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Unlocked iPhone 3G on Softbank?

GPS sometimes works. But, why?

When I am in the area around the Shibuya or Shinjuku train stations, for example, I can use the Map app on my AT&T iPhone 3G with the SoftBank 3G SIM and pinpoint where I am. As I walk around, the usual blue dot follows me as well. But, this does not happen always. Often, as I try to find where I am in the Map app, it would say that it cannot connect to the internet.

When I do have GPS working, I cannot use Mail app or Safari app.
To be certain, I checked my iPhone and Wi-Fi was disabled.
So, the data part of the SIM was not working on my iPhone then. Yet, I had GPS.

This phenomenon of GPS capability here and there without data support is puzzling me.
But, May 23 is my last day in Tokyo this time and I will fly out of Narita on May 24. So, I will probably not be able to solve this GPS mystery.

Overall, my 2-week stay in Tokyo has been good with SoftBank's 3G SIM in my AT&T iPhone 3G.
I am sure that a whole new game will begin when Apple introduces a new iPhone in June.
 
NTT DoCoMo & AT&T iPhone 3G

I have returned to the States.

Right before I flew out of Narita on Sunday, I took out the SoftBank 3G SIM from my AT&T iPhone 3G and put back the original AT&T SIM in.

With 3G enabled, the carrier shown was NTT DoCoMo.
So, I assumed that, if I were to make calls at that point, I would be roaming on NTT DoCoMo with my AT&T International Plan. That's fine.

My question is this.
For my next trip to Tokyo, if I rented an NTT DoCoMo 3G SIM (assuming that such a rental is available) and inserted it into my jailbroken & unlocked AT&T iPhone 3G, would I then have both voice and data on the NTT circuit?

Or, does iPhone work only on the SoftBank circuit with a SoftBank SIM?

Please advise.
 
profinite said:
SoftBank 3G SIM works on my AT&T iPhone 3G

I must have misunderstood a couple of things at first.

Yesterday, I inserted the SoftBank 3G SIM into my jailbroken and unlocked AT&T iPhone 3G.
This SIM was taken out of the 3G phone that I rented at the Narita Airport because they no longer rent 3G SIM's for use with iPhone 3G.

Then, I realized that only EDGE had been enabled. So, I turned on 3G. Voila!
The SIM is now recognized:

iPhone-SoftBank2.jpg


Now, I can make & receive cell calls on my iPhone 3G.
Full integration with the AddressBook on my iPhone 3G is truly a god-send.
As expected, I cannot do DATA. So, I cannot do emailing. That's something I can live with for now.
And, I don't think I have GPS, either.
As other posters stated earlier, Wi-Fi is virtually non-existent in Tokyo because everybody relies on 3G.

Am I correct that, in order to have GPS, I have to have the DATA part of the SIM working?
Click to expand...

Since the unlocked 3G iphone worked with softbank 3G sim (was that an iphone sim or any softbank sim they provided), will an unlocked 1G iphone work on the same sim aswell?
 
Thanks for the replys.
Does anyone know the data apn settings for NTT Docomo?

I have tried both mopera.net and mopera.ne.jp with no success.
User and password left blank.
 
Informative thread... is SB still not renting their SIM to unlocked iPhone 3G? Should I bring another unlocked 3G phone to Japan, rent the SIM card from SB, and then switch it to iPhone later? I'm traveling to Tokyo from 7/1 to 6... and then I'll be moving to Japan for work in late July! But I'm only gonna bring the iPhone for the short trip, when I move there, I'm gonna get a new phone.

And is it better to rent at Narita airport? Or should I wait till I'm out in the city?

Thanks!
 
profinite, have you gotten the bill yet? I'm just curious because the reason they wouldn't give out the sim for the iPhone is because someone apparently racked up a $1K bill over 3 days. I'm not sure if the iPhone consistently polls for data, but I've turned off all the autofetch stuff. The rate is quite exorbitant though, at any rate.
 
Phone Bill Received

Yes, I have received my phone bill.

For my 2-week stay in Tokyo back in May, the total bill was 32,265 Yen, which showed up on my VISA credit card statement as $337.68.

The breakdown was:
- Rental Fee = 11,760 Yen
- Special Discount = - 4,410 Yen
- Insurance (which I bought) = 2,940 Yen
- Domestic Voice Cals = 20,475 Yen

So, the bulk of the charge did come from making calls while I was in Tokyo.
As you know, in Japan, you do NOT incur charges for INCOMING calls.
But, it is expensive to call another cell phone. I believe that's how they make money.
 
KPT:
Yes, that's exactly why they no longer rent a 3G SIM to owners of unlocked iPhone 3G.
They told me so at the SoftBank counter at Narita Airport.

cloneofsnake:
Essentially, that's what I did as you read my earlier post.
I rented a phone with a SIM from SoftBank at the airport, took out the SIM, and put it in my unlocked iPhone 3G.
The data part was never working on my iPhone, which is fine with me.

As an iPhone 3G user, we are so used to unlimited data.
And, unless SoftBank comes up with a 3G SIM with unlimited data for iPhone 3G users, I agree with the measures that the company has taken.
 
profinite, thank you so much for your quick reply. I'm going to ditch the 703SHf (they gave me a pink one!!! :() and put the card in my iPhone...there's a way to disable data altogether using a fake connection URL I believe, so I'm going to give that a shot just to be ubersafe. Thanks again!

P.S. I've solved the outgoing problem by making all my calls incoming! If you've got Google Voice, you can have it forward to Gizmo5, and have that forward to your phone (as long as you have internet access). That makes it only 17.5 cents a minute to US phones (G5 fees), and about 30~60 cents a minute to Japan phones (GV + G5 fees). :)
 
Pink Cell Phone

Funny that you say a pink cell phone because that's exactly what SoftBank gave me at Narita Airport.
As I sat in a Limousine Bus to Tokyo, I stared at my pink phone and hated it.

Was it a real joy when I discovered that the SIM worked in my iPhone 3G!
My mistake was that I initially did not have 3G enabled on my iPhone because back in the States I normally have 3G off to save battery.

When I turned 3G on and the SoftBank carrier name showed up in the upper-left corner of my iPhone, I had a grin from ear to ear. :)

About Google Voice, I must confess that I know nothing about it.
Would you mind elaborating on what you did a bit more, please?
Your approach sounds terrific as long as I am on Wi-Fi.

Speaking of Wi-Fi, I just bought this on Amazon.com.
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=346
I tested it and works great.
Since the hotel where I always stay in Tokyo has a DSL connection with a router sitting on a desk in the room, the D-Link gadget will give me Wi-Fi for both my laptop and iPhone.

So, I should learn about your Google Voice trick.
Then, I can make all outgoing calls while I am in my hotel room.
 
Sure thing...Google Voice is currently not letting users make invites, but there's a form you can fill for when Google starts giving out US numbers: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/

If you happen to get one these, you can place phone calls to the US for free (and other places for a small fee). It calls you first (at a number you specify), and then dials the number you typed in. This is great because that means even back at home, you can make international calls for super cheap w/o having to put up with AT&T...and you use your normal minutes!

If you make it call Gizmo5 (an alternative to Skype that gives you a SIP # for free, like area code 747), you can pick it up on your computer, or have Gizmo5 forward calls to anywhere in the world they support, Japan being one of them. Forwarding calls is 'outgoing' for Gizmo5, and so they'll charge you the rate of calling Japan.

Therefore, if you have WiFi and Google Voice + Gizmo5 setup, it works like this:

Calling US from Japan (17.5 cents a minute)
Dial # in Google Voice -> GV calls Gizmo5 -> Gizmo5 calls you (17.5) cents a minute + Google charges nothing for calling a US number from 'the US'

Calling X from Japan (??? + 17.5 cents a minute)
Dial # in Google Voice -> GV calls Gizmo5 -> Gizmo5 calls you (17.5) cents a minute + GV charges ???/minute to calling X from the US

Calling X from Y
Google charges you for calling Y from the US and Gizmo5 charges you for calling X from the US.

Note: It's pretty unreliable if the internet connections are bad...Japan isn't suffering for that so this won't work everywhere, but GV is still a blessing no matter how you look at it ;)
 
Thanks for the tutorial!

This is a great tutorial. Thanks so much!
I am going to fill in the form and see if I might be let in.

For calling Japan from the U.S., I have been using an AT&T Calling Card that I just happen to have from Sam's Club.
It is reasonable to call a regular non-cell phone in Japan from the U.S.
But, it sucks up my minutes like diarrhea if I call a cell phone in Japan.
So, your idea will help me immensely in the U.S.-->Japan direction.

Your idea will also help me in the Japan-->U.S. direction, too.
I will no longer have to email from Japan to the U.S. and ask to call me.
This approach was rather stupid and I hated that!

Thanks a million! :)
 
No problemo! Wish me luck! BTW your rental fees were quite high, they didn't charge you 250yen/day for the phone? Weird.
 
more explanation please

Profinate and others in the know,

you mentioned in your two previous posts that you were able to get your jailbroken iphone changed over, you also mentioned that you could have had your phone changed over if you signed up for a two year plan. I'm moving to Japan for about 5 years so the 2 year plan doesn't bother me but do I have to have my phone unlocked and jailbroken to do so (it's not right now)? I was with softbank during the last time I was sent there and still have a softbank 3G phone with sim that is not active right now, would that help?

Thanks for any assistance
 
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