can you use an unlocked phone with a pay as you go plan?

You can use a Nokia N8 as a GoPhone. 🙂

I wasn't aware that they are selling SIM cards on the at&t website for $5, but if that's the case I'd contact customer service and ask if it can be provisioned for either GoPhone service or a post paid plan, what the process is for activation on a GoPhone, etc.  (1-800-331-0500)  To my knowledge, on their website at&t has not sold the SIM cards without an accompanying device.

If you are close to a local Corporate at&t store, imo the easiest thing to do is just visit the store.  They'll set you up with the GoPhone plan of your choice and provide the SIM which you can use in your N8.  And if you'll fund the new GoPhone account, they likely won't charge you anything for the SIM card - if you don't fund the account at that time, they may charge you $25.

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@Omarc44 wrote:
thanks and yes lol they are selling sim cards at the att website im guessing there not activated? because it says that there without commitment im not sure so ur right im going to have to ask thanks for everything 🙂

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AT&T would not sell activated GoPhone SIM cards on their website. If so, they would already have a number (and maybe some funds... ;)) assigned to them that would most likely not be relative to your area code. "Without commitment" would mean that they are being sold off contract, so they would be for sale for the use of prepaid or if you just happen to need a new one. 😉

Have fun with your N8. That sure is a sweet phone. 😉

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@Omarc44 wrote:
thanks and yes lol they are selling sim cards at the att website im guessing there not activated? because it says that there without commitment im not sure so ur right im going to have to ask thanks for everything 🙂

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You can get "No commitment service" - for a post paid plan or of course prepaid, but unless something has changed recently the at&t website just directs you to an at&t store in order to obtain the SIM card and set up your account/service. 🙂

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@gregfcarlson wrote:
Is there any reason an unlocked phone would work with a SIM on contract but not pre-pay?

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Only reason I can think of is if it's an area that uses roaming. When that happens, the SIM should still register on the phone but you'll only be able to make emergency calls.

By the way, you should have made a new thread for your inquiry.

It's a corporate store and it was the technician who put his own contract SIM card into the phone. My iPhone doesn't go into roaming anywhere near the AT&T store so I don't think roaming is an issue. The technician had never seen an issue like this before. I did find a special code I could type into the Samsung C3322 phone to check the lock status of various aspects of the phone. There are 14 different aspects of the phone that apparantly can be locked or unlocked. They are all showing that they're unlocked so the phone seems to be truly unlocked. Is it possible that it's "too unlocked" for the pre-paid SIM card to work?

It does look like there are areas even with post paid service where at&t seems to be indicating on their coverage viewer that you have to have a 3G device in order to have network access.  The Samsung C3322 is not a 3G device - it is quad-band GSM only. 

I don't know that it will explain it, but since you didn't say where you are located I'd take a look at the coverage viewer at a detailed level to see if you are in an area where at&t indicates that prepaid service requires a 3G phone while post paid service is available with a 2G device.

I'm in Corvallis, OR. I looked at the coverage maps and they look the same for pre-paid and everything else. It doesn't seem like a 3G phone is required.

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@gregfcarlson wrote:

I'm in Corvallis, OR. I looked at the coverage maps and they look the same for pre-paid and everything else. It doesn't seem like a 3G phone is required.

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That is odd - as you say, the coverage map indicates the same level/type of coverage for prepaid and post paid accounts.

Sorry, I can't really think of anything else it could be.  Although, have you tried your prepaid SIM in any other devices that are known to be working with at&t's service in the area?  I'm wondering if it could be just a problem with the SIM itself or the prepaid account provisioning.  If you haven't already done something along those lines to confirm your SIM/account is actually functioning, I'd have the store personnel check that end of things.  (Seems like you've checked multiple SIMs in the phone to the point of ensuring the phone works/recognizes various SIMs; but if you haven't checked your SIM in other devices maybe that's where the trouble lies.)