How do we get simple cellphone service on an old iPhone?

October 11, 2013 5:49 PM

I have an iPhone (an AT&T 3GS in the United States) that I no longer use. My husband wants to use it as a cellphone for very occasional outgoing and incoming calls. He is willing to find a wifi hotspot in lieu of having a data plan. We took out a 10-cent per minute, 20-cent per text plan with AT&T for $100 a year, which seemed like a good deal but he is receiving dunning calls for whoever had the phone number before, as well as advertising text messages, and we want.it.to.stop. Before we call AT&T and raise holy hell, do we have any alternatives? We would love to find a plan where we prepay a fixed (relatively small) amount, then replenish it a few months or years down the road, when he's used enough minutes/texts to require it. Y'know, something like an EZPass. Does such an animal exist?
posted by DrGail to Technology (7 answers total)

If it were a Verizon phone rather than AT&T then you could get service from PagePlus for as little as 4 cents per minute / 5 cents per text. It would even give you data service, albeit at a very expensive rate unless you stepped up to at least the $12.00 monthly plan. It might be worth selling your phone and using the proceeds to buy a used Verizon iPhone instead.
posted by jon1270 at 7:06 PM on October 11, 2013

BTW, I've been using a secondhand iPhone 4 on PagePlus for 4 months and am very happy with it.
posted by jon1270 at 7:08 PM on October 11, 2013

I am a little unclear on your question/situation. Are you already using the iPhone on this cheap plan? Or a different phone? Do you need the iPhone or is it just what you have on hand?

In my experience you can't get a non-data plan for a smartphone with any of the major service providers. I think what you want is some kind of prepaid plan and prepaid phone, which you can pick up at Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc.

If you're getting weird calls, that has little to do with the service provider and more to do with the phone number. It should be easy to switch the number. You can ask the provider to block certain numbers if they have been bothering you but I don't know about texts.
posted by radioamy at 8:09 PM on October 11, 2013

You should contact AT&T and have them switch your phone number to a new one. Getting unwanted contact on a "brand new" number has been completely normal for the past few times I got a new number.

Mobile carriers can't really be responsible for calls and texts directed at the previous owner of the number. I would not recommend "raising holy hell" as it is unlikely to get the customer service rep into a helpful mood.
posted by meowzilla at 8:59 PM on October 11, 2013

If the phone is out of contract you can get it unlocked, which may open more options for you. We had my wife's old 3GS unlocked by AT&T; my son uses it now, as a game/movie platform for road trips. But we could also throw any prepaid SIM card into it and use it as a phone.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:21 AM on October 12, 2013

I've had really good luck with StraightTalk, you might also consider ConsumerCellular. Bring your own phone, use their prepaid plans.
posted by Wild_Eep at 10:38 AM on October 13, 2013

Forward the spam texts to 7726 (SPAM) and they will reply asking for the phone number. When I do this, I don't get another text from that number again.
posted by soelo at 1:48 PM on October 16, 2013 [1 favorite]