Does anyone know if you have to pay monthly for an iPhone's internet if you're using a wireless internet thing at your house?

Also, I've checked the Apple Store and the iPod Touch and iPhone cost the same thing. Why is this?

Yes, on AT&T I have to pay for 200mB of data every month even though I primarily use my Wi-Fi

Most if not all smart phones require a monthly data plan.

Yes, yes they do.

I'm glad only pay $25 for unlimited data and messaging. My data is capped at 2.5 gigs but I NEVER use that much. I use wifi about 85% of the time.

Alright, what about an iPod Touch? Would that cost monthly too for my own wireless internet? Also, I was talking about internet... not texting and calling.

No. Itouches can only use WiFi anyways.

Alright, thanks. Question answered, I think. :thumbsup:

Do you mean to say that there was no option at AT&T to get the iPhone without any data plan, or are you actually being charged extra for internet access over wi-fi?

I travel overseas frequently and usually disable the 3G, but enable wi-fi and I don't get charged any roaming data fees.

Good question. I need to know this as well.

You don't get charged anything as long as you use WiFi. But either way, there is a monthly data plan for every smart phone. Mine is a 2 gb limit but since I use wifi all the time, I never actually reach that limit.

So, without any monthly data plan, you can't download anything or something?

I pay $9.95 for my mobile plan and get 500mb here in Australia.

Well either way you are forced to have a data plan with any phone company if you have a smart phone with them. :shrug:
If you are talking about downloading with an itouch, that's a whole different story since it is not a phone.

Okay, so with an iTouch, you don't need to pay anything monthly and you can still have internet/download access and everything (except calling and stuff)?

iPhone: If you buy one and have it activated, you need a data plan. It's required. It's a phone so you have to have minutes as well.
iPod: It accesses wifi so long as it's available. Free.

How is 2.5 gigs "unlimited" data?

Yes. Everything is free as long as you are connected to WiFi. Of course you can't call with an itouch though.

:D It's how they get you. I can still use my data but it is heavily bogged down. All plans (except sprint) do it.

Okay, good. Looks like I'll be getting an iTouch. Thank you for the quick responses. :toughninja:

I believe what Suffca is saying is that you can't activate the iPhone unless you sign up for a monthly data plan. (at least the smallest plan)

I'm pretty sure every carrier in the US forces you to have a data plan with any smart phone you activate. Verizon's for instance costs me an extra $30 a month per phone.

^ Yup.

When I used my iPhone in the U.S. I initially had a grandfathered unlimited data plan (one that was actually "unlimited" rather than some ambiguous amount that wasn't technically anywhere close to "unlimited") for $30, but then decided because I barely used over 100MB a month max, just downgraded to a $15/200MB plan.

The iPhone will still work if you set it to Wi-Fi and used it for the purposes of, I dunno, Google Voice or Skype, but how you attain the iPhone is relevant too (i.e. subsidized or otherwise), and as soon as you try to activate it on a wireless carrier's network they will require a data plan, on top of the other stuff.

I have an iPhone without a data plan, but it involves employing a workaround.

I don't think this is workable (yet) for the iPhone 4 or 4S....if you can get an iPhone 3GS or earlier model, it should work.

You can create a "pre-paid" GoPhone (AT&T) iPhone by doing the following:

1. Get any cheap GoPhone. Activate it.

2. Get a compatible iPhone. Jailbreak it.

3. Take the GoPhone SIM to an AT&T store and get them to transfer its contents to a new SIM card (which will be a standard AT&T SIM [blue] and not the proprietary GoPhone AT&T SIM [orange]).

* The AT&T rep will likely ask why you need this done. The "instructions" advise just telling them you want to transfer the account data on the SIM to a different GoPhone. As the the SIM is locked to the phone, copying the data to a new SIM is the only way to do it. They should not give a big fuss over this. I figure in the worst case, you might have to hunt around for a tech who'll do the deed on the down-low for an extra $20 slid under the table. :ninja: More likely than not, they just won't care as they are probably on commission anyway and only get paid if they sell something. Maybe buy a protective case from them?

4. Put the AT&T SIM into the iPhone. Now you have phone service. If you want a data plan, you can add one via GoPhone, but it won't be required for the phone to work. The only drawback is that your ability to send pics or sounds via SMS will not work without a data plan. This is not an issue if you restrict sending pics/sounds to when you have WiFi access. Regular phone and text-only messaging service will work 100% normally without a data plan.

* Normally, with GoPhone, SMS will send/receive limited video/pictures and sounds without a data plan because of how newer cell phones work. "Smart phones" utilize the data network for this and thus require a data plan. Not having a data plan means if you want to sent sounds/pics/video, you must e-mail it over Wi-Fi. This is an issue inherent to "smart phones" versus regular cell phones.

When they find a way to make this trick work on an iPhone 4 or 4S, I plan to try and upgrade from my 3GS. :hubbahubba:

I wish this efforts wasn't needed, but now I have an iPhone that costs just over $15/month to own. AT&T (and Verizon now) is losing money by not making the iPhone more available to the pre-paid cellular market.

I pay ￡15 for unlimited texts, internet and 100 minutes.
Its a good deal I think since my internet usage cannot be reach by the months end by one person and the text limit is something like 15,000, the minutes are low but I don't call people unless its urgent.
I also have a function on my phone that allows me access to any Wi-Fi without needing a password or anything unlike all my friends more modern phones, mine can almost out perform theirs too and it was Motorola's first Android

Here if you don't pay for internet you can only use wifi (duh) on smartphones.