iPhone THE MISSING MANUAL - Cdn.oreilly.com

And that’s the ball game. You now arrive on the main iTunes screen, with the
six iPhone tabs across the top: Music, Podcasts, Videos, and so on. Now you
can specify what you want copied onto the phone. Turn to Chapter 11 for
details.
Pay-As-You-Go Plans
Most people assume that a two-year AT&T commitment is required, possibly
because Apple says, “two-year AT&T commitment required.”That’s not technically
true, however.
If you enter 999-99-9999 as your Social Security number and click Continue,
you’ll fail the credit check. And what happens to people who fail the credit
check?
They’re offered the chance to sign up for one of AT&T’s GoPhone plans. These
are prepaid plans, intended for people with poor credit (or a fear of commitment).
You pay for each month’s service in advance, and it’s very expensive:
$60 a month buys you only 300 minutes, for example.
But here’s the thing: There’s no two-year commitment, no deposit, no contract.
You can stop paying at any time without having to pay the usual $175
early-termination fee.
In fact, if you remove the SIM card at that point, the Wi-Fi and iPod features
of the iPhone still work. If you really want an Internet terminal/iPod that can’t
make phone calls, or if you can afford an iPhone but not an AT&T service plan,
well, here’s your chance.
Clearly, this business about using the iPhone without an aT&T plan is something of
a loophole—and apple/aT&T may eventually close it. Caveat hacker.
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