Enough: Living without data on the iPhone
But I did get the iPhone for free, when a friend updated his 1G to the 2G. He was going to fix the screen, but the cost to fix the the 1G iPhone screen is pretty close to just getting a fresh one from Apple. With a renewal of his contract he got the 2G from Apple and giving him a chance to hand down his 1G to me without a contract attached to it. It’s great because I get to use the iPhone for Remote around the house to control my iTunes and AppleTV, and use the best cellphone on the planet.
I work from home and really don’t need a data plan or the cost of data every month, but it’s nice to have a great phone that has all these great uses of app’s that need internet when I’m in range of a WIFI connection, at home or about town.
To get the iPhone up and running, all I needed to do was slip my SIM card in it from my ATT Razr and most importantly, call ATT’s International Customer Service (though I think any rep can do this, now) and request that they turn off the data access. They’ll do this when you travel so that you won’t incur roaming charges for the data.
As with any mobile service provider’s customer service, ATT’s needs to be coerced into providing you the service according to their own service agreements with you. When they recognized that I was using an iPhone and not the Razr, a few reps had told me I had to have a data plan under the agreement with Apple, which I reminded them that I didn’t have since there had been no transaction with Apple. After some terse interaction with a really aggressive rep, she complied with leaving data off and said it may come under review and be added without my knowledge at a later date.
They never did add data back on, but I do keep an eye on the little data icon on the topleft of the iPhone when I know I don’t have Wifi Access to make sure I won’t be getting a larger than anticipated bill from ATT.
I don’t really use Wifi that much around town, but it is a bonus, when I can login to a network at a friends or the Apple Store, or a Starbucks. The reality is, that I am so connected at home, I usually leave the house not wanting to be connected for a few hours.
Despite the crack on the screen, this iPhone 1G completely functional, and I rarely have a problem seeing around the crack. The benefits over getting a Touch (for instance), is the iPhone was free from my buddy and I don’t have to pay for data, and I have an insanely great cellphone.
(Submitted by Steve Hokenson)
Thanks Steve for submitting this. I am sure a few people will be grateful for it.
For those new here, this post is part of a series called Enough – Folks enjoying the technology they have because it is enough for their needs.
