© 2024
NPR for Northern Colorado
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Pre-Paid iPhones Coming To Denver

Yutaka Tsutano
/
Flickr/CreativeCommons

If you're looking to get an iPhone but don't want to sign a yearly contract, Cricket will begin selling prepaid iPhones in Denver and other cities around the country starting later this month.

The cost of a pre-paid iPhone will be steep, with the Denver Business Journal reporting a 4S will run you $500, and the iPhone 4 a hundred dollars less. A check on Apple.com shows a starting price of an AT&T iPhone 4S with a 2 year contract begins at $199.

While the Cricket pre-paid iPhone comes contract free, there will be a monthly fee of $55 which will include unlimited calls, texting and data.

However, the tech-savy website ARS Technica says there won't truly be unlimited free data on the pre-paid phones.

Cricket's "unlimited" data isn't actually unlimited, of course; after you go through 2.3GB, your data will be throttled. At the same time, 2.3GB is more than many customers will use in a month—AT&T has claimed in that past that only a small percentage use more than that in a month on its network.

And ARS Technia goes on to report if you have some slightly advanced skills in "jail breaking" phones, there is a much cheaper way to go contract free with your iPhone.

You can buy a prepaid AT&T-compatible microSIM from StraightTalk, an MNVO run by TracFone and Walmart, for just $15. StraightTalk offers a $45 monthly plan that also includes unlimited calls, texts, and data. And since StraightTalk runs over AT&T's network, you don't even need an unlocked iPhone—just pop in the SIM, update your APN data settings, and you're good to go.

Leap Wireless, the parent company of Cricket, will begin selling the pre-paid iPhones in Denver June 22nd

Related Content