[Nielsen277]

By now we all know how it works... But how do we pay for it??
Will it be like some phones, where you pay by the amount of data transfered?
Or will it be a monthly fee for unlimited use, like a regular home internet plan???

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
AT&T has both pay by use and unlimited plans. What we don't yet know is if there will be a specific iPhone data plan or if AT&T / Apple will consider it for the PDA / Smartphone / Other current data plan offerings.
Of course, when in range, one can use a Wi-Fi connection instead of the cellular network for data services.

[Jon Seff]

What I've always found frustrating is that Cingular/AT&T has a very good unlimited smartphone data plan, but it only applies to something like 2 or 3 phones. My Treo is not eligible for it, and so I'd have to pay a lot more if I wanted it. Hopefully an iPhone-specific plan is in the works.

[onlyone]

To add to the question concerning a different aspect of this overall question: even if one chooses a voice only plan, will it still be possible to access wifi services in airport concourses, coffee shops etc., you know, the unit detects wifi, and through the browser, sessions of various duration can be paid for to browse the web send e-mail, etc?

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
I'd guess 99.999...% certain you can.

[mcbane666]

I'm guessing if you got a voice only plan, your going to have a huge bill when Iphone downloads all the data needed for the iphone only features, wifi will be for web stuff, but i think, all those features that are unique to the iphone probly use the data side of the cell signals.

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
It's going to be hard to say but I'd doubt "Visual Voicemail" will be considered data transfer but, of course, Google Maps, Safari, Mail, Stocks, Weather, ... count. Which one doesn't need to use those but there would be extremely little point to purchasing such a phone without ever using those features.

[feefer]

Quote:

---

Hi
It's going to be hard to say but I'd doubt "Visual Voicemail" will be considered data transfer but, of course, Google Maps, Safari, Mail, Stocks, Weather, ... count. Which one doesn't need to use those but there would be extremely little point to purchasing such a phone without ever using those features.

---

True, UNLESS you own a mobile EVDO router, which I can carry with me. As a result, I don't need Cingular's EDGE plan for data, since I'll have access to faster EVDO via wi-fi.
My question is, what iPhone features require EDGE to work?

[Mikael_Pe]

Any function that provides information that is NOT stored in the phone's memory will require an AT&T data plan. So weather, stocks, maps, email, visual voice mail etc. would not work unless the data plan (using the EDGE network) is activated.

[Southern_Gent]

Quote:

---

Any function that provides information that is NOT stored in the phone's memory will require an AT&T data plan. So weather, stocks, maps, email, visual voice mail etc. would not work unless the data plan (using the EDGE network) is activated.

---

I assume that one could use all those features with the wifi side of the phone without a data plan. But out on the road, with no access to wifi, you would be handcuffed.

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
Precisely, one doesn't need a data plan but despite the rarity of feefer's situation, most would need it to use many of the phone's features as they wouldn't have Wi-Fi access readily available.
You could buy it as an expensive iPod and phone and never use Safari, Google Maps, Stocks, Weather, or Mail but I see that as a notable waste of $$$.