Having an iPhone can be a drag when you have to lose a limb in order to pay for the damn thing. Another option? Try out Straight Talk (the Wal-Mart phone service) which has a SIM card that you can replace with your AT&T SIM. Sorry, Verizon folks – I’m not sure there is a way to get around that but if there is, google it and let me know in the comments.
How do you do this?
- Go to http://straighttalksim.com and order a SIM card. For my iPhone 4, it was a micro SIM card that would fit. It’s $15 currently – and you have to use Fed Ex to get it to you. It’ll take a couple of days.
- Turn off your phone. Use that small tool to get the SIM card out of your iPhone. Or use a paperclip, like I did. Replace the SIM card (once you have it) with the new one.
- Turn on the phone. It should say HOME where the “AT&T” was before. If it doesn’t, restart the phone again.
- The instructions that come with it says to change the APN settings if you go to Settings>General>Cellular>APN … but that didn’t work for me. Instead, find a wifi connection.
- Navigate to http://unlockit.co.nz and choose Straight Talk as your carrier. This will install the APN settings for Straight Talk into your phone.
- Get off wifi and try out 3G. My 3G worked from this point so yours should too!
Instead of paying a gazillion dollars for a two year *gasp* AT&T contract, you can pay only $45 a month and get “unlimited” voice, text, and data. I’m sure there are caveats because there are no free lunches. However, this is a cheaper solution that you can change way faster, rather than waiting two full years to get out of your horrible and soul-sucking contract.
Give it a go and start saving some money for the iPhone 6.
