I’ve recently bought an iPhone 4S in the UK, knowing that I’ll mainly be using it on my AT&T GoPhone prepay plan while I’m in the US.
A quick web search on if and how this is possible showed various reports of varying clarity – so I thought I’d set the record straight and tell you that
- it WORKS, and
- you don’t need a jailbroken iPhone
- you WILL be able to use 3G data
Let me show how it all works.
There is an updated version of this article here.
What’s GoPhone again?
GoPhone is AT&T’s nationwide prepay mobile phone plan: you add call credit via vouchers or credit card and then enjoy unlimited texts and phone calls for only $2 per day – if you use your phone. It’s genius!
You’re charged when you make or receive a domestic (US) phone call or you send a text. Incoming text messages are free. If you have a data add-on feature then you can use this without being charged. I think this is one of the most advanced and forward thinking plans I’ve come across on my travels.
You can get GoPhones at Radio Shack or from AT&T’s shops which are plentiful. Be aware though that most AT&T stores are actually “authorised resellers” which means it’s a franchise. They have their own (made up) prices trying to make a living, so they may charge you for a GoPhone SIM.
What you need
GoPhone SIMS at the time of writing (2012) are all standard sized, i.e. they won’t fit into an iPhone 4 or 4S. So you need an iPhone SIM cutter, readily available from Amazon. They’re about £5 and most come with free SIM adapters so you can use your cut SIM’s in regular devices too.
You can get a GoPhone SIM from a shop just by itself, or you can buy one of those cute phones for $15 which come with a SIM.
Now put your SIM Card Cutter to work and put the smaller sized card into your iPhone.
You want to top up your card with a bit of cash of course, and you’ll also want to sign up with a Data Feature, like the 500MB for $25 package. You can do this by either calling 611 from your GoPhone (even if you don’t have credit this number still works), or by adding a package online at http://www.gophone.com.
Obviously you also need an unlocked iPhone, or one that’s locked to AT&T in the US.
OK – phone works, now how about data?
Ah, the interesting part. Right now you’ll be able to make and receive phone calls, but even though you’ve signed up with a data package iPhone doesn’t quite know how to contact AT&T’s network for 3G yet. You’ll probably notice the absence of the 3G logo in the top left corner.
Make sure you are connected to a WiFi network when you do the next step. You can even do this before you travel, however activating the AT&T settings will mean you won’t be able to access data anymore from your domestic carrier (just in case you’re at the airport ready to leave for the US and you’re on 3G… this will be the last thing you’ll do).
In Safari, head over to http://www.unlockit.co.nz/ – that’s Craig Whitmore’s site, he’s figured out a way to add a new APN to your iPhone (which is a collection of data access settings) for most carriers around the world. Give the man a donation, he deserves it!
Pick your country and carrier from the list (in our case, USA and AT&T), click install and your data settings are now up to speed for 3G data on AT&T with GoPhone. Nice!
Please note that this is not a jailbreak, this does not invalidate your warranty, and these changes ARE reversible. All your doing is installing a new APN Profile onto your phone. You can only install one APN at a time.
Nice one! Now I’m back home – how to I get rid of it?
Head over to Settings – General – Profile, click the APN Carrier Settings and hit the big red REMOVE button. The AT&T Profile is now gone. You can now install another one from http://unlockit.co.nz.
Alternatively you can see if your carrier allows to re-send the settings under Settings – Phone (scroll down the page and see if they’ve added their options). O2 in the UK have the option to resend your settings.
UPDATE: iOS 5.1 gives you 4G on iPhone 4S
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better: I upgraded the the firmware to iOS 5.1 yesterday and now the display even shows AT& 4G in the top left corner. How exciting!
I’ve tested the download speed previously and I don’t think it has physically changed, it’s just a different label they’ve implemented. Not sure if iPhone 4 will show this too or if it’s just the 4S. I also wonder if it’ll show 4G in the UK, where LTE hasn’t been rolled out yet.
Here’s a screenshot on my latest speed test on 4G using the above GoPhone method. The first test is with 4G as of yesterday, the second one is about a month old on 3G, and the one on the bottom was on O2 UK, also 3G:
Conclusion
AT&T is one of the best networks I’ve used in my life: superb customer service, and amazing price plans. Very forward thinking. Check out their iPad plans too, they’re the only carrier I’ve heard of to offer International Data Plans, you can sign up directly from your iPad too.
GoPhone is the best idea since sliced bread, in case you don’t fancy paying £2 per minute for a domestic phone call, or £6 per MB of data. Top up $100 and your number is safe for an entire year. Data Plans don’t renew automatically by default which is perfect for occasional users.
I sure do appreciate this. I’m going to use it to cut my phone bill from $110 a month to $50
Excellent, glad I could help. Oh, and since the iOS 5.1 upgrade the iPhone shows AT&T 4G in the top left corner. Download speeds are about 2-3 Mbps depending on coverage.
I’m planning on buying an iPhone 4 and use a gophone sim. I want the 25 dollar a month plan with 250 minutes and unlimited texting. Will Picture messaging work or will I need a data package?
Hi Paul,
I’ve just tested it, picture messaging works and does not require a data plan. It’s part of the $2 per day unlimited usage plan. You’ll love it 😉
I’ve read on a few forums that this will not work with the $50 unlimited go phone data package, but just the $25 data plan. Can you confirm this?
Hi Simon,
I must admit I have only tired this with the $2 per day GoPhone plan, and the 500MB data package. I don’t see why it shouldn’t work with the unlimited package as it uses the same network, but currently I can’t confirm this – sorry.
Simon,
The $50 unlimited GoPhone plan only works with a basic cell phone, if you tried to use it with a smartphone it wouldn’t work, as AT&T have restricted the use of it to basic cell phones.
The only option you have for a smartphone is to buy a dataplan.
Excellent, thanks for clearing that up Lee.
UPDATE:
As of April the 18th, AT&T have decided to disallow data add-on plans to the $2 per day plan. From now on, data packages can only be used with monthly plans for either $25 or $50. What a shame!
I literally flew back from the US this morning and changed my extended absence greeting when the friendly computer lady told me all about this. I believe you can still use data on this plan for 1c for every 5kB you download – however that’s equivalent to $2 per MB (and hence requires you to remortgage your house just to check your email).
I suppose we still have the option to switch to the $25 per month an for the time we spend in the US, then quickly add a data package, and then upon leaving the US switch back to the $2 per day plan. That way we can at least keep our numbers.
Here’s a link with more info: http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2012/04/developing-at-says-no-more-data.html
Use a straight talk sim. http://straighttalksim.com
They are an AT&T MVNO. With that SIM you get unlimited text, minutes, and 3G data using the att.mvno APN for $45/mo.
Straight talk sim is recognized as a stock at&t sim, no jailbreak or unlock required. The sim will be black and white, it may or may not have “tracfone” printed on it, but it will be an at&t sim card that is recognized as an at&t sim card.
They also sell the iphone4 size micro sim and even mention the iphone on their site so they apparently approve of this. Obviously select the option for “I have an AT&T branded phone.” because they also sell the same plan for tmobile handsets.
You still change your APN using unlockit.co.nz via wi-fi (no jailbreak or unlock required).
If you want MMS to work right, you would need a jailbreak to install tetherme which comes with tetherme apn editor (where you can edit your APN and enter MMS settings manually)
I have read some reports online of people getting shut down for hogging data, but I routinely chew up 2-3gb a month and have never had a problem.
I dont understand why 1) at&t lets them undercut their business by not offering a similar plan, or 2) people bother with gophone with this option available to them.
That’s a superb tip Robert, thank you very much! Maybe people are not using it because we need to spread the word about Straight Talk SIM 😉
We have similar great deals in the UK here (http://giffgaff.com/ springs to mind – for £10 per month, no contract you get unlimited texts and data on the O2 network) but it’s such an insider tip that it’s virtually unknown to people. I think this only works because large networks like AT&T or O2 bulk-sell their services at a fraction of the cost of their own consumer contracts. They’re probably not interested in small customers who pay below $50 each. If you think about it, putting data through an existing network doesn’t actually cost anything – once the network is in place, all you do is to keep it up and rake in profits (and pay off debts for the 3G/4G spectrum).
i am looking to take my sim card out of a regular att phone (has 3g service) with a talk and text plan and put it into a iphone 4 that i just purchased. i dont want att to start up a data plan cuz its expensive. i purchased a sim cutter but i want to be sure before i do this. now if i download the apn from the website on safari will i be able to get data for free? will att find out that i switched to an iphone and sign my up for a data plan?(this is a regular contract sim, not gophone, does it matter?)
In theory it should work, but since I haven’t tried your exact setup I can’t give you a definite answer on this. Technically AT&T don’t know which device you’re accessing your mobile data with, so I’d think as long as you’re allowed to use data, you’ll be able to use your iPhone.
so data will be for free, even though im not signed up for a a package?
Well let’s think about this for a moment here… if you do not have a data package, can you still access unlimited amounts of data on AT&T’s network? Probability would suggest that you can’t – mainly because everybody else would be doing this 😉
Before I activated my data add-on (when it was still available on GoPhone) I had access to the network (i.e. phone calls and text messages) but the 3G/4G symbol wouldn’t appear. I couldn’t check emails or sue the net.
Can you just get a jailbroken iphone 4 and use a go phone sim?
You can indeed, however it doesn’t need to be jailbroken for use with GoPhone. It’ll work fine for phone calls, sadly pay-as-you-go data packages for use with GoPhone have been discontinued by AT&T.
So if I cut my gophone sim and put it in a iPhone 4s and don’t do the APN I can just use it to call and text and then use wifi when it is available for internet correct?
@Trey
Exactly!
So how about i buy an iPhone4s without a contract (but locked to AT&T) and use go phone sim.. it will work?
Yes that should work fine too.
Thank you Sir..
is it possible to use a gophone sim card in an iphone 4 and get unlimited data for free? if so, could you please tell me how.
But think for one moment Daviel, and ask yourself the question: “If what you’re asking was possible, wouldn’t absolutely EVERYBODY be doing it?”
So in answer to your very clever question: No, Daviel, that is sadly not possible. Because otherwise EVERYBODY would be doing it.
yes, unlimited data…..under WIFI :p