Alan Browne

Apple now sells unlocked 4S's in US - GSM version only. No CDMA capability.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-57...le-rumor-mill/

--
gmail originated posts filtered due to spam.

nospam

In article <yJidnZvfm7rwFCPTnZ2dnUVZ_t2dnZ2d@giganews.com>, Alan Browne
<alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:

> Apple now sells unlocked 4S's in US - GSM version only. No CDMA capability.

*all* 4s iphones have both gsm & cdma, its just that sprint & verizon
won't activate it unless it was originally sold for them. other cdma
carriers might. same as any other cdma phone, it's up to the carrier.

Davoud

Alan Browne:

> Apple now sells unlocked 4S's in US - GSM version only. No CDMA capability.

> http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-57...here-and-more-
> fuel-for-apple-rumor-mill/

I would like to understand this better, but I haven't been able to keep
up with it all.

My wife and I vacationed in Montréal recently with our iPhone 4's, but
we did not use them due to the high cost of international roaming. We
stayed in touch with my elderly mother-in-law via Skype on WiFi iPads.

We may be traveling to Canada more often in future, perhaps living
there for a few months out of the year.

It is my understanding that, if we had unlocked iPhones, we could have
gone <where?> in Montréal and purchased <pre-paid?> SIMs and inserted
them in our iPhones. But would they have helped us financially? We
didn't need to make calls within Canada, just to the USA, so we would
still have been hit by high cross-border rates, no?

Alan, could we have bought short term cellular service in the form of
SIMS for our 3G+WiFi iPad 2's at the Apple Store or <where?> in
Montréal?

And what about regular use in the USA? With an unlocked phone can we go
to <whom?> in the USA and get a SIM without a contract and get the same
level of voice, SMS, and data that we receive with our two-year AT&T
contract? If so, at what cost compared to the cost of a two-year
obligation to AT&T?

I should add that, unlike some people, we have had no complaints about
AT&T service in our ownership of iPhones since day 1. We go to NYC from
time to time and have had just one or two dropped calls out of scores
made during prime business hours there.

Still, it seems to me that the mobile phone system needs to be made
technically uniform, globalized, and regulated so that usage rates
reflect cost plus a reasonable profit. I don't see that happening, as
the major carriers are immensely rich and can afford to pay far larger
bribes to lawmakers than I can. So Skype will remain the phone of
choice for people traveling abroad. That imposes inconvenient limits on
time and location for phone calls, but the price is right, even from
iPhone or iPad to land-line.

And what about GPS? I'm fuzzy on what GPS capability I have outside the
USA when I'm away from WiFi and the cellular signal is off. None, it
seems. Do I run up international roaming charges merely by having the
cellular radio turned on, if I am not pushing mail or using the web or
texting or permitting automated syncing as I do in the US?

There's a hell of a lot I don't understand here, and I'm not alone in
my confusion. I don't think that it is in the financial interest of the
cell carriers to help consumers make smart choices.

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

nospam

In article <121120112202533541%star@sky.net>, Davoud <star@sky.net>
wrote:

> It is my understanding that, if we had unlocked iPhones, we could have
> gone <where?> in Montréal and purchased <pre-paid?> SIMs and inserted
> them in our iPhones. But would they have helped us financially? We
> didn't need to make calls within Canada, just to the USA, so we would
> still have been hit by high cross-border rates, no?

you'd pay whatever rates were offered by the prepaid sim. i'm sure
there are several options.

there probably is a paygo plan that offers inexpensive calls to the usa
from canada. here in the usa, at&t paygo has an optional add-on for $10
that includes 250 minutes to canada, so a canadian carrier might offer
something similar going the other way. you could also use a voip app
and a data plan. shop around and find the best plan that fits what you
need.

> Alan, could we have bought short term cellular service in the form of
> SIMS for our 3G+WiFi iPad 2's at the Apple Store or <where?> in
> Montréal?

all 3g ipads are unlocked. you can get a local sim anywhere you go. as
above, plans will vary.

> And what about regular use in the USA? With an unlocked phone can we go
> to <whom?> in the USA and get a SIM without a contract and get the same
> level of voice, SMS, and data that we receive with our two-year AT&T
> contract? If so, at what cost compared to the cost of a two-year
> obligation to AT&T?

the only gsm alternative in the usa is t-mobile. they offer some pretty
good plans, but data will be limited to 2g speeds because t-mobile uses
a different variant of 3g than most, called aws.

one prepaid plan in particular is t-mobile's new $30/mo for unlimited
texting, unlimited data and 100 minutes of talk, with 4g speeds for the
first 5g/mo and throttled after that. unfortunately, an iphone can't
get 4g or 3g speeds on t-mobile.

> And what about GPS? I'm fuzzy on what GPS capability I have outside the
> USA when I'm away from WiFi and the cellular signal is off. None, it
> seems. Do I run up international roaming charges merely by having the
> cellular radio turned on, if I am not pushing mail or using the web or
> texting or permitting automated syncing as I do in the US?

gps will work anywhere. your best bet to avoid surprise charges is
remove your sim before you go abroad and you will be guaranteed to not
run up any roaming charges. the gps will still work. you can also
disable data roaming or data entirely in settings.

> There's a hell of a lot I don't understand here, and I'm not alone in
> my confusion. I don't think that it is in the financial interest of the
> cell carriers to help consumers make smart choices.

true, and that's not just cellular either.

JF Mezei

Davoud wrote:

> It is my understanding that, if we had unlocked iPhones, we could have
> gone <where?> in Montréal and purchased <pre-paid?> SIMs and inserted
> them in our iPhones.

That is correct.

Fido, Rogers, Telus, Bell are the main ones (Fido is a subbrand of
Rogers but Rogers has multiple subbrands).


> But would they have helped us financially?

Yes, big time.

In the case of Fido, they have a dial-around service 1011555 which gives
yu affordable long distance to canada and USA from within Montreal,
Ottawa and I think Toronto.

Also, you would be receiving phone calls "locally" which means that the
USA caller would be paying long distance to reach you in Montreal,
instead of your paying exhorbitant AT&T roaming rates not only for
airtime but also for long distance from your home town to your location
in Canada.

> Alan, could we have bought short term cellular service in the form of
> SIMS for our 3G+WiFi iPad 2's at the Apple Store or <where?> in
> Montréal?

Nop. The Apple store will sell you a non contract (unlocked) iPhone, or
a contract iPhone with Fido, Rogers, Bell or Telus. They won't sell you
prepaid service on those. However, you may be able to coax them into
giving/selling you a sim card for the network you want, and you can then
get prepaid service associted with that sim card.

(sim cards you get for prepaid will be the standard size, not the micro
sims, so you either have to have it punched at some mobile phone store,
or cut it out yourself to fit in the iphone)


> And what about regular use in the USA? With an unlocked phone can we go
> to <whom?> in the USA and get a SIM without a contract and get the same
> level of voice, SMS, and data that we receive with our two-year AT&T
> contract?

In the USA, you can go to any GSM network (AT&T or t_mobile being the
biggest) and get any tyope of subsciption (except blackberry specific
packages). You can get prepaid or postpaid. It is best to bring an
el-cheapo phone to register so they don't mark you as having a smart
phone, then you switch your sim to the iphone.

One important thing: Apple appararently still allows carriers to hide
the APN settings menu even on unlocked IOS5 phones. You need to
jailbreak the phone, SSH or SFTP into the phone and delete the carrier
bundles (or rename them) which opens the menus and you can set the APNs
approrpiate to your subscription.

If you do not get an "iphone" package, AT&T won't allow you access to
the APNs that are hardcoded in the iphone's carrier bundles.

This applies to the carriers in canada as well.


> And what about GPS? I'm fuzzy on what GPS capability I have outside the
> USA

As soon as you cross the border, the USA will be notified and missiles
will track your every movements ready to obliterate you if necessary :-)

GPS works around the globe, but service in arctic is not as good because
all satellites are south of you so the geometry isn't as good unless you
are really north at which point you can see satellites that are over
europe/russia over the pole.

> Do I run up international roaming charges merely by having the
> cellular radio turned on,

This depends on your carrier policies. Some will have a dialy charge of
say $2.00 just for turning your phone on in foreign countries, but most
won't. They will ding you the second you make/receive a call though.

For data, if you are roaming, expect mega bills. Your monthly package
that allows X megabytes of data applies only while in the USA. The
minute you enetre canada, you get billed for every kilobyte. (or
whatever the roaming fee AT&T charges you).

There is where you need to compare the cost of having local prepaid
ervice in canada vs roaming on your AT&T service).

http://www.fido.ca/web/page/portal/F...o=prepaidPlans

I am told they now support data plans on prepaid.

Doug Anderson

JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> writes:

> Davoud wrote:
>
> > It is my understanding that, if we had unlocked iPhones, we could have
> > gone <where?> in Montréal and purchased <pre-paid?> SIMs and inserted
> > them in our iPhones.
>
> That is correct.
>
> Fido, Rogers, Telus, Bell are the main ones (Fido is a subbrand of
> Rogers but Rogers has multiple subbrands).
>
>
> > But would they have helped us financially?
>
> Yes, big time.
>
> In the case of Fido, they have a dial-around service 1011555 which gives
> yu affordable long distance to canada and USA from within Montreal,
> Ottawa and I think Toronto.
>
> Also, you would be receiving phone calls "locally" which means that the
> USA caller would be paying long distance to reach you in Montreal,
> instead of your paying exhorbitant AT&T roaming rates not only for
> airtime but also for long distance from your home town to your location
> in Canada.
>
> > Alan, could we have bought short term cellular service in the form of
> > SIMS for our 3G+WiFi iPad 2's at the Apple Store or <where?> in
> > Montréal?
>
> Nop.

I think Yep to this question, actually. He's asking about iPads, not
iPhones.

GSM iPads are not sold locked to a provider (at least not if you buy
them in the US from Apple).

He can buy a Rogers SIM and buy data at some block rate, for example.
Like $15 for 250 MB and $35 for 5GB or something like that.

nospam

In article <4ebf5e75$0$5585$c3e8da3$4db35a27@news.astraweb.co m>, JF
Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> wrote:

> One important thing: Apple appararently still allows carriers to hide
> the APN settings menu even on unlocked IOS5 phones. You need to
> jailbreak the phone, SSH or SFTP into the phone and delete the carrier
> bundles (or rename them) which opens the menus and you can set the APNs
> approrpiate to your subscription.

no need to jailbreak. just use apple's iphone configuration utility to
set the apn and anything else that's needed.

JF Mezei

nospam wrote:

> no need to jailbreak. just use apple's iphone configuration utility to
> set the apn and anything else that's needed.


Tis may work, but will not allow you to set the tethering APN.

Davoud

JF Mezei:
> One important thing: Apple appararently still allows carriers to hide
> the APN settings menu even on unlocked IOS5 phones. You need to
> jailbreak the phone, SSH or SFTP into the phone and delete the carrier
> bundles (or rename them) which opens the menus and you can set the APNs
> approrpiate to your subscription.

APN: Appareil Photo Numérique, Advanced Practice Nurse, Agent Premium
Newsgroups, Americans for Peace Now, Alpena Regional Airport,
Australian Part Number, Associated Pharmacy Network...

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

Todd Allcock

At 13 Nov 2011 10:23:06 -0500 Davoud wrote:
> JF Mezei:
> > One important thing: Apple appararently still allows carriers to hide
> > the APN settings menu even on unlocked IOS5 phones. You need to
> > jailbreak the phone, SSH or SFTP into the phone and delete the carrier
> > bundles (or rename them) which opens the menus and you can set the
APNs
> > approrpiate to your subscription.
>
> APN: Appareil Photo Numérique, Advanced Practice Nurse, Agent Premium
> Newsgroups, Americans for Peace Now, Alpena Regional Airport,
> Australian Part Number, Associated Pharmacy Network...


Since we're discussing the iPhone, we can safely assume that APN stands
for "Access Point Name" in the same way that we assume that "GSM" doesn't
stand for "General Service Medal" or "General Sales Manager".