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iPhone and Simcard
- Thread starter DeadSirius
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I don't know how you managed that, but when I asked Tmobile about that a few years ago they basically said I have to "buy" the free phone and swap out the SIM card into my existing phone.
Wow great law. After all you are really paying for the phone via the contract, locking it just screws you over twice.
Interesting, we have two major carriers here, Vodafone (GSM) and Telecom (CDMA), and Telecom are often criticised for hanging onto their archaic CDMA network instead of moving to GSM.
Unlock your phone for free.
I don't know if many people are aware of this but if you are with cingular for atleast 3 months, you have the option to get the unlock code from them directly. But DO NOT tell them you are switching to another carrier. They will ask why you want it unlocked, so tell them you are going overseas and need to use the systems that are in the other country. Cingular knows that many customers will not use their international roaming plans, and will give you the unlock code. I've done this with two phones. Hopefully it will be the same with the iPhone.
If you tell them you want it to use TMobile, then they will probably not give you the code. Stick with the "international" story.
I don't know if many people are aware of this but if you are with cingular for atleast 3 months, you have the option to get the unlock code from them directly. But DO NOT tell them you are switching to another carrier. They will ask why you want it unlocked, so tell them you are going overseas and need to use the systems that are in the other country. Cingular knows that many customers will not use their international roaming plans, and will give you the unlock code. I've done this with two phones. Hopefully it will be the same with the iPhone.
If you tell them you want it to use TMobile, then they will probably not give you the code. Stick with the "international" story.
I don't know exactly what the law is. I know they cannot prevent you from unlocking it, but they also do NOT have to help you do it... I think that would mean they could charge you a fee. But again, I'm not sure.
Anywhere that sells unlocked phones. You get the SIM card when you sign up for a service plan...
Yeah, incoming SMS charges are the ultimate form of sucking.
I've never made or received an international call. I would think than an incoming call wouldn't cost extra, but I wouldn't put it past the cell companies to do such a thing.
Each one has its plus and minus. One of CDMA plus is it is a much more secure system and harder break into due to the fact that the data packets are moving around on a fairly large number of freq. Also it handles hand off between towers better than GSM. And has a larger capacity per tower than GSM.
GSM may be a newer tech but it also based of very old TDMA networks. Has more trouble with hand off between towers and it can is less of a security system. And lastly it has more trouble dealing with interferces than CMDA. It more likely to lose it signal in a building than a CMDA phone.
There is another reason most companies went with GSM and not CMDA and it not because GSM is better. In many ways it is worse CMDA. The real GSM was choose is because at the time it was FREE. To use CMDA they had to pay royalty to Quadcom who happen to be the ones who came up with it. So now you see the real reason GSM kick off and it was all about money.
Seriously..does it have to be at least 3 months..cuz Im really in another country and i really do need an iPhone...i mean..if there is another GSM carrier let say..TelKom Indonesia, and I need to use that since im not in the US, i can just stick ina SIM Card and the phone will work in the network...is this correct...?
iPhone!!!!
honestly, apple would have to sell an unlocked version of the phone but i think it will just mean that you cant take advantage of all the features eg, visual voicemail and others.
and they cannot just lock it to cingular as there is (as far as i know) only cingular in the USA am i right?
and they cannot just lock it to cingular as there is (as far as i know) only cingular in the USA am i right?
Seriously..does it have to be at least 3 months..cuz Im really in another country and i really do need an iPhone...i mean..if there is another GSM carrier let say..TelKom Indonesia, and I need to use that since im not in the US, i can just stick ina SIM Card and the phone will work in the network...is this correct...?
Calm down there fanboy. From what I hear cingular will unlock your phone for you if you go in and say you are going overseas. Although I am sure someone will write an app as soon as it comes out that will do all the unlocking for you.
your right on that but they can change who it is lock to for different contries it will be sold in. It a software lock so that is a very very easy fix for them to do.
another interesting thing to find out would be who the international carriers would be, eg Australia, UK, ect
I'm very curious to see if a thriving grey market trade of unlocked Euro versions ends up happening like with other carriers.... although some of the rumors indicate Apple might actually lock the phone in Europe, too.
And cracking the firmware will probably be a lot more complicated than it is on a RAZR....
Hi
Exactly. While I could be wrong, I don't foresee Apple allowing the iPhone to be unlocked and, therefore, AT&T ( Cingular ) will not have a method to do so either. It will take a lot longer than other brands but someone is sure to figure out how.And cracking the firmware will probably be a lot more complicated than it is on a RAZR....
oh, if they unlock it does it mean that its unlocked forever and is it a gurantee that theyll let me unlkock the phone..since they are making sure the phone is unlockable.....
True.
But GSM's big advantage is the SIM card, so you (as the consumer) aren't bound to any one carrier, or even to let your carrier know your specific phone. Which is why 3G GSM, even if is WCDMA, is still better than plain CDMA as it exists here in the USA, where Verizon and Sprint have no obligation to accept a phone that is not one of theirs. And you have no alternative to switch phones easily, say weekday--->weekend phone.
Assuming the phone can be unlocked (many phones are), it usually costs $20-30 to unlock it. Perhaps $20-30 is exorbitant to some, but if you are unlocking the phone for international travel, I think most will consider it cheap. And as others have pointed out, you can buy SIM card in the US, either from carrier or 3rd party.
Not true. the only ruling was that unlocking your phone was not a violation of the DMCA. Doesn't mean the cell co has to do it, or has to do it for free. Just that they can't stop you from doing it. Also doesn't mean apple can't make it a lot tougher to unlock the phone (although I suspect that's a pretty stupid long-run strategy. If they want to lock you in to cingular, better to do that by contract.
Only if you're unlocking for a permanent switch. I popped my sim out for a recent trip. popped cingular sim back in a few days later.
I do not see how a sim card could not work for CMDA phones as well. All it does is really provide the string of numbers that ids your phone.
But really as I listed above CMDA has more + over GSM than GSM has over CMDA. Just GSM was free and CMDA cost money and everyone went with the crappier GSM network because it was free to use.
It the same thing that happen with VHS and Beta. In almost every way Beta was better than VHS just VHS was a little cheaper so it took off and Beta died out because of the same reason.
I'm sure someone's said this, but Apple wants only Cingular to sell iPhones for a while, and Apple's going to do whatever it takes to keep the iPhone from being unlocked.
A Cingular rep told me that some CDMA networks use SIM cards, but only to store data. I guess it's for the phones that don't have internal memory for that kind of stuff.
R-UIM is the way they are going, sort of a SIM + specially designed CDMA features.
http://www.cdmatech.com/products/ruim.jsp
B
Try five year exclusive contract...
did you read the original post?
Try a five you exclusive contract
GSM was once thought to have been far superior, however, now we've learned that GSM simply cannot handle the high data rates CDMA can. With the wireless revolution thats going on, either a break-through is in order, or GSM is in serious trouble. Look at how unrealizable HSDPA's down/up-load rates are already proving to be. All the while, Sprint is spreading it's New 3.5G, network.
Your point might carry more weight if HSDPA weren't actually a form of CDMA. It has very little in common with GSM, which is probably more the reason why GSM operators have such trouble rolling it out.
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