Sorry to add to the confusion! I've pretty much reassured after reading the comments made since I last posted.
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UK iPhone 4S thread.
- Thread starter antster94
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Apologies if it has already been discussed but has anybody who has pre-ordered through Three has any sort of shipment notice or had their money taken from their accounts yet? Just wondering as it's been all quiet on my end since I pre-ordered. Thanks
Oh live with it. You're not going to die. I've got through two iPhone orders, and I pre-ordered when they opened up. I'll be getting mine between the 25th-1st Nov assuming Apple doesn't screw this up further.
Well, it really does matter. I am sending my iPhone 4 back to Iceland for my dad to use, he is leaving on friday. So either i have to be without a phone for some time or ship it to him, and that will a pain in the *** due to taxes and customs.
Three and T-Mobile share the same radio network, which is operated by a third part called MBNL. Any speeds you can get on Three should be achievable on T-Mobile too.
Hello there im new, my first comment is this, people please stop moaning and worrying, you will get your phones on the 14th if you ordered on the 7th, it will all be ok.
Now on to my point, has anyone order with vodafone like me, because i have news for you, if you ordered on the 7th through there site, you will get you're iPhone friday, a community rep of vodafone has said you there own help forums, i can't wait to pick mine up from the store on friday. Oh and just to add, if you are also picking one up that you pre ordered from vodafone, i wound not wait for the text to come that tells you to pick it up, just turn up when the store opens, thats what im doing.
Now on to my point, has anyone order with vodafone like me, because i have news for you, if you ordered on the 7th through there site, you will get you're iPhone friday, a community rep of vodafone has said you there own help forums, i can't wait to pick mine up from the store on friday. Oh and just to add, if you are also picking one up that you pre ordered from vodafone, i wound not wait for the text to come that tells you to pick it up, just turn up when the store opens, thats what im doing.
I remember this (although I was going slightly mad between stores at the time).
Thanks for posting the summary - hopefully it will keep people calm
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Three and T-Mobile only share part of the same network through a company called Arqiva which was set up to erect shared masts for both networks. Not all Three and T-Mobile masts are Arqiva masts. It's a step in the right direction and these shared masts are replacing standalone ones for each network but it is still very far from sharing the same mast network across the UK.
However Orange and T-Mobile share masts through a company called "Everything Everywhere" which if I remember correctly, requires the user to explicitly opt into.
O2 share a few masts with Vodafone and there's always been a little bit of crossover going on although the big mast sharing venture has to be between T-Mobile and Orange which together now make the UK's biggest network. Probably a good choice for reliability given how much their masts overlap each other during the days when they competed in the same areas for coverage.
My wife is with Orange. Does anyone know of any issues if she was to take her sim out of her Blackberry, cut it down and put it in an iPhone 4s? Im presuming it will just work. Can they detect what phone you are using. The reason I ask is that she has a few months of contract left on the Blackberry but doesnt want to wait til it expires so we are going to just put the sim in the iPhone. Thanks for any insight.
I think blackberry sims won't work in iPhones, that might not be 100 % true, but im sure i read that somewhere.
any other phone and it would work 100% but blackberrys have their own data so you will likely have to call up orange and have the BB data switched to ordinary data.
Just got off the phone with Orange AGAIN (way too over eager now that my HTC Desire is crapping out) and they are expecting to receive their stock allocation on Thursday and are despatching on Friday - so if you got in early, you can expect a Monday/Tuesday delivery time.
It should be fine.
She may wish to call orange, tell them she's changed handsets, and remove her Blackberry add-on. It'll save her a fiver a month.
I had a contract on a Blackberry with tmobile (taken out last year) and when I got my iPhone 4 (unlocked from Apple) I went into a tmobile store and they replaced the sim with a micro-sim and cancelled the Blackberry £5 add on - I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful they were!
I just got off the phone with Orange too, and was told that we'll get it either Friday or Saturday. Not sure I believe them!
I'm a bit confused over this HSPA+ business. Will we get the benefit of this in the UK? Another thread I was reading was arguing over whether it was actually HSPA+ at all, but I don't really understand all that. Basically will we (specifically Orange) get faster speeds on the 4S? As far as I'm aware, Orange don't have HSPA+, but they do have HSDPA. I don't know what this means though. Explanation, anybody?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Im not 100% sure but I think in some areas we will see speed increases. I had a play with a HTC Desire and used to get the 'H' symbol instead of 3G sometime which meant HSDPA according the Carphone Warehouse. Also, I have noticed that Three are now offering HSPA+ on there Mobile Broadband so I assume it is the same for mobiles with the capabilities. The only issue is, knowing which areas have the HSPA+ enabled.
Apple have an appalling record of getting things delivered for release day in Northern Ireland unfortunately. If it's not looking like it will be there on Friday I'll be queueing up at the Apple Store and I'll just have to return the online order.
HSPA - High Speed Packet Access is the most widely deployed mobile broadband technology in the world today and will build upon the more than 5 billion connections with the GSM family of technologies. HSPA is the terminology used when both HSDPA (3GPP Release 5) and HSUPA (3GPP Release 6) technologies are deployed on a network. HSPA Evolved (HSPA+ in 3GPP Release 7 and beyond) is also part of the HSPA technology and extends an operators investment in the network before the next step to 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE, or 3GPP Release 8 and beyond). HSPA builds on third generation (3G) UMTS/WCDMA and is strongly positioned as the leading mobile data technology for the foreseeable future.
Globally, there are more than 400 commercial networks with HSPA in more than 150 countries. Initial HSPA networks offered 3.6 Mbps peak downlink rates with the bulk of the remainder offering 7.2 Mbps; however, continued progress by vendors and leading innovative operators, allows for HSPA networks capable of peak bit-rates of 14.4 Mbps. The majority of HSPA networks are offering peak rates at 14.4 Mbps unless they have migrated to the next level of HSPA+. The first HSPA+ networks using 64 QAM modulation and offering 21 Mbps are also in operation. The use of higher order modulation schemes (from 16 QAM up to 64 QAM), along with MIMO technology, which takes HSPA into HSPA+ or evolved HSPA was developed in 3GPP Release 7.
Hey! I'm going to assume you're on a Blackberry plan.
I wanted to do the same thing, with Orange too.
I rang them and asked about getting a micro sim, but they first said i had to pay £20 for the sim. They also told me i would need to change to an Iphone plan. This is because BB data goes through a different server etc. So calls and texts would work but the data wont work on the iphone with the BB sim on a BB plan.
Ive had to change over to the iphone plan, and they told me the price of my contract wont change, but for it to be the same price i had to sacrifice my minutes.
Ive recently gone onto my account and it has a notification about the change in talk plan.... however it says im changing to a iPhone extra 36 plan?! correct me if im wrong... but this is a £36 tariff. they told me i wouldnt be paying any extra... im currently on a £30 tariff :/
Hmm let's hope they don't start charging you extra then. My wife is still under contract so i hope they're not going to be awkward about changing plan. She doesnt mind seeing out the contract of course but would like to change phone. I wont be paying £20 for a micro sim, i'll just cut down her old one. It sounds like Orange are being a bit of a pain in places. I'll call them tonight and see how the land lies.
Not sure I agree with everything in your post. Everything Everywhere owns Orange UK and T-Mobile UK outright. It in turn is jointly owned by Deutsche Telecom and France Telecom. Orange UK and T-Mo UK are merging companies in the UK, which is creating massive headaches for their staff. At present you can roam between the two 2G networks, but cannot make data calls or use their 3G services.
MBNL was set up in 2007 between T-Mo UK and 3 UK to share their 3G networks. The latest press release from MBNL states that they manage 12,000 sites for T-Mo/3 and have deactivated 5,000. I cannot find any mention of Arqiva with respect to this arrangement (but please point me in the direction of this information, I'd be interested to read it). Last year Everything Everywhere announced that Orange would also enter into this network sharing venture, as the share of MBNL that T-Mo UK owned was transferred to Everything Everywhere when the merger went through.
That said, it is a legal requirement in the UK that where a new site is planned, the network operator must demonstrate that a site-sharing arrangement will not meet their needs.
In summary, you will end up with Orange, T-Mo and 3 all using the same 3G network and O2 and Vodafone left out in the cold. So far, the only arrangement that O2 and Vodafone have is to share infrastructure (masts and I think cabins as well), but not radio networks.
I am an ex Orange employee and currently work for one of their suppliers.
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