michelepri
macrumors 6502a
I don't think there are too many people with too much money. On the contrary I think that there are too many people with not enough money.🙂
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Fully SIM Unlocked iPhones
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I don't think there are too many people with too much money. On the contrary I think that there are too many people with not enough money.🙂
koobcamuk
macrumors 68040
Compare it to the third world? I think not.
You're right though - too many people with not enough money, borrowing beyond their means.
CWallace
macrumors G5
Once you have an iPhone and start surfing, I think you will find 4MB a day limit to be laughably small.
And that, I believe, is how Apple could be able to "get away" with charging for the handset, even at the £35+ rate plans. Even cellphones that can surf the Internet can't really surf it like the iPhone can. I use a shedload of data bandwith with my iPhone and the fact I can use as much as I want for $20USD a month is the reason. If I had hard limits per day - especially limits like 4MB - then the phone would be useless to me as an internet access device.
So I think the UK carriers are going to need to go to unlimited data, or at least significantly raise their daily limits.
Agreed, in principle. But I do believe Apple will be able to charge for the handset.
I can't see that high a price. That would be double what they are in the United States with the current $ to £ ratio. Halve those prices at a minimum. Maybe even third or quarter them.
PCMacUser
macrumors 68000
Hmm, you've obviously misinterpreted my post. I simply want to be able to use the iPhone on my GSM network in my country. I don't know anything about AT&T so there's nothing to dislike. We have Vodafone and nobody else here. The thought of waiting 8-12 months for a product which by then will be out of date is ridiculous.
PCMacUser
macrumors 68000
As my post above. I didn't realise my simple post could be so misinterpreted! 😱 Well I suppose these people must've decided what I meant before reading it...
This Engadget report by Ryan Block on a software unlock is looking very suspicious.
In his original report he claims that the unlock was "painless at our end" - which would imply that it was done remotely? Now he says that the team visited him and performed the unlock there.
The video he recorded shows him using the "unlocked" phone to call Victoria Belmont. The call is made, another phone rings, Ryan answers it. All this is supposed to prove that the unlock was genuine.
One huge problem. She wasn't there! So how did he have her phone?
In his original report he claims that the unlock was "painless at our end" - which would imply that it was done remotely? Now he says that the team visited him and performed the unlock there.
The video he recorded shows him using the "unlocked" phone to call Victoria Belmont. The call is made, another phone rings, Ryan answers it. All this is supposed to prove that the unlock was genuine.
One huge problem. She wasn't there! So how did he have her phone?
question fear
macrumors 68020
not sure. But given engadget's reputation as a reliable gadget blog (see all the press [and response from the company!] they generated over their open letter to palm). Maybe they didnt write up the specifics to avoid spilling any potentially proprietary information on behalf the software unlockers? They also said there were some weird editing cuts because they were trying to hide phone numbers, etc. And Veronica Belmont used to be a CNET reporter, and has some connection to the endgadget guys I think.
Point is, it might be suspicious, but i think that's more of a "choppy video to protect potential intellectual property" than a scam.
Not to divert all of you from having a yelling contest over Britains phone service but....
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/08/28/iphone.unlocked.ap/index.html
I guess there is money to be made in hacking.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/08/28/iphone.unlocked.ap/index.html
I guess there is money to be made in hacking.
I'm not questioning the editing of the video, I'm wondering how he dialed her phone which he then answered even though she was not there!
question fear
macrumors 68020
Uh, quick google search on "veronica belmont engadget" leads you to robert scoble's blog from 2006, where he mentions Ryan Block is dating Veronica Belmont. So she either left her phone with him or loaned for the purposes of the video.
koobcamuk
macrumors 68040
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/10/nokia-n81-and-n82-come-to-light/
This phone will be for free and has 3G. People here will snap it up! Me included!
This phone will be for free and has 3G. People here will snap it up! Me included!
yzp
macrumors regular
a canadian folk did unlock his iPhone using a "turbo sim" card...
even if this is probably out for a while, have a look at www.bladox.com
even if this is probably out for a while, have a look at www.bladox.com
ozontheroad
macrumors 6502
unlocked iPhones
you can buy unlocked iPhones in Bangkok (thailand). Or if you have an iPhone they will unlock it for you.
The 8 gig iPhone costs 35,000 thai-baht
for unlocking an iPhone they charge 5,000 thai-baht
They do this at the M.B.K shopping mall at Siam Square, just across from Paragon.
the entire forth floor of the mall is dedicated to selling mobile phones, gaming platforms, pirate software, pirate movies, etc
you can buy unlocked iPhones in Bangkok (thailand). Or if you have an iPhone they will unlock it for you.
The 8 gig iPhone costs 35,000 thai-baht
for unlocking an iPhone they charge 5,000 thai-baht
They do this at the M.B.K shopping mall at Siam Square, just across from Paragon.
the entire forth floor of the mall is dedicated to selling mobile phones, gaming platforms, pirate software, pirate movies, etc
No problem. Check with ATT and see how long you can suspend an account for. Use to be a month or two, IIRC with Cingular. Many wireless as well as other monthly billing services offer account freezes/suspensions or whatever it's called. VERY handy to save a little money if you are out of the country. I doubt it will make any difference, but being able to document that you are a student-studying abroad might help in some circumstances.
You could roam with ATT for a fortune, but getting an unlocked cell and using either local SIMs by country or a prepaid universal SIM will be much cheaper, especially usefull so the folks that you meet can call you back without having to dial the U$.
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Greenjeens
Some of the petty and not so petty means VZW uses to sell more services, including disabling features that should be free on phones suck. But their coverage and CS has it's advantages for some. Especially if you are in rural areas and want to be able to roam on the huge AMPS/analog system, especially useful out west. I'm not sure how many thousands of sqaure miles of coverage analog adds, but it's not a small amount. Of course very few people live in those areas, but that's EXACTLY where I want a phone to work!
One huge difference between VZW and SPCS, is the amount of hold time for customer service. Just do a test...time how long it takes to get CS (611) to answer using Verizon Wireless, then try SPCS. Verizon is often less than 1 minute... I don't know how long it takes on Sprint, because I've never had the patience to wait that long.
I will always do this test before deciding to switch carriers. Right up there with making sure the phone works before leaving the store!
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Greenjeens
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Greenjeens
I agree whole-heartedly. I'm on Verizon at the moment. A rep called the other day giving me a schpeal about upgrading my phone and extending my contract. I asked if they had the iPhone. The reply was no they do not and I said then I don't need to upgrade my phone. 😀
rocks
I use to get those calls from VZW. I asked if I could keep my 7PM nights plan and that stops them everytime. However, this time they said if I agreed to a 1 year contract that they would pay my next cell bill. I hate contracts, but $50 is $50. Of course, they get to charge $175 if I leave. Seems like just paying the $50 back would be more fair, but they have some nasty and arbitrary contract rules.
-Greenjeens
The FCC's idea to let there be a free for all and let the best technology win, compared to Europes single GSM standard is what has split the US cellular market the most.
The advantage to US CDMA is a well planned equipment upgrade path to faster data speeds.
GSM will be upgrading but to another CDMA technology. Both GSM and CDMA upgrade technologies and intrmediate steps will use CDMA technologies that COULD be put in one phone.
Our US cell systems may not be uniformly advanced, but they certainly have variety🙂 I suspected CDMA was chosen as the best technology since it was picked much later than GSM and will be the basis for all future GSM upgrades. But both US and European network operators are trying to get to "there" from different places, profitably.
There just aren't the wide open spaces through Europe that we have in the US, so it costs a lot more money to fill out low density communities, especially with multiple technologies.
But we are all going to some version of a CDMA type technologies either way. I hope starting a GSM network like ATT-Cingular-ATT did and saving money with the abundance of tower equipment and GSM handsets won't delay the upgrade to the new fast WCDMA replacement for GSM. Which apparently is a much more difficult and expensive upgrade.
Both models have their merits, easyiest upgrade for a late US bloomer or economies of scale and uniformity of equipment with GSM. US CDMA Cellcos are not as crazy as they seem, they just started later and have to cover a lot more areas spead out.
Likely there wil be advanced handsets that do both CDMA and WCDMA for international travellers, with a little analog left in mountains, God willing.
GSM handsets are so mature that they are really incredible!
I'm not sure it matters too much yet, after all we're mostly talking about higher data rates driving the uprade path, and those come at a very high price and will not appeal to everyone. Perhaps we already found the killer application: talking. Either way, Qualcomm has most of the patents and will win no matter who dominates. And sometimes a better technology poorly planned, doesn't turn out as well as a workable solution well implemented. ATT is a notorious cherry picker. Who's gonna serve the rural crowd is what I'm woried about, that and having an alternative to using our great old AMPS network in the boonies. The Iphone's GSM network is far from universal across the sparsely populated western landscape.
I have both CDMA and GSM and only in America does one get the freedom to choose multiple technologies, for which the Europeans are dismayed. That and having to pay when someone calls your phone. If they did the math I think our backwards, anyone using wireless bandwith pays pricing would be cheaper for the volume of minutes. Different strokes though!
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Greenjeens
khunsanook
macrumors 6502
actually, yes they can get your iPhone working as an iPod, but not as a phone yet.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/050907_Database/05Sep2007_data001.php