Slim Gives Tips for Switching IPhone Plans From AT&T

Billionaire Carlos Slim’s US mobile carrier is giving users instructions for switching their AT&T iPhones to his prepaid calling plans, showing them how to disable software aimed at preventing customers from defecting.

The site for Slim’s Straight Talk service, sold through Wal-Mart Stores, directs users of the Apple device who have trouble switching away from AT&T to a website that provides information. AT&T has a 9 percent stake in Straight Talk’s parent, America Movil SAB, and has members on the board of Slim’s wireless carrier. America Movil, the biggest U.S. prepaid wireless carrier, is using a Straight Talk unlimited $45 monthly smartphone plan to attract Verizon Wireless and AT&T users. The iPhone instructions are part of Straight Talk’s aim to begin in the next 30 days offering small chip cards, known as SIM, that can be inserted into phones bought from stores, AT&T or T-Mobile USA, said Walter Piecyk, a BTIG Inc. analyst in New York.