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LumbermanSVO

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 15, 2007
1,234
622
Denton, TX
Several days ago I stopped in Kentucky for my 10-hour break. I surfed the net for a bit then went to bed. I woke up early so I figured I'd surf the net in the hour I had to wait before I could hit the road again. Nothing. No internet. I called AT&T and they verified that they were having EDGE problems in the area.

Yesterday I woke up in Phoenix and sure enough, no internet again. Another call to AT&T and they told me the same story, EDGE problems.

I've had the same thing happen happen before, last time it lasted for 3+ days and went from Reno to Denver.

I'm a truck driver and rely on my phone working 100% of the time, even the internet reception, this is why I bought the iPhone in the first place.

When I bought my iPhone I kept my T-Mobile account active due to all the complaints I've heard about AT&T. When I activated my iPhone I did the pre-paid trick just incase I wasn't happy. I'm now glad I did both of those!

After getting off the phone with AT&T yesterday I got out my MBP and bought access to the truck stop WiFi. I spent a couple hours reading about unlocking my iPhone. After awhile I downloaded iLiberty and went to town. I then called T-Mobile and added T-Zones to my account. My next call was to AT&T to cancel my account.

My next move was to sign up for a Millenicom account, My equipment should be at my home before I get there again.

So, since yesterday I've been fiddling around with the network settings and I just can't get the iPhone to work over EDGE on T-Mobile. I've read and followed every troubleshooting/setup guide I can for T-Zones and it just isn't working. It looks like a lot of people have had to buy the $20 T-Mobile plan to get it working while others have been fine with the $6 plan.

I figure at this point I have three options.
  1. I can wait and see if it just magically starts working.
  2. I can upgrade to the $20 plan and hope it works.
  3. I can just setup a WiFi network from my MBP once my Millenicom equipment gets here and forget about EDGE, saving myself a couple bucks a month. My MBP is running 24/7 anyway and I'm almost always near my truck.

What would you do?

I have all night tonight and all day tomorrow to fiddle with this before I have to hit the road again.
 
I called T-Mobile and upgraded to the $20 plan, everything works now.

I also ordered and antenna kit for my Mellenicom receiver from the 3G store. I may also order this router to go with it.
 
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