Walmart has an Iphone 6S for $99 on Black Friday, which seems like a very good price. I’m an old fart, competent at computers but not phones. The deal requires activation with a service I never heard of (Total Wireless), but their website indicates that it’s as low as $25/mo and doesn’t require a contract.
I would only need the cell service when traveling, which I only do a few weeks a year. I mainly want the phone for the camera and apps.
So my question is, if I buy the phone and activate it for a month, and then don’t renew, can I still do everything but phone and text as long as I have wi-fi in my house or at a local hotspot? Download music, take pictures, broadcast to Bluetooth speakers, etc.? How about email? How about texting?
First, most likely there is a catch. $125 is too cheap for a 6s, the carrier is going to limit how much money they lose. Most likely there is an early termination fee that makes this a bad deal.
But yes, generally a phone without a subscription works fine on wifi, as if it were a tablet. You can do everything you mentioned except call or text when in range of wifi you have access to.
You can subscribe to services that will allow you to call or text through the internet, these services are cheap, a few dollars a month. It’s the cellular service that is expensive.
I have an iphone. My cell service got shut off, but everything else on it still works as long as it’s connected to WiFi. Or if it doesn’t require the internet, it works as long as its charged. An iphone without cell service is just an ipod, which I also have.
You might want to consider getting an ipod for the camera and apps and stuff, and then get yourself a pay as you go phone for the cell service. You can get a tracphone for $30 and then just buy yourself a phone card. Use the card up, then get a new one, when you need it.
I’ll look closer and see if I can find a catch, but I’ve gotten spectacular electronics deals from Walmart on past Black Fridays, with no catches, so there might not be one here.
My wife has a new(ish) iPhone, but she likes to use up the battery. So she takes the old iPhone, no SIM, and uses it with WiFI, typically in the house, while the live one is charging. Anything you can do on the internet, you can do on WiFi from a phone without a SIM (or with a disabled SIM) Photos, web browsing, listening to music on Bluetooth headphones, Twitter and Instagram; heck, you can even send and receive texts from other iPhones since you (and they) would have an Apple ID account; you just can’t text non-iPhones, that would require telephone connections.
The only thought would be that the dang thing might nag you that it cannot connect the cellular network, but I believe turning off cellular data (Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data - OFF) will fix that.
My phone has an option for “WIFI calling” but I suspect that’s tied to my cellular service provider (Rogers in Canada)
6S is really old (I don’t know if it can be updated to the latest IOS, check google) so it may be a ploy to empty out old inventory or refurbished. Warranty?
iPhone 6S is the oldest phone that will upgrade to the current iOS -so far. And it uses the same lightning plug (not the old fat one) and has Bluetooth and a headphone jack.
There is a mention that the 6S had an issue - for a small number - with random shutdowns due to manufacturing problems with the battery, so this may be a batch of refurbished devices.
Total Wireless is a bring-your-own-phone MVNO, no contracts. And an iPhone 6S is five generations old, so $149, or even $99 sounds about the right price for one. You can buy the phone, and activate it or not, as you choose. If you activate and use it for a month, then don’t reup, you’ll lose your number, but you won’t have any further obligation to Total Wireless. You can keep the phone with no strings and subscribe to another MVNO compatible with your phone. Otherwise, you can still use it with wifi.
I am assuming that this is the same phone Walmart normally sells for $149. In that case, it’s new, and comes with a one-year warranty. If I use my Costco credit card to buy it, which I will, I get another two years on the warranty.
Thanks to everyone who replied for the suggestions and information. This is a door-buster item, so there’s no guarantee I’ll get it before it’s sold out, but I think I’ll give it a try.
Total Wireless is the same company as Tracfone with a different wrapper. Tracfone has a reconditioned iPhone 6s for $129 and cheaper plans than Total Wireless. I can’t guarantee that you will get the same results, but a few weeks ago I bought a reconditioned Moto G6* (for fifty bucks) and it turned out to be in absolutely pristine condition. So you might want to think about that instead of the gigantic hassle of trying to catch a Black Friday deal, (or if you miss the deal.)
So the goal is to save $25 on a 5 year old phone?!
Phones aren’t like kitchen mixers. More than 2 years out of date and you begin to run into problems. The primary one being that while newer OS updates may install, the phone doesn’t really have the specs for them, and so it tends to run slower over time.
There’s actually a benefit to having a “neutered” iPhone as opposed to an iPod Touch or a wi-fi only iPad, which is that the iPhone has a GPS receiver. Granted, iPhone GPS also uses cell tower triangulation and wi-fi to more quickly establish your location, but it’ll still work without those.
With an iPod, wi-fi only iPad, or laptop without a cellular modem, they rely solely on wi-fi to determine your location, and that’s super unreliable if you’re not in a busy area within range of multiple other wi-fi routers. Supposedly Apple would record the GPS location from any iPhones that connected to a wi-fi router and “tag” the router’s coordinates in its location database, but I’ve been fighting unreliable or completely failed location services at my parents’ suburban house for years, despite multiple iPhones having connected to that router and even trying to submit the location to the Skyhook database (which Apple doesn’t use anymore). So even with fully functional iPhones connected at the same time as iPods, iPads, and laptops, only the iPhones can reliably determine their location.
Now, for something like on-the-road maps, having GPS isn’t any help unless you preload the base maps (which would otherwise be downloaded over cellular data) or are always connected to wi-fi. But for taking photos with a neutered iPhone the GPS can still geotag the locations if you’re interested in that. Having reliable location services is helpful (if not required) for weather apps, personals, fitness tracking, and even media streaming apps (to see if your location is blacked out).
The reason the iPod Touch is $200 is because it’s the current model introduced in the spring of this year, whereas the iPhone 6S is four years old.
If you’re set on an iPhone, Sprint has the iPhone 11 with an unlimited plan for $35 a month. Be advised that Sprint is a major contract carrier, so you’re locked into them for a couple of years, but $35 a month for unlimited data and a free iPhone is a fantastic deal.
OK, I was going off this commercial, which seems to imply the iPhone 11 is free, although I admit it’s short and lacking in details. I’ll accept Sprint’s website as legit. Still, $53 a month is a good deal, Straight Talk unlimited with your own phone is $55 a month.
We have had tremendous luck buying even iPhone 7s and 8 off eBay for ~$120. They are used but in good shape with NO contract at all. The only real concern is the battery lifetime, but a new battery is only max $60 at any service store.
Also note that these will (theoretically) still call 911 in an emergency.
There have been several references to 'iPod" in this thread. An standard iPod is not comparable to a smartphone in any way. Plus Apple stopped making them 2 years ago.
If you mean an “iPod Touch” (and only one older model is still made), we’re still talking about a comparatively basic device.
Sometimes a no-activation-required smartphone comes on the market for cheap. Verizon did this a few years back and I bought 3 of them really cheap just to use as WiFi/media player/whatever small tablets. (I didn’t have my own cell phone at the time so I bought a new MB for one that could be activated on TracFone. I’m sort of doing something similar now as it’s time for an upgrade.)
But for a recent (less than 2 years old) name brand phone this type of deal is not all that common. There are forums that discuss such deals and finding one for the phone you’re interested in may be wise. (And once such a deal hits the forums, the stock starts selling out quickly.)