IPhone :: 3G User Moving To Ireland For One Year

My wife and I are moving to Dublin in a little less than a month so that my wife can earn a Masters from Trinity College. We will live there for 12 to 13 months.We've been AT&T users for five years and upgraded to iPhones last summer. As you might expect, we've become pretty attached to our phones and would like to use the Wi-Fi feature overseas (as well as Skype for international calls, of course). However, we do not want to stay with AT&T the next 12 months (prolonged international AT&T usage = bad idea), and therefore plan on getting some cheap phones in Dublin from a local provider so that my wife and I can communicate when we're apart.

This is where you come in. What can we do to cut ties with AT&T but continue Wi-Fi usage of our iPhones? I did some research this morning and read several accounts of individuals canceling AT&T service, removing the SIM card and using their iPhone like an iTouch without issue. However, other accounts mentioned that AT&T can disconnect Wi-Fi when customers cancel service--not sure how that's possible, but there you have it.On another note, do you know of a way to suspend AT&T service for one year so that we don't need to pay monthly bills but also don't need to pay the account cancellation fee? Probably a long shot, but it would be the most convenient option.I thought I would ask around here before making the call to AT&T and showing some CSR all of my cards. Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.