How do I activate an Iphone without a service contract

[mousey]

Beware of the used phones on ebay even if the person has great feedback. I am looking at a $320 paperweight that we purchased on ebay. The person who owned the phone financed it and when they stopped paying their bill, the phone shut off. Of course, it was outside of the 30 day ebay policy and 45 day (49 to be exact) paypal policy for a refund. I have sent the seller over 30 messages thru ebay, private emails, etc.....her phone number given to me by ebay is "Not in service". She refuses to contact us and my last hope is the dispute I filed with my credit card that I used. Beware on ebay!

 

[EMode]

Here is the exact quote: "We checked out Verizon and for all 3 of them to be on a plan it would run then roughly $50 each a month."

I have read that $50 is for "all 3 of them", which was consistent with a going rate of ~$15 per additional line, and they can share the family data plan. However, it may be true that they are $50 each, which probably means that she wants to give them all three a very large individual data plan, which makes no sense.

Its $50 each a month. If she is on a Verizon plan, its $40 a month per smartphone, and an additional $40 per month for 1GB of shared data. That is $160 a month for 3 smartphones on Verizon contract so a little over $50 each but the OP mentioned an employee discount so I'm assuming this is the plan she is talking about.
If she is talking about a pre-paid Verizon plan then its still running each person around $50 a month.

There is no way to do 3 Verizon iphones for $50 a month total, believe me if there was I would have never left them to go to Page Plus.

 

[ellochka]

Its $50 each a month. If she is on a Verizon plan, its $40 a month per smartphone, and an additional $40 per month for 1GB of shared data. That is $160 a month for 3 smartphones on Verizon contract so a little over $50 each but the OP mentioned an employee discount so I'm assuming this is the plan she is talking about.
If she is talking about a pre-paid Verizon plan then its still running each person around $50 a month.

There is no way to do 3 Verizon iphones for $50 a month total, believe me if there was I would have never left them to go to Page Plus.

OK, I was looking at this Verizon Edge and thought it would apply here ($175/mo for 5 lines and 10G of data is a very good price), but no, you can't just bring your own phone and connect to it... ugh. You have to buy full price through them.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/consumer/shop/shop-data-plans/more-everything.html

It's still a good monthly price, and if they are willing to buy full price from Verizon, it's a good deal. I wonder if they let you grandfather your out of contract phones into it?...

 

[ellochka]

Actually, AT&T does the same thing as Verizon Edge, but (!) you can bring your own phone.
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html#fbid=pHTweeBsBqi?hashlink=tab2

The same $175 for 5 lines and 10G of data. That's a really good price.

 

[lisaross]

you can use an iphone 5 on Pageplus? i thought only verizon 4 or s?

My dd uses an iphone 5 on Page Plus for $30 a month, they use the verizon network. She got the phone for Christmas and I had to pay full price (from Straight Talk).
I could have purhased a used Verizon iphone but I wanted her to have new.
Verizon now allows Iphone 4 and 4s to be activated on Page Plus so that is an option.

 

[EMode]

OK, I was looking at this Verizon Edge and thought it would apply here ($175/mo for 5 lines and 10G of data is a very good price), but no, you can't just bring your own phone and connect to it... ugh. You have to buy full price through them.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/consumer/shop/shop-data-plans/more-everything.html

It's still a good monthly price, and if they are willing to buy full price from Verizon, it's a good deal. I wonder if they let you grandfather your out of contract phones into it?...

Not a bad deal, if you don't mind paying full price for phone.

Actually, AT&T does the same thing as Verizon Edge, but (!) you can bring your own phone.
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html#fbid=pHTweeBsBqi?hashlink=tab2

The same $175 for 5 lines and 10G of data. That's a really good price.

Even better, but OP needs to check the coverage. Verizon is the only one that works at our house so we're kind of stuck. Maybe the OP has better options.

you can use an iphone 5 on Pageplus? i thought only verizon 4 or s?

The Straight Talk iphone 5 will work because the 4G is disabled. I don't think others work unless you can get it flashed. At the time you couldn't activate iphones on PP, but many did without issue. I didn't have any problems activating it, and so far dd hasn't had any issues with her coverage. I figured if I couldn't get it activated on PP, I'd still be able to on Straight Talk so not a total loss of the full price I paid for the phone.

 

[runwad]

Oh brother. For the person who said I've not done much research you are ABSOLUTELY right. That's why I'm here . I use a tracfone and it's fine for me. I don't want to research all this. Personally I think it's crazy to spend all this money on a monthly phone bill. Verizon quoted 40 a line with $15 data package for them all to share, so that would be 135 a month but I just rounded it up to 150 cause I figured with all the fee's and taxes it'd be close to that. So 50 each. They all have tracfones now and use their touches. I even bought them a mobile hot spot that they take with them if they want to use their touches as phones when they go places. That was my work around to not having a $200 family cell phone bill. I'll just let them figure out what they want to do. I just thought if there was a way I could save them some money I'd try. Doesn't sound like I can. They don't want the 4s they want 5 cause they said you can't download the new software to the 4's, whatever I don't care. I'm done. Thanks for all who offered advise. I'm going to keep living in the 20th century, if they want to come into the 21st century they can figure out how to do it. I'm fine with talking on my home phone for $10 a month.ha

 

[HM]

If your kids are old enough, you are absolutely right to have them do the research. My DD did it on her own when she wanted to upgrade, to show us we could afford to do it. What she learned, and passed on, was that there was no really good solution. We stayed with Virgin Mobile (which we'd been doing for years as pay as you go ...I still have that without a smartphone myself) and bought the full price phones. We did the math, figuring that within 18 months we'd be saving money over getting a contract with a cheap phone. We've now been using these phones for over two years now and are saving a lot.

 

[wnissen]

There is no way to get around the fact that iPhones are expensive. $400 for a used iPhone 5 is a good price. At least they tend to last a long time relative to other phones. You can pay up front or you can pay even more by spreading it out over time. The only way to really save is to get older phones and activate them on prepaid plans.

 

[RitaE]

Oh brother. For the person who said I've not done much research you are ABSOLUTELY right. That's why I'm here . I use a tracfone and it's fine for me. I don't want to research all this. Personally I think it's crazy to spend all this money on a monthly phone bill. Verizon quoted 40 a line with $15 data package for them all to share, so that would be 135 a month but I just rounded it up to 150 cause I figured with all the fee's and taxes it'd be close to that. So 50 each. They all have tracfones now and use their touches. I even bought them a mobile hot spot that they take with them if they want to use their touches as phones when they go places. That was my work around to not having a $200 family cell phone bill. I'll just let them figure out what they want to do. I just thought if there was a way I could save them some money I'd try. Doesn't sound like I can. They don't want the 4s they want 5 cause they said you can't download the new software to the 4's, whatever I don't care. I'm done. Thanks for all who offered advise. I'm going to keep living in the 20th century, if they want to come into the 21st century they can figure out how to do it. I'm fine with talking on my home phone for $10 a month.ha

Welcome to the era of pre-adult children!

I have two adult children and my first step was to get them off Contract plans in my name. We had AT&T at the time and I just never upgraded anybody's phone until we were all off contract. At that point I picked out a phone and plan I was willing to pay for and I gave them that money to fund it as a Christmas gift.

I told them if they were willing to find something cheaper they could keep the money. If they wanted something more expensive, then they pay the difference.

They are both still on the phones I choose (Republic Wireless Moto X). One upgraded himself to the top tier plan and one downgraded to the WiFi plan.

The one thing I caution is signing in long-term contracts for children who you might soon want off your plan - whenever you decide it's the appropriate age. My kids both have their own phone bills in their own names now.

 

[wilkeliza]

Oh brother. For the person who said I've not done much research you are ABSOLUTELY right. That's why I'm here . I use a tracfone and it's fine for me. I don't want to research all this. Personally I think it's crazy to spend all this money on a monthly phone bill. Verizon quoted 40 a line with $15 data package for them all to share, so that would be 135 a month but I just rounded it up to 150 cause I figured with all the fee's and taxes it'd be close to that. So 50 each. They all have tracfones now and use their touches. I even bought them a mobile hot spot that they take with them if they want to use their touches as phones when they go places. That was my work around to not having a $200 family cell phone bill. I'll just let them figure out what they want to do. I just thought if there was a way I could save them some money I'd try. Doesn't sound like I can. They don't want the 4s they want 5 cause they said you can't download the new software to the 4's, whatever I don't care. I'm done. Thanks for all who offered advise. I'm going to keep living in the 20th century, if they want to come into the 21st century they can figure out how to do it. I'm fine with talking on my home phone for $10 a month.ha

I know almost all cell carriers have none contract plans now. You can tell them they can decide what they can afford each month and sign up for one of those. If they don't pay their phone is turned off if the do service continues.

Sprint has the Framily plan that is 45 a month for each of them. That is unlimited talk and text and 1 G of data. They can either oay for phones up front or monthly.

Verizon PrePay is 45 with only 500mb of Internet.

T-mobile is 40 for 500mb of 4g and throttled down after that.

There many be other plans and options but it seems 35-50 plus price of phone (699 for 5s 599 for 5c) is what your kids are in for.

 

[Queeneileen]

Oh brother. For the person who said I've not done much research you are ABSOLUTELY right. That's why I'm here . I use a tracfone and it's fine for me. I don't want to research all this. Personally I think it's crazy to spend all this money on a monthly phone bill. Verizon quoted 40 a line with $15 data package for them all to share, so that would be 135 a month but I just rounded it up to 150 cause I figured with all the fee's and taxes it'd be close to that. So 50 each. They all have tracfones now and use their touches. I even bought them a mobile hot spot that they take with them if they want to use their touches as phones when they go places. That was my work around to not having a $200 family cell phone bill. I'll just let them figure out what they want to do. I just thought if there was a way Icould save them some money I'd try. Doesn't sound like I can. They don't want the 4s they want 5 cause they said you can't download the new software to the 4's, whatever I don't care. I'm done. Thanks for all who offered advise. I'm going to keep living in the 20th century, if they want to come into the 21st century they can figure out how to do it. I'm fine with talking on my home phone for $10 a month.ha

My 13 yr old and 14 yr old wanted to upgrade from a regular phone to an IPhone.
I was paying $135. with Sprint for 3 regular phones. I switch to Tmobile and got 3 data plans with unlimited texting for $105.( no contract) The price includes tax, etc. $50. for first phone, $30, for second phone and $10 for third phone and the rest is tax and fees. I paid out right for 3 Nokia 521 Windows phones. Not as great as an iPhone, but paid $80 for each phone. Right now it's okay for the kids. They get internet, Pandora and You tube. I can't get certain apps, so I'm looking to buy an iPhone. Does the apple store sell refurbished phones cheaper?

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

Virgin Mobile No Contact
$30 a month if you put a credit card on the account. $35 if you use top up cards.
300 phone minutes/unlimited data and text

Best deal we've found. We bought both our children (and later my DH) iPhone 4s (now on sale).

Best deal we've found too. Dh and I have had the iPhone with them for about 2 years. Added DS last Christmas with some great deals on the 4S phones at Target. DD just got one for her 12th b-day. We bought Dh a new 5S 32 GB for $535 through VM website and transferred his service over from his 4S, we then activated the old $s with a new number for DD. We pay $32.43 (includes taxes) per month for each with no contract. So total we pay $129.72 per month for each of us to have 300 minutes, unlimited text and data. I've been please with the service over the last 2 years.

 

[MillauFr]

My daughter uses Virgin Mobile unlimited data and texting for $33 per month. She bought an I*Phone 4s.

 

[traces7]

My DD got her iphone 5c from Virgin Mobile for around $325 in March (they were having a sale). She saved and bought it herself. It's $30 a month for no contract, just like others have mentioned. Virgin Mobile is the best deal we found with no contract.