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dontwalkhand

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,374
2,863
Phoenix, AZ
Hey guys, since the iPhone 4S Line Experiences you also noticed that I've also purchased an iPhone 4 that was officially factory unlocked to use with T-Mobile. It's the 8GB version, white. You may find some of the steps a little convoluted, but this is a way that I, myself have gotten every feature to work, without any jailbreaking and keeping everything official Apple.

Keep in mind, mine was an unlocked US Model, I am not sure how Canada models etc may function.

Here is what I have done to get this to properly work with ALL FEATURES including FaceTime. After purchasing the iPhone 4, make sure you DO NOT TURN IT ON, instead, just leave it off until you're ready to activate.

I went to a T-Mobile store as soon as they opened and picked up a Micro-SIM for just $10. Go ahead and insert this into the iPhone, but still, DO NOT TURN IT ON yet. While you're at the T-Mobile store, make sure you have International SMS enabled this is needed to activate FaceTime. You only need this once.

Proceed to now go and find Wi-Fi..

Find Wi-Fi, once you make sure that the area you're in has Wi-Fi (I chose the Apple Store since it was in the same mall as the T-Mobile store), and turn the iPhone 4 on. You should be greeted with the traditional iOS 5 setup screen. After verifying that your iPhone says "T-Mobile" with EDGE service, Go through this setup as normal, when you get to the Wi-Fi setup screen, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP If you do not have service with EDGE, go to a T-Mobile store and resolve this first.

After selecting a Wi-Fi hotspot, continue through the rest of the setup until you get to the homescreen. (I have also chosen to setup my iCloud etc then as well, though you really don't need to if you don't plan to use iCloud). If you also have a 4S as well or some other Apple iOS device such as an iPad, setting up the iCloud now is beneficial as you would have all your contacts already etc.

Internet should work just fine now without an APN, but it would be really slow (not normal EDGE slow, but really slow...we will resolve this now). Go to Cellular data network settings in the iPhone's settings app and make sure you enter the following:

Internet APN: epc.tmobile.com

MMS Settings
APN: epc.tmobile.com
Leave Username аnԁ Password blank.
MMSC: http://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/enc
MMSC Proxy: 216.155.165.50:8080
Leave MMS Max Message Size blank.
MMS UA Prof URL: http://www.apple.com/mms/uaprof.rdf

Enter under the Internet Tethering settings epc.tmobile.com as well, and leave the rest of the Internet Tethering section blank, for your Personal Hotspot to work. Now restart the iPhone 4.

Now go ahead and go to Settings > FaceTime, you will notice FaceTime will now try to activate, mine was successful on first shot! (Carrier 11.0) If it doesn't work, there is the option for FaceTime using your E-Mail address as well. Make sure you have International texting service. There will be a one time .20 cent charge on your bill for one text message to the UK.

Voila, you now have everything working on your iPhone 4 on T-Mobile as long as it is a factory unlocked version, without jailbreak!

Respond to this thread and I will answer any questions that you may have!
Hope this helps guys!

The following features work flawlessly that would otherwise not work on a jailbroken unlocked iPhone 4:
FaceTime
iMessage
Push Notifications
Personal Hotspot
iCloud

The following features WILL NOT WORK even this phone being officially factory unlocked
Visual Voicemail
3G service

To fix the ALWAYS ON VOICEMAIL INDICATOR I just called 611 on T-Mobile and had them completely reset the Voicemail system. Let them know you're using an iPhone and they will literally get everything working for you just fine. Your voicemail indicators now will only come on when you have a voicemail.
 

blakes

macrumors newbie
Oct 16, 2011
11
0
Long Island NY
works almost flawlessly

i did exactly what you posted on my factory unlocked running 5.0 with tmobile and now facetime and imessage work. BUT still no MMS capabilities on my phone! i was wondering if you had it working on yours? thank you again for the previous post.:)
 

dontwalkhand

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,374
2,863
Phoenix, AZ
Wirelessly posted (iPhone : Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

blakes said:
i did exactly what you posted on my factory unlocked running 5.0 with tmobile and now facetime and imessage work. BUT still no MMS capabilities on my phone! i was wondering if you had it working on yours? thank you again for the previous post.:)

My MMS works but I've always found MMS to be VERY finicky, try searching for other MMS settings to use on Google, but when you find one that works, it should stay working with no issues :)
 

dontwalkhand

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,374
2,863
Phoenix, AZ
mine still refuses to work! i ll keep on looking for new settings and hopefully i ll get it. thx

This has been very finicky for me as well, even since the early days of SwirlyMMS on an iPhone 2G ;)

I've noticed that different settings works for different people, but the above settings work fine for me. I know that some people gotten it to work better with some Sony Ericsson settings instead of the Apple proof URL.
 

chillhase

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2011
45
0
does the wi-fi hotspot have to have internet connectivity? mine didn't work. but i had no internet connectivity, so maybe thats the reason.
 

dontwalkhand

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,374
2,863
Phoenix, AZ
does the wi-fi hotspot have to have internet connectivity? mine didn't work. but i had no internet connectivity, so maybe thats the reason.

If you don't have a data plan, then there is no point in turning on the hotspot ;) The entire purpose of this is to share the iPhone's internet connection.
 

chillhase

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2011
45
0
If you don't have a data plan, then there is no point in turning on the hotspot ;) The entire purpose of this is to share the iPhone's internet connection.

hm, then I'm getting this whole thing wrong. i thought you have to be in reach of a local area network?
 

dontwalkhand

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,374
2,863
Phoenix, AZ
hm, then I'm getting this whole thing wrong. i thought you have to be in reach of a local area network?

What are you exactly trying to accomplish? If you are just trying to connect to a Wi-Fi network, just use normal Wi-Fi Settings.

If you are trying to create a Wi-Fi hotspot using your iPhone's internet connection, then you would use personal hotspot.
 

chillhase

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2011
45
0
my problem lies here:
Find Wi-Fi, once you make sure that the area you're in has Wi-Fi (I chose the Apple Store since it was in the same mall as the T-Mobile store), and turn the iPhone 4 on. You should be greeted with the traditional iOS 5 setup screen. After verifying that your iPhone says "T-Mobile" with EDGE service, Go through this setup as normal, when you get to the Wi-Fi setup screen, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP If you do not have service with EDGE, go to a T-Mobile store and resolve this first.

After selecting a Wi-Fi hotspot, continue through the rest of the setup until you get to the homescreen. (I have also chosen to setup my iCloud etc then as well, though you really don't need to if you don't plan to use iCloud). If you also have a 4S as well or some other Apple iOS device such as an iPad, setting up the iCloud now is beneficial as you would have all your contacts already etc.
so i have to be near a wlan, if i get this right? and i select the wlan hotspot that i am near to? must this wlan hotspot have internet connectivity? or don't i even need a wlan hotspot?
 

therivenman

macrumors newbie
Oct 17, 2011
7
0
I had a question regarding Facetime activation:

Are you certain that the iPhone only does one text message exchange when you activate Facetime?

I have read other threads talking about people who racked up large cellular bills because the phone continually sent messages to the international number. Although that was in iOS 4. They may have changed the way that Facetime activation works now.

Thanks
 

dontwalkhand

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,374
2,863
Phoenix, AZ
my problem lies here:

so i have to be near a wlan, if i get this right? and i select the wlan hotspot that i am near to? must this wlan hotspot have internet connectivity? or don't i even need a wlan hotspot?

Only during activation. After that, you're ok to go anywhere.
 

thehouseofel

macrumors newbie
Oct 12, 2011
11
0
So why won't this work on a jailbroken unlocked iphone4?

I'm really confused as to why a phone with a registered valid apple id and verified email will always get a "not delivered" reply just because its jailbroken and unlocked.
 

dontwalkhand

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,374
2,863
Phoenix, AZ
So why won't this work on a jailbroken unlocked iphone4?

I'm really confused as to why a phone with a registered valid apple id and verified email will always get a "not delivered" reply just because its jailbroken and unlocked.

Because when you jailbreak and unlock, you're hacktivating it. The key is to get the correct certs from Apple. That's what's needed for Push, iMessage, FaceTime, etc. The easiest way is to activate officially.

----------

I had a question regarding Facetime activation:

Are you certain that the iPhone only does one text message exchange when you activate Facetime?

I have read other threads talking about people who racked up large cellular bills because the phone continually sent messages to the international number. Although that was in iOS 4. They may have changed the way that Facetime activation works now.

Thanks

The phone should only send text messages to the international number once, once FaceTime has been properly activated, everything should work fine. It looks like this process has been more refined in iOS 5 vs. what was in iOS4.
 

thehouseofel

macrumors newbie
Oct 12, 2011
11
0
Ah, I see. . . so as of now, there's no other way for jailbroken unlocked iPhones to use iMessage, Facetime, etc?
 
Last edited:

JReco

macrumors newbie
Jan 13, 2011
2
0
Speed of Edge

Do you know what speeds you are getting on edge? The reason I ask is because I was a T-Mo customer who left for the Sprint iPhone. The '3G' is slow. I did a speed test on speedtest.net and this iPhone is only doing .55 Mbps download, .73 Mbps upload. I was thinking an unlocked version on edge should at least be able to do those speeds...:confused:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_QEuO8dm3Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DytWLcI7PA
 
Last edited:

dontwalkhand

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,374
2,863
Phoenix, AZ
Do you know what speeds you are getting on edge? The reason I ask is because I was a T-Mo customer who left for the Sprint iPhone. The '3G' is slow. I did a speed test on speedtest.net and this iPhone is only doing .55 Mbps download, .73 Mbps upload. I was thinking an unlocked version on edge should at least be able to do those speeds...:confused:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_QEuO8dm3Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DytWLcI7PA

Getting around .15-.55 Mbps which is about 100kbps, tbh isn't bad, it is still faster than dialup and about as fast as "Sprint 3G on iPhone 4S right now" haha ;-)
 

chillhase

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2011
45
0
hey, i got a question on that:
tmobile has a now, very attractive plan, that includes unlimited data, unlimited text and 100 minutes for 30$/month. It is online only. can you tell me if this will work on the iPhone and how i get the plan? i think its not possible to order just the plan online or is it?
 

dontwalkhand

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,374
2,863
Phoenix, AZ
To buy the Micro sim do we need to sign up for another 2 year contract or is it just fork over the cash and leave?

You can just pay $10 to get one. Thankfully

----------

hey, i got a question on that:
tmobile has a now, very attractive plan, that includes unlimited data, unlimited text and 100 minutes for 30$/month. It is online only. can you tell me if this will work on the iPhone and how i get the plan? i think its not possible to order just the plan online or is it?

Best to go into a T-Mobile store and talk with them about it.
 

gtgrad95

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2007
335
83
Atlanta, GA.
got everything to work on my factory unlocked iphone 4...thank you so much! I never got Facetime or MMS to work on iOS 4; it would get stuck on waiting for activation and I didn't want to jailbreak my phone.

Now, the only thing left is Personal Hotspot. I don't have an option for that in my settings. Does this only light up for an AT&T phone?
 
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