iPhone confusion

[cutter44]

I'll apologize in advance for asking a question that has probably been asked and answered several times on this forum, but even after searching and reading for a while, I'm still a little unclear.

My daughter would really like an iPhone and understands that she will be the one paying for the phone and service. She is 21, but is still on our Family Plan and we have been covering the whopping $10./mo cost to have her line as one of them (she currently has a Shadow without a data plan). That obviously would change if she gets an iPhone.

So the question is, what is the cheapest way she can use an iPhone on T-Mobile? I realize that she'd have to buy a jailbroken iPhone to use on T-Mo, but once that's done, I'm assuming we'd have to add a data plan for her to be able to use it on T-Mo. What is the cheapest data plan we could get with an iPhone on T-Mo? I'm guessing we'd also have to tell T-Mo rather than just swap out her sim card.

We also have Family Messaging for $9.99. Will she be able to text message with the iPhone as she does now as part of our family plan? The other option is for her to just leave our Family Plan and get an ATT contract on her own, but I'm guessing that will be even more expensive.

Finally, we offered to switch phones with her mother who has a Blackberry Pearl Flip, so she could have her internet, but the internet is as slow as molasses on the Blackberry, using EDGE. Would it necessarily be any faster with an iPhone?

Again, sorry for all the questions, but "dad" is just trying to be helpful.

[Eternal 28]

The cheapest internet plan would be $9.99 Just do not tell T-mobile you're using an iPhone or else they will make you sign up for the smartphone internet for $24.99. Yes she can still use the family unlimited text for $9.99. When you receive the iphone just log in to my T-mobile and change the internet plan to the $9.99 internet service.

[Hackworth]

Make sure you get a phone that hasn't been updated to 3.1.3 and don't update it in iTunes. The 3.1.3 update installs a new baseband which can't be unlocked yet or downgraded. If you're not comfortable doing the unlock yourself, I'd suggest getting one already unlocked.

My iPhone works just fine on the $10/month internet plan. You have to log in to your account on my T-Mobile and add it as an extra service to that line. If you don't see the option, you may need to change the phone in my T-Mobile to another phone; I used the Sony Ericsson Equinox. On the iPhone you have to go in to the network settings and set the APN to internet2.voicestream.com.

Compared to my Blackberry Pearl, the iPhone internet feels quite a bit faster. The browser is certainly a lot better. It's definitely not as fast as the 3G phones I tried in the store, but it is usable. There are also a lot of iPhone optimized websites.

The 3G iPhone feels a bit slower overall than my Pearl did. There's a noticeable lag of 2-3 seconds opening some of the applications. It may just be my phone, but the battery life is also much worse than my Pearl. Overnight it will go through about 20%. Browsing the web will drain the battery in a couple hours.

[johndoe104]

I would like to chime in as I have a couple of questions. Are you guys talking about the 200mb $10 plan?

[jarrodpd]

Im currently using an unlocked iPhone 3GS, the web is a bit slower but for viewing websites its fine. When downloading songs on iTunes the fastest I have ever downloaded a song on iTunes was 5mins but on average it is 8-9mins that is if you live in a city that has EDGE and 3G like mine, most of the people in my town use 3G so there is little activity on edge so I can easily hit speeds of .20mbps down and .10mbps up with ping being from 300-500 on average.

[Mr.Mischief]

Make sure you get a phone that hasn't been updated to 3.1.3 and don't update it in iTunes. The 3.1.3 update installs a new baseband which can't be unlocked yet or downgraded. If you're not comfortable doing the unlock yourself, I'd suggest getting one already unlocked.

My iPhone works just fine on the $10/month internet plan. You have to log in to your account on my T-Mobile and add it as an extra service to that line. If you don't see the option, you may need to change the phone in my T-Mobile to another phone; I used the Sony Ericsson Equinox. On the iPhone you have to go in to the network settings and set the APN to internet2.voicestream.com.

Compared to my Blackberry Pearl, the iPhone internet feels quite a bit faster. The browser is certainly a lot better. It's definitely not as fast as the 3G phones I tried in the store, but it is usable. There are also a lot of iPhone optimized websites.

The 3G iPhone feels a bit slower overall than my Pearl did. There's a noticeable lag of 2-3 seconds opening some of the applications. It may just be my phone, but the battery life is also much worse than my Pearl. Overnight it will go through about 20%. Browsing the web will drain the battery in a couple hours.

You can, and should, upgrade past 3.1.3. All you have to do it use Sn0wbreeze to create a custom ipsw file that preserves the BaseBand. iOS 5.0.1 is AWESOME!