you go is that your provider may not have this option. Have you investigated that yet?

Unless your current wireless plan specifically forbids it or the provider says you have to stick to your current wireless plan until it's completed, then your daughter's iPhone along with the remaining family cell phones should be able to be converted to pay as you go *IF* your wireless provider allows it. A lot depends on how long you have left on your current wireless contract.

[bridie43]

A question for you, Bridie.....are you paying your credit cards instead of the wireless bill? If you are and you plan to file soon, then it would make more sense to pay the wireless bill instead.

One issue with converting to pay as you go is that your provider may not have this option. Have you investigated that yet?

Unless your current wireless plan specifically forbids it or the provider says you have to stick to your current wireless plan until it's completed, then your daughter's iPhone along with the remaining family cell phones should be able to be converted to pay as you go *IF* your wireless provider allows it. A lot depends on how long you have left on your current wireless contract.

I'm not paying any credit cards. I was able to pay the wireless bills until this month. The iPhone is with ATT Cingular and I wanted to put it on a go-phone simcard. Are you saying that if I don't pay my ATT wireless bill then I can't get the ATT Go-Phone? If that is the case I guess I'll have to sell the phone and put her on another pay as you go plan.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Bridle: Here is my take on this. What do you ALL need most? A phone for family contact, right? I had a phone plan. Like $400 a month in charges? I'm sorry about the iPhone, but AT&T (not my favorite company) is the only provider, I understand. So the child may have to give it up. You are in healing mode. Get a new mindset as to what is need and what is want (not a sermon). We have purchased cheap Boost phones. Boost is supported by Nextel. We really only needed them for emergencies, and the wonderful features of the "peeper" the radio thing. You can at no charge connect to other "peepers". Each phone has to be prepaid, either by a phone card (we prefer) or you can do this over the phone with a CC. I do not but did once due to an emergency.

The neat thing about this is, NO BILL. Then, it functions well. Mrs. and I can "peep" each other across the U.S. with not additional charge. Twenty bucks get us about a month, but we don't use the phone part much. It is ten cents a minute.

I'm sorry about the Internet and texting, but it is also available for money. Have the child pay for it if he/she wants it. You are now in a "new start". Things must be reevaluate. Just my opinion. 'Hub

[bridie43]

Thanks Hub. We are definitely reevaluating things over here! I'm just trying to keep some type of service though in the least costly manner. The push to talk unfortunately wouldn't work for us since I'm in meetings all day long and the only way I know my kids are ok during the day (especially in the summertime) is that they text me where they are and where they're going. If we had to actually talk I'd be outside of my meetings most of the time.

That being said, if I don't pay the ATT bill, is it true that I can't even sell the phone since they'd lock it up for lack of payment? Does anyone have experience in this? I'd hate to have to buy all new phones since that would obviously defeat the purpose.

[bkmaggster]

Bridie, I believe you can convert the phone to pay-as-you-go with an at&t prepaid sim. I've read blogs about doing it, you should be able to google and get the info rather quickly. I plan on getting a refurbed one and doing pay-as-you-go, as I need internet service to figure out bus schedules once I lose my car.

Also - they won't lock up your phone, just the sim card, for non-payment.

[JayJay]

I seriously doubt you could convert an iphone as it's seen as a luxury item and not a convenience/emergency item. This is just my opinion though.

[DebtEnder]

All you need is a sim card registered to a prepaid number. It's been awhile since I worked for Cingular so my info is a bit outdated but still mostly valid from recent consumer level experience. The iphones were not out so I don't know if any sort of data service would be available and if so how much it might cost. This is something an agent in theory could tell you. In practice he will probably be wrong

If you have a contract and do not pay it then they will cancel service and charge you a termination fee. This varies per market but could be 150-240 dollars. Sometimes less but that's only a few areas back when I was there. They do not ask for the phones back and returning the phones does not waive this termination charge. However if your filing BK then you can list them as part of it and ignore the charge and otherwise keep the phone.

The trick is to make sure you do the AT&t go phone. Try to stick with a corp store and not a reseller. Sometimes the resellers are not setting up true AT&T accounts but a sub account in a master account for the reseller and then creates ALL kinds of issues.

[BKOnce]

I have T-Mobile, Pay-As-U-Go plan on any as many UNLOCKED phone I like to use & switch same sim card to different phones I like to switch, 1st time adds $100 to sim card to become Gold Member Rewards status, then every minute call = 16 cents, and your minutes won't expire 1 year later. Every time minutes run out, just adds more money to that same sim, and your new date will be another year after that add date, now how cool is that!???

[Runnin on empty]

Bridie, I have to agree with hub on this one. Not only are you in reevaluate and heal mode, but this is a perfect learning opportunity for your daughter. I don't know how much she knows of your fiscal situation, but this would be a good chance to explain to her just how expensive things are. It is our (America's) appetite for every manner of gadget, gizmo and doodad that has helped put us where we are. If she wants to keep the iPhone, she should pay for it. There's nothing wrong with a teenager having a cell phone, but does she need one that has the Internet and unlimited texting? I would check into getting her another AT&T phone that does normal calling & texting. She can still use the iPhone as an iPod Touch.

As someone who owns an iPhone 3G (wife has my old 1st gen iPhone), I can say that yes, you can convert it to a pay as you go, but I believe it is even more expensive. Good luck either way.