So I went to a Rogers store today (Canada's equivalent to AT&T). The sales rep told me that the reason that the iPhone 4/4S requires a mandatory $25 data plan on top of the voice plan is because the phone always needs to maintain an internet connection when turned on, otherwise not even the phone function will work. My immediate reaction was this was BS, need an internet connection to make phone calls? My iPhone 3G doesn't even have any data plan and it makes calls just fine. But I did hear about rumours that Apple wants iPhone users to always have some kind of internet connection for the purpose of checking if someone jailbroke their device or if they're hacking. So for the people who have a 4S, is this rumour complete BS? Does your device always need to connect to the internet? It reminds me of some other Nintendo 3DS rumour about how Nintendo forces people to always connect to the internet so they can't hack. I don't really mind the $25 extra each month for the data plan, but if this surveillance thing is true then no way I'm getting this.
Typically speaking, all iPhones are sold with data plans. As far as I know the only function of the phone that flat out will not work without a data plan is Visual Voicemail. Without actual cellular data connectivity that reverts back to clunky old school voicemail. The reason they refuse to sell the phone without a data plan is that it's fairly useless with cellular data disabled and if you enable cellular data without a data plan on your account just checking your email can cost you quite a bit of money since most carriers still have archaic bill-per-kilobyte rates. As far as tracking is concerned, a good rule to live by is to not listen to anything anyone at a cellular store tells you ever. In fact, I'd argue that one of the best things Apple did with the iPhone is encourage people to buy them direct from Apple Stores, eliminating those idiots from the picture entirely.
Ah I see, good to know that rumour is false. I have a 3G and for the 2 years I've had it I've only used wifi on it. I don't really use the Appstore on the phone to download. Sucks they're forcing this data plan on it, I doubt I'll even use half of the limit.
For the majority of smartphones, including android, they do require a data plan. I'd be more than happy to stick with wifi itself. Data can be a burden to your family if everyone else wants a smartphone, since each smartphone would require a data plan.
I've never listened to one thing a rep in a cell phone store told me, they rarely know what they are talking about. He was false (of course), you can have no data on your iPhone and still use the phone function. Probably that guy's first day. (let's hope)
