A Few Questions about Iphone on 3 UK Network... [Archive] - 3G forum : your 3G community and resource.

View Full Version : A Few Questions about Iphone on 3 UK Network...

jkrashid

02-12-2007, 06:33 PM

im contemplating buying an unlocked iphone here in the UK, im tied to an 18 month 3 contract atm with unlimited internet (got the lgu990 which i love but its not very good for emails). I have a few questions:
1. With unlocked iphone can itunes still be used to transfer music?, is this the only wy to transfer music?
2. Those that have iphones with a 3 sim card, do you get gprs and edge? if so how fast is edge as i havent really heard much about it? The guy at the apple store in meadowhall said edge was like a 384kb broadband connection.
3. Does google maps work on the iphone with a 3 sim card? Is google maps sufficient with gprs?
4. Those of you that have bought unlocked iphones can you use the wireless hotspots for free?
5. Can i ebay via the iphone as in upload my item photos for the auction?
6. Can i use my sony bluetooth headphones with the iphone?
7. How can u tell if your 3 sim is a vanilla sim or a USIM?

Im sorry if these have been answered already its just im about to go on holiday and am thinking of getting an iphone as a christmas present from me to me!

bcarty

02-12-2007, 07:27 PM

the iphone is not a 3g phone i dont think the phone will work with a 3 sim card in it

boozer

02-12-2007, 09:25 PM

It will work...but only until 3 realise that you are constantly roaming onto Orange (or O2) for a 2g signal, as the Iphone is not 3g. This roaming costs 3 money, they will then "bitch slap" your sim off the air. Terms and conditions, see?

Game over.

bcarty

02-12-2007, 09:41 PM

i would stick with the lg viewty you have at the moment imho its a better phone

jkrashid

02-12-2007, 11:03 PM

i think your right, ive been reading more into the iphone and the more i do, the more i get put off it, ive decided to stick with the lg until a 3g iphone comes out, also ordered an 8gig mem card for the lg!

tokyohe92

17-06-2008, 01:08 PM

when i look at the iphone in the UK the first thing i think is 'What the hell are you doing APPLE!' i understand that the origional iphone o2 is a good choice but now they are releasing the iphone 3G in July why are they sticking with o2 as the sole network provider? why do Apple choose to sell their iphone 3G to a network with the worsed 3G coverage i have ever seen! they would be better off giving it to 3 just like they are doing in Hong Kong, they have the best 3G coverage in Europe and they don't charge roaming rates on their sister networks like everyone else, better for business?!
I really do agree that by giving the iphone 3G to 3, both Apple and 3 would benefit! i'm sorry but it does not make any sense giving a 3G phone to the UK's smallest 3G network, in 3G terms O2 are RUBBISH!

sweetice2007

17-06-2008, 10:13 PM

yeah o2 are crap your right - apparantly they are increasing the 3g coverage but even then its covering around 80% of the uk - i think its absolutely crap - il be buying one on p&g unlocking it and popping my own simcard in there same way i did for the first one thanks!

The_Fellowship

17-06-2008, 10:27 PM

I'm thinking of doing the same, but they reckon it's going to be a lot harder to unlock the new 3G iPhone...though nothing is impossible :)

Will see how things go after the release in July...

wenklaw

17-06-2008, 11:23 PM

I'm thinking of doing the same, but they reckon it's going to be a lot harder to unlock the new 3G iPhone...though nothing is impossible :)

Will see how things go after the release in July...

I reckon about 2 or 3 weeks until a 'crack' is widely available on the net!

Do o2 bung apple a load of dosh to be its exclusive iphone partner in the UK?
Personally I am not really a huge fan of anything made by Apple, its all a bit fashion and lacking functionality.....

MrSilly

29-06-2008, 08:33 AM

My three SIM would not work in an iphone when i tried it so anyone wanting to hack one and use it with a three sim may be disappointed.

hip59

29-06-2008, 03:31 PM

"My three SIM would not work in an iphone when i tried it so anyone wanting to hack one and use it with a three sim may be disappointed"

Was it a 3G iphone or just the iphone. As three is a 3g network only if it was the iphone alone, its no wonder it dint work!

PeteMc

29-06-2008, 03:46 PM

2. Those that have iphones with a 3 sim card, do you get gprs and edge? if so how fast is edge as i havent really heard much about it? The guy at the apple store in meadowhall said edge was like a 384kb broadband connection.

3 do not have an EDGE network, your iphone should roam on to Orange. Orange have a a few EDGE cells here and there but do not provide solid EDGE coverage every where. EDGE does not give amazing speeds anyway, I get around 100kbps on O2's EDGE network compared to 40kbps for GPRS.

koh

29-06-2008, 10:28 PM

Do o2 bung apple a load of dosh to be its exclusive iphone partner in the UK?
....

Apparantly Apple wears the trousers in this relationship rumours that profit split is at least 60-40 for apple.

boyced

06-07-2008, 05:53 PM

Planet3

13-07-2008, 06:34 PM

has anyone heard wether the 3g iphone will be released to other operators or will it remain an 02 exclusive (again)?

koh

13-07-2008, 09:02 PM

It will be a network exclusive again. this is the way apple work only having 1 network in each country. they were pretty much forced to go with o2 in the UK as they are the only network that actually cares about 2G. its left them in a crap situation about the 3G version as they are stuck on the worst 3G network by miles.

Personally after playing around with one i am looking forward to the many phones that will put the iphone to shame like the N96 and be available on all networks

Planet3

13-07-2008, 09:25 PM

i can't believe they overlooked 3 for the 3g iphone.

Planner

14-07-2008, 11:57 AM

matty1000kk

14-07-2008, 02:16 PM

they overlooked 3 for several reasons..
1. the network is in last place on TOTAL network coverage/ capacity/ quality
2. 3 underestimated the value of the IPhone contract.
3. 3 refused to sell their soul to the devil.. mainly because they were owned by one.

FYI, in Hong Kong, 3 were given just 500 IPhone 3G.....

Regarding point 1, how do you come to that conclusion?

Three has the BIGGEST 3G network in the UK combined with 2g backup from orange so how can it possibly be in last place for network coverage? I know call handover can be dodgy at times from 3g to 2g but, the LG Viewty is brilliant at handing over calls allmost 95% of the time so the network seems to be up to it.

Planner

14-07-2008, 02:36 PM

why network testing of course, across all operators using the same terminals, routes, software and set up... and I was quite specific with the word TOTAL, you will get no argument from me about 3 having the biggest 3G network.

Orange in general on 2G comes 4th of the big 4 operators..., 3's HHO is set at a ridiculous level so that it doesnt work properly & Orange's 3G network does tend to cause problems with 3 as it seems to try to attach to this occasionally, but is refused, so the call drops..

matty1000kk

14-07-2008, 04:45 PM

Ok fair point.

I do not agree however with orange having the 4th best 2g network. I would have thought orange's coverage would be greater/equal to T-mobiles coverage. Also i live in an area that has reasonable orange 3g coverage and can honestly say i've never noticed it affect call handover from 3 3g to orange 2g but i know this is just my experience.

Is there any other things that can affect 3g to 2g handover apart from signal strength of 3g and 2g?

Planner

15-07-2008, 10:37 AM

networks conditions are very relevent coverage wise to where you are... however, Orange are in 4th place coverage wise overall across the UK, this is OFCOM testing (which is published) as well as in house testing within the company I work for..... techincally, you can argue with my results (perhaps my company drive favourable routes etc, although we dont) but you can argue with OFCOM...

interestingly enough, t-mobile used to be joint last.... but they have invested a great deal of money recently and are a lot closer to the top of the list...

they may have sorted the HO issue out then..

HHO can be affected by many things....

2G capacity (if the cell is full, you cant get onto it)
2G Quality- rx qual of 6-7, RxLev worse than -100dB will drop the call on a dual mode phone
length of time it takes to Handover- this is usually 4-5 seconds (on a colocated network, this is substantially longer for 3)... by this time you could of traveled several hundred metres in a car or walked around a corner, which means the 2G cell that you were trying to get onto is no longer visible.. this would mean you would need to start the HHO process again.. by this point you could more than likely of lost 3G and the call would drop.

the last point is the most likely.

matty1000kk

15-07-2008, 12:21 PM

I am really surprised to hear that orange are 4th for coverage i always thought they were some where near the top.

Here in north essex, orange and t-mobile offer the best coverage (best being having the largest service area and in bulding coverage) with 02 easily being the worst both 2g and 3g wise.

Planner

15-07-2008, 12:52 PM

Like i say, it all depends where you are... different operators are stronger in different area's..

another thing to note, is that the difference these days isnt huge between the big 4... your talking 1% or so (in population coverage)... enough for the operators to crow about who is best to potential clients and business, but in reality... not too big a deal to your average punter..

babyj_m

16-07-2008, 08:41 AM

spudmail

16-07-2008, 09:43 AM

I am on the 3 network and want to get the new iphone with 3g and get it unlocked, but will it work with my 3 sim ???(i pay line rental each month) Can anyone help or any suggestions? I don't want to risk buying one and then it won't work with my sim! :confused:

You have to sign up to an 18 month O2 contract with iPhone 3G - the contract signup takes place in store now, so even if you do get it unlocked, you're still left paying for an O2 contract. The PAYG iPhone is due to come out near to Christmas, but will cost a lot more to buy.

marlin026

16-07-2008, 10:47 AM

Three sim doesn't work in iphone, says sim invalid. Thats on an unlocked phone.

My 3 UK sim worked in my early firmware iPhone. I unlocked it myself and worked fine. Couldnt use the web though! :)

Hauntedkop

03-10-2008, 06:56 AM

Anyone know how to set up an unlocked iPhone 3G for 3 UK sim so that it can use web, wi-fi, etc.?

Any help is much appreciated.

Eddie_Rees

06-10-2008, 02:49 PM

AceCobra1

06-10-2008, 08:04 PM

tokyohe92

27-10-2008, 11:14 AM

O2 is the worst network for 3G so apple are not doing themselves any favours there. I do agree that orange is the worst roaming partner for 3 again, what were they thinking dropping o2 for orange. However no one in the world can argue with the fact that 3 is the largest 3G network in europe.
T-mobile and Vodafone are the worst networks ever personally, to clear things up, not being rude, but the origional Iphone will not work on 3, their SIM cards are specifically 3G even though you may roam on orange it will only work in 3G phones. just out of interest have you tried putting their SIM in a phone which was released before the 3 network was launched? the phone crashes and if the SIM is placed in a 2G phone then the SIM will be rejected. in terms of the 3G iphone on 3 its probably best to take it into their 3stores, they can profesionally unlock it and advice you on any compatability issues, i am not a fan of the iphone though, mainly because i have something against apple but thats not the point, o2 have had more iphones returned to them than they have had customers keep them due to compatability issues therefore i would not advise you to put one onto 3, if you want a good touchscreen phone, business phone and entertainment phone then go for something like the Tocco, comming soon to 3 or the LG Renoir (not the best multimedia phone btw) or the Blackberry Bold which 3 are going to get. Also a little heads up on the Nokia N96, if you like 3 for their services such as Windows Live Messenger, Skype ect. beware they do not work on the N96, although im not 100% on the skype compatibility btw. hope this helped slightly.

tokyohe92

27-10-2008, 11:20 AM

Yeah i got mine working too through turbosim - would i get charged at an international rate now that I am roaming then even though I am actually using the phone in the UK?

PS. The O2 broadband is A LOT faster than 3

Yeah o2 broadband might be quicker but thats only good if they have coverage, i have been into a numbr of o2 shops now and i havnt been able to use the one on display because they dont even have signal in their own shops! thats bad. At the start of december 2008 3 are upgrading their broadband from 2.8 Mbps to 7.2 Mbps to rival vodafone, however this does only affect certain cities to begin with. take a look at their site to check out their future coverage as it explodes everywhere:
http://www.three.co.uk/personal/products_services_/mobile_broadband_/rollout_map.omp

Planner

30-10-2008, 09:31 AM

however O2 are the best for 2G coverage, so as the IPhone is a mobile PHONE first, and a data device second, (in theory) then the correct company to go with is O2.
(my phone is Orange btw)

treble99

31-10-2008, 06:41 AM

Just a quick note to advise folks that I got my 3G iPhone working on Three yesterday. I used a rebelsim and it worked fine - the only quirky thing is that you have to set "Overseas Data Roaming" to "on" before you can access the web.

Under Cellular data do you have manually configure the advanced section ?

If so is this how you do it ?

APN: three.co.uk
Username:
Password:

With an 02 PAYG Sim these fields read:

APN: Payandgo.02.co.uk
Username: vertigo
Password: password