I would love to get an iPhone but do not need, nor can I justify the expense of a monthly data plan. Can the iPhone be used without a data plan? Other than the obvious, what features do you lose without using a data plan? Thanks for the input!
G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz 1.5GB RAM OS 10.4.9,
Mac OS X (10.4.9)
Basically, you cannot. In most cases, when you purchase an iPhone 3G, you sign a contract that includes a data plan for a certain period of time (in the US, that's two years).
The iPhone is designed to always have an internet connection as long as there is an available wi-fi network that you have access to, or you have cellular reception, and the iPhone switches back and forth between the two automatically and seamlessly.
If you do not need, nor can you justify paying the monthly expense for the iPhone's data plan, then there is no point considering nor purchasing an iPhone. You should consider an iPod Touch instead.
Good to know. I wasn't sure if I could purchase an iPhone off of eBay, slap my simcard in it, and roll with it as I really just need to have a good phone with a nice scheduler so I don't have to carry my pda and cell phone all the time. Sounds like I need to find another option then. Thanks for the input!
I'm in the UK & use my iphone without a data plan. I purchased my phone from Apple I then inserted my regular O2 sim rather than the 'Pay as You Go' sim supplied by Apple. I am able to use email & browse the internet at wifi hot spots. It works for me but may not be suitable for everyone’s life style.