Need quick "yes" or "no"

Lynette, You won't be able to make any phone calls either.

without the SIM card you can't possibly get charged since the SIM has the account info. However make sure the iPhone powers on and works with the SIM out! My old cell phone would not function at all without a SIM card in it.

That's what I thought. Thanks Paul.

Thanks everyone. I realize that I won't be able to make calls and that I will need to rely on wifi. No chance whatsoever of extra expess, but I still have the convenience of my music and aps. Only headache will be making sure it doesn't get stolen. ATT store said I should leave it at home and have a nice vacation. They said iPhones are going for $1000- attractive to thieves.

Lynette, Some other people have mentioned this, but I'm not sure if you realize this: many phones will not work without a SIM card in them. They will not function except for emergencies. Make sure that your iPhone will work without the SIM card in it. (I'm not so sure it will.) If it does not work without your SIM card, your best option is to keep your SIM card inside your phone, but with Airplane Mode turned on. This will ensure that you will not use any data or minutes through AT&T. However, some apps will not function without wifi or a service connection. Depending on what you hope to use, you will have to plan around this. Be careful with your phone, just as you will with your wallet and passport. However, since they sell used on Ebay and similar sites for a few hundred dollars, I don't see how they would be worth $1000. Definitely watch out for it though! My cousin had her's stolen, but she set it down on a table near her in a bar so it was easily preventable. (You'd think after living in NYC for a few years she'd have more common sense about that :) )

If you want to take a wifi-capable device (not sure if that's the correct terminology), you could buy a used iPod Touch on Ebay or maybe Amazon. My sister lent me her old Touch for a trip I took in the U.S. this summer; because it was obviously a few years old, I wasn't worried that anyone would be interested in stealing it.

Why would a used iPhone go for $1000 on the black market when it's cheaper to buy a new one legitimately? Especially now that it's less than a year until a new model comes out? I would agree that unless you have already done so, check to make sure that your iPhone will function at all without the SIM card. I have never tried removing mine. If it does not work without the SIM, just put your phone into Airplane Mode. This will disable any cellular data transmission (as an extra precaution, you can also go into Settings > General > Network and make sure that "Data Roaming" is turned off). Putting the phone into Airplane Mode will also disable WiFi, but you can turn that back on manually. Turning on WiFi while in Airplane mode will not enable cellular data, and you will be fine. I brought my iPhone on my trip last fall and used it extensively, in Airplane Mode. Absolutely no extra charges were accrued, and I am glad I had the phone with me.

NO
============= Disadvantage of Airplane Mode: you can't get a GPS signal in case you have a GPS-base app.

When I bought my Iphone directly from Apple, without a phone plan( I'm in Canada and we can do that) it came without a Sim card. Until I actually got a plan from a service provider, and they gave me a Sim card, the phone was nothing more than an rectangular box with electronics inside that did absolutely nothing( can't even turn it on ). If you intend to remove the Sim, card, I suspect your Iphone will not do anything...an easy way to find out? Pull the Sim card now, before you go, and see what happens. As already mentioned, the way to go is to simply put the phone in "Airplane" mode, turn on the "Wifi" feature, and you'll be okay, no roaming charges...

"Why would a used iPhone go for $1000 on the black market when it's cheaper to buy a new one legitimately?" Here's a (casual) graph that gives you some idea of the prices; at the time of this graph, an iPhone is the USA went for $200-600, without service provider: http://www.flickr.com/photos/choreographics/4836719813/sizes/o/in/photostream/ From the article: "Note that all of these prices are in Euros, and that they all reflect the out-of-contract price -- because the US iPhones are locked to the AT&T network currently, our country doesn't appear on this list."

Those prices are slightly higher than I expected, but even so, you have to consider that this graph 1) came out less than 2 months after the iPhone 4 was released, and 2) assumes the phone is new. Most of the 16GB model prices are generally comparable to the ~$700 AT&T charges without a 2-year contract. Its value will only keep disintegrating the closer we get to the next generation's release (rumoured September, but probably mid-2012). But I should probably stop before this turns into another unnecessary segue.

You can turn off the data plan. I have traveled three times to Europe and the UK with my iPhone and I've used it as a phone and with wifi for the data. You go to Settings, General Settings, network and turn off Cellular data. I also turn of data roaming, but if your cellular data is turned off then then there is no data to roam. AT&T walked me through this. I paid for my phone calls, but didn't make many so it wasn't a big deal. No $1,000 plus bill, not even a extra $100. Pam