Three UK blocking 2G data on SIMs placed into iPhone4?

[Cloudane]

Lots of people reporting this on Three's blog:
http://blog.three.co.uk/2010/06/24/threes-price-plans-for-iphone

But so far they're ignoring people who ask this question.

There's also an ongoing discussion over here:
http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=104735

 

[Cloudane]

Just a quick update, been rounding up troops and bugging them senseless and finally it looks like it's going to be resolved within the next few hours, here's the moderator's post from the 3 blog

Hi Guys – quick update on iPhone on 2G. Thanks for your patience and the feedback.

Data roaming on iPhone 4 will be resolved over the next few hours and you will soon be able to roam onto 2G and use the internet without any problems. You may need to switch your handset off and on. Given that we’ve got the UK’s strongest 3G network we’re hoping that most of you find that you won’t need to roam too often anyway ;-)

Thanks for your feedback. We’ll be back on track very soon.

 

[dalvin200]

This is good to know, as my number ported over from O2 to Three this morning.

I docked into iTunes with Three sim and it updated the carrier settings.. so now on my iPhone 4, in Settings>General>Network, the "Enable 3G" toggle has disappeared!! When you Toggle the "Enable Cellular Data", obviously, no data connection.

If this was going to stay this way, BIG oversight, but now it's going to be resolved, then PHEW

But surely, the carrier settings would need to be updated again so the "Enable 3G" toggle comes back?

 

[Cloudane]

It works the opposite to the way I think you think it works

The toggle defaults to 'on' from a fresh installation i.e. it's for disabling 3G, rather than enabling it. 3 don't like you using their SIMs in a 2G phone (if you turn off 3G, that's essentially what it is) so they force you to leave it on by hiding the switch.

You can actually go to the carrier selection settings and choose "3 (3G)" or "3" (Orange/2G) to force it to stick to either as best it can - though it'll pop up nags all the time when it loses the signal, so unless I'm impatient and want to force it to pick up a 3G signal that I know is around, I just leave it on Automatic.

 

[icecavern]

I'm on Orange contract
I cut TWO on PAYG SIMs (2G of O2 and Orange UK) to get micro SIM version
iPhone 4 did not recognise either of them

I followed instruction on web

Now I don't dare to cut my woring 3G Orange SIM

My iPhone 4 is paper weight now

:-(

You do realise you need to connect to iTunes with the sim inside to download carrier settings? Sorry if you do but I had this with my iPad, wouldn't work with the sim, then plugged into iTunes, an update carrier settings dialog popped up so accepted and from then on the sim worked fine.

Pete

 

[dalvin200]

so it's been quite a few hours and i still can't seem to drop back down to 2G... can anyone else?

And yes, I have restarted the phone too.

 

[DemonJim]

By the way now I wonder how to cut the SIM properly

This guide here is perfect, printed it out and cut my T-mobile sim down using scissors and then a file to round off the corners and it works perfectly (after typing in the correct carrier settings given T-Mobile don't have a carrier file on iTunes yet)

http://www.buy-microsim.com/pub/How to make MicroSIM - EN.pdf

 

[Voidity]

2g data back

Contacted three to remove Internet max add on and replace with x series silver and as soon as it became active 2g data returned!! Happy days

 

[dalvin200]

Contacted three to remove Internet max add on and replace with x series silver and as soon as it became active 2g data returned!! Happy days

whats the difference? i have the internet max thing i saw on my statement (i never asked for it.. it just appears by default for the 1gb data allowance)..
is the x-series silver free? you got a link?

 

[thetonyclifton]

A friend of mine got a hand me down 3GS and stuck in her 3 sim - data does not work when there is no 3G signal...is there anything she can do to get a data signal on 2G - or are 3 blocking it completely?

I have read this thread and a bit on the 3 forum linked above, but cant decipher any concrete info.

Thanks

 

[Voidity]

whats the difference? i have the internet max thing i saw on my statement (i never asked for it.. it just appears by default for the 1gb data allowance)..
is the x-series silver free? you got a link?

They both have the same data allowance and cost the same but the x series is unrestricted Internet so you can access everything blocked on Internet max I.e voip, illegal sites, adult content and things like file share and online gambling. However as I say it brought back my 2g data and a week or two on and it's still working.

 

[benfilan]

It was my understanding that Three rent 2G from orange, who charge out the ass for the use of their network. So when you leave a 3G area you basically lose everything except for voice.

A few months ago I bought a three sim to try out for a while because I was thinking of switching to them from O2. 70% of the time it was great and I had perfect, fast 3G coverage, but when I left a 3G area I basically lost everything - no signal, intermittent voice and no internet. (I live in Belfast and travel across town to Uni every day).

I think three would be great if you lived somewhere like London or Manchester or any huge city - and never left there. Because if you do, you'll basically be screwed once you hit any patchy 3G area (which means outside any large city basically).

 

[peterjcat]

2G data roaming from Three onto the Orange networks now works again. You should get EDGE or at least GPRS outside the Three 3G zone. May need to reset network settings or reboot phone for it to work.