AT&T to reportedly add Apple's iPhone to GoPhone prepaid lineup

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
The nation's second-largest carrier AT&T will reportedly add Apple's iPhone to the list of devices customers can buy through its GoPhone prepaid brand on Friday, with the handset coming alongside the activation of 4G LTE and HSPA+ support for the service.

GoPhone


According to MacRumors, the addition of the iPhone to GoPhone's lineup is part of a larger expansion of services set to take place on Friday, as AT&T will start offering prepaid customers access to its LTE and HSPA+ data network for the first time.

While iPhone owners have been able to use the prepaid service for some time, the terms never allowed for data network access, rendering many of the Apple handset's capabilities useless.

Pricing will be arranged in three separate packages. At the top is a $65 per month plan which comes with unlimited calling and 1 gigabyte of data, while both the $50 and $25 monthly voice plans require an add-on fee for data.

Existing iPhone owners using GoPhone will automatically be updated with data access on June 21, though they have the option to manually upgrade to the new service.

The news comes amidst a strong push for the iPhone from other U.S. prepaid carriers like Virgin Mobile, which last week debuted a 15 percent discount for iPhone 5 purchases made through its website. Regional carrier Cricket Wireless helped raise the handset's marketshare after kicking off sales last year, while a rumored deal with Boost Mobile is said to be in the works.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member


    There are so many rumours about this phone that it must be true.  Maybe we should start thinking about what they will call it? 


     


    iPhone junior?


    iPhone x?


    iPhoneCheapo?


    iPhoneNotasGoodEh?

  • Reply 2 of 20
    cash907cash907 Posts: 893member


    LOL. 65 bucks for one gig of data? LOL.


     


    I pay 45 bucks and get 5 gigs at 4G HSPA+ and unlimited at half that afterwards with StraightTalk. But hey, you do you, AT&T, you do you bro.

     

  • Reply 3 of 20
    chungstchungst Posts: 5member
    "The news comes amidst a strong push for the iPhone from other U.S. prepaid carriers like Virgin Mobile, which last week debuted a 15 percent discount for iPhone 5 purchases made through its website."

    The last time I checked, VM wasn't offering the iPhone 5, much less a 15% discount on said device.

    Cheers.
  • Reply 4 of 20
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    gazoobee wrote: »
    There are so many rumours about this phone that it must be true.  Maybe we should start thinking about what they will call it? 

    iPhone junior?
    iPhone x?
    iPhoneCheapo?
    iPhoneNotasGoodEh?

    Which article did you read?
  • Reply 5 of 20
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    cash907 wrote: »
    LOL. 65 bucks for one gig of data? LOL.

    I pay 45 bucks and get 5 gigs at 4G HSPA+ and unlimited at half that afterwards with StraightTalk. But hey, you do you, AT&T, you do you bro.

     

    Only 5 GB? I pay $45 for unlimited data, voice, and text at Straight Talk.
  • Reply 6 of 20
    pk22901pk22901 Posts: 153member
    So what? AT&T and Verizon are still government supported bandits sucking our $$$$ s away.

    Good news: Check T'Mobile's family rate LAN for 5 phones. Unlimited text, voice, and 500 MB data for $22/month/smartphone (including iPhone). That's $120/month total vs ATTs $300 ! And Verizon is worse!

    What's going on? Well, watch out AT&T and Verizon! You're arrogant pricing is soon to die.

    Bad News: T'Mobile's network is sparse and in some parts, their plan is not available or too weak. But they're building their network out and all we need to do is patient, alert, and spring when the buildout makes it a feasible choice in our locale.

    Alert in Cville, VA...
  • Reply 7 of 20
    alphafoxalphafox Posts: 132member
    I pay $55 per line for unlimited voice / txt and 10gb data pool on 5 lines with att and a corporate discount. ;)
  • Reply 8 of 20
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post

    There are so many rumours about this phone that it must be true.  Maybe we should start thinking about what they will call it? 


     


    iPhone junior?


    iPhone x?


    iPhoneCheapo?


    iPhoneNotasGoodEh?



     


    What in the world are you talking about? Is it physically impossible within the laws of physics of this branch of the multiverse for AT&T to add the EXISTING MODELS OF IPHONE to their service or something?

  • Reply 9 of 20
    After more than a decade with AT&T, I am switching to Virgin Mobile. Instead of $70 I'll be paying $40/iPhone. I calculate a savings of about $1500 over the next 2 years. I can deal with having the 4S for another year or two.
  • Reply 10 of 20

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    Only 5 GB? I pay $45 for unlimited data, voice, and text at Straight Talk.


    When you read the fine print for Straight Talk, none of it is really unlimited. You should try it sometime. 


     


    On that note, I'm switching over to Net10 starting next month. They're more honest, and clearly state AT&T-compatible is limited to 1.5GB of data ANY WAY YOU WANT TO USE IT, minus tethering... I'm not going to point it out again, so you'll have to read Straight Talk's terms of service for yourself. 

  • Reply 11 of 20
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by RedGeminiPA View Post

    …1.5GB of data ANY WAY YOU WANT TO USE IT, minus tethering… 


     


    So… NOT "any" way. Got it.

  • Reply 11 of 20

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella View Post



    After more than a decade with AT&T, I am switching to Virgin Mobile. Instead of $70 I'll be paying $40/iPhone. I calculate a savings of about $1500 over the next 2 years. I can deal with having the 4S for another year or two.


    Too bad they operate on Sprint's CDMA non-roaming (and slow) network. I'll never give up owning a GSM-based unlocked iPhone. I want options to ditch a carrier when needed by simply getting a new SIM card. 

  • Reply 13 of 20
    cash907cash907 Posts: 893member
    jragosta wrote: »
    Only 5 GB? I pay $45 for unlimited data, voice, and text at Straight Talk.

    Technically it is unlimited, but after you hit the 5 gig mark they start to throttle you down. That's why I said 5 at 4G speeds, unlimited at reduced speeds after that.
  • Reply 14 of 20

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    So… NOT "any" way. Got it.



    That is in reference to streaming music or video, which is prohibited on Straight Talk. They can, will and do throttle or terminate data, and tell customers they must be connected to WiFi for streaming of ANY kind. 

  • Reply 15 of 20
    cash907cash907 Posts: 893member
    When you read the fine print for Straight Talk, none of it is really unlimited. You should try it sometime. 

    On that note, I'm switching over to Net10 starting next month. They're more honest, and clearly state AT&T-compatible is limited to 1.5GB of data ANY WAY YOU WANT TO USE IT, minus tethering... I'm not going to point it out again, so you'll have to read Straight Talk's terms of service for yourself. 

    That's the funny thing: the fine print says their service doesn't support tethering or streaming apps like YouTube, Pandora etc, but I've been tethering with TetherMe on a regular basis and I listen to Pandora or Songza in my car almost every day for the past year, and I've never received any warnings or service disruptions.
  • Reply 16 of 20
    bleh1234bleh1234 Posts: 146member
    Aren't tracfone, straight talk and net10 owned by the same company?
  • Reply 17 of 20


    When the original iPhone came out it was available as a Go Phone. You paid for the retail price of the phone and then pre-paid for the monthly service including data. At the time it was the only way I could get one, so I did. After a year or so they converted the plan to regular service, me and my family have had iPhone's since that time.  This is a good way to get people into the eco-system that have little or bad credit.

  • Reply 18 of 20
    cash907cash907 Posts: 893member
    bleh1234 wrote: »
    Aren't tracfone, straight talk and net10 owned by the same company?

    Oddly, yes.
  • Reply 19 of 20
    am8449am8449 Posts: 392member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pk22901 View Post



    Bad News: T'Mobile's network is sparse and in some parts, their plan is not available or too weak. But they're building their network out and all we need to do is patient, alert, and spring when the buildout makes it a feasible choice in our locale.


     


    Since we're all talking about our mobile plans: I pay $30/month and get unlimited data & text and 100 minutes of talk with T-Mobile's prepaid plan.  Data is 3G with occasional pockets of Edge in New York City, where I live.  Never had a dropped call either.


     


    I think it's a great deal!


     


    And to echo other users' comments, AT&T rates are unreasonably expensive in the prepaid market.

  • Reply 20 of 20
    redfredredfred Posts: 1member


    I have to laugh.


     


    I've been using an iPhone on my GoPhone plan for years, first an iPhone 3 and now and iPhone 4s. They used to sell a $.10 per minute SmartPhone plan (GSP1) that I signed up for. (too bad it is no longer offered) I average $8.33 a month cell phone bill ($25 worth of service every 3 months).  I'm a very light user of their services, averaging about 30 minutes a month voice calls @ $0.10 per minute ($3.00) and $5.00 a month for 50MB of data.


     


    I'm at home or in the office most of the time when I use data, therefore I use free WiFi rather than paid cellular data.  Since my data allotment rolls over as long as I keep my data plan current I've managed to build up nearly 500 MB of reserve data should I need it on the road, that is if I can't find a free internet cafe when I'm eating lunch).  The only time I use text messages is when I am doing 2 step verification for one of my online accounts.  If I were an idiot teenager who texted 100 times a day I could buy 1 month of unlimited texts for $19.99.


     


    Why people would pay $70 or $80 a month for cell service is beyond me.  I suppose if I constantly talked on the phone I would look into one of T-Mobile plan.  T-Mobile sells a plan with 100 minutes of voice and unlimited text and data for $30 per month through Walmart

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