Moving to the USA - iPhone 4S

AskYerMa

Hi, I am moving to Phoenix Arizona next week, Im not the most knowledgeable about phones etc...
I have an iphone 4S at the moment, I have requested it to be unlocked via the O2 website, Can i just buy a pay as you go sim card in the USA and put it on the phone ... im sure its not as wasy as that...... Any info would be greatly appriciated....

Thanks

Graham.

GoodisonPark

Depending on which software version you are running it may be possible to "jailbreak" the phone which would allow you to use any SIM.
An unlock code from o2 wont work.

AskYerMa

Im on the latest iPhone OS. How do I jailbreak the phone?????

GoodisonPark

Try www.jailbreakme.com but I would say if you are on the latest IOS then its most likely not possible.
You could sell the phone then buy a new one in the States.

cookie1977

If you've requested it to be unlocked from o2 then they'll send you a text to say it's ready to be unlocked. Then all you do is sync it with iTunes and you can use any sim in it.

Jailbreaking is available for the latest 5.1.1 iOS release but this persay won't unlock the device. It just allows you to use another method to unlock. But if o2 are going to unlock then there's no need to go down the jailbreaking route

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

pigeon999

A heads up T-Mobile won't work. In America they have this thing going where a big network lets a company use their network and the company has great pay as you go offers. Very similar to Tesco Mobile over here. One of those company's are called redpocket they use AT&T's network which is compatible with your phone. Or you could get bill pay 2 year contract if your going to stay in America for that long with AT&T. Also you'll have to get the APN settings(internet settings) for you're network and phone.

TBi

pigeon999 wrote: »

A heads up T-Mobile won't work. In America they have this thing going where a big network lets a company use their network and the company has great pay as you go offers. Very similar to Tesco Mobile over here. One of those company's are called redpocket they use AT&T's network which is compatible with your phone. Or you could get bill pay 2 year contract if your going to stay in America for that long with AT&T. Also you'll have to get the APN settings(internet settings) for you're network and phone.

T-Mobile will work, you just won't get 3G data. Verizon is the only one that might not work but the 4S handles both CDMA and GSM so it theoretically can.

You won't need that long a contract for a sim-only plan and the APN settings will set automatically when you put in an AT&T card.

Solair

Once the iphone is fully unlocked, all you'll need is a US SIM card and a suitable data plan.
I'm not sure if things have improved, but prepay in the states used to really suck.

You might be able to get a 30 day contract, SIM only plan.

You can use any GSM/UMTS 3G network, but not CDMA networks like Verizon, which uses different technology i.e. there are actually two different versions of the iPhone on sale in the US a GSM/UMTS version same as here and a CDMA version for use with Verizon etc.

There's zero advantage to CDMA-One/CDMA-2000 really, it's just that the US attempted to develop its own digital mobile system, rather than using GSM. It never really took off world wide as it's highly proprietary and limits handset and network equipment choices for carriers.

But, basically just pick a network that has SIM cards and you should be fine!

There's a list of virtual networks on Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_virtual_network_operators

H2O wireless seems pretty reasonably priced!

TBi

Solair wrote: »

You can use any GSM/UMTS 3G network, but not CDMA networks like Verizon, which uses different technology i.e. there are actually two different versions of the iPhone on sale in the US a GSM/UMTS version same as here and a CDMA version for use with Verizon etc.

The 4S will work on both, it has a Combined GSM/CDMA antenna.

ED E

TBi wrote: »

The 4S will work on both, it has a Combined GSM/CDMA antenna.

Yeah, but CDMA is simless so he'd have to flash a verizon fw to do it no?

Solair

CDMA uses an electronic serial number, a bit like a digital version of what the old Eircell 088 phones used. You'd probably need to get something done to register the handset etc etc could be complicated!

there's no particular advantage to CDMA either, so I would just stick with UMTS to be honest!

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Green Diesel

AskYerMa wrote: »

Hi, I am moving to Phoenix Arizona next week, Im not the most knowledgeable about phones etc...
I have an iphone 4S at the moment, I have requested it to be unlocked via the O2 website, Can i just buy a pay as you go sim card in the USA and put it on the phone ... im sure its not as wasy as that...... Any info would be greatly appriciated....

How did you get on?

I'm going to Massachusetts next week and have an unlocked iPhone 4. Only going for 2 months so looking for a prepay unlimited data plan.

Was looking at http://goredpocket.com/ but would rather buy it in store to make sure everything works etc. Any advice?

I also have a Samsung Galaxy s2 which I'd prefer to use but it's locked and under contract.

Matt Bauer

There's a lot of miss-information in this thread.

Here are the facts:

As long as o2 unlock your iPhone 4S, you will be able to use your iPhone with most networks in the US. No need to jailbreak or do anything of the sort. Just pop in an American SIM card, as the iPhone is a "world phone". However, if you go for T-Mobile, currently only EDGE will work, though T-Mobile are working on rolling out an iPhone compatible 3G network.

Solair

Just throw in an AT&T SIM and you should be fine.

Some of the smaller local GSM networks are also completely compatible with it too.

There's a long list of virtual networks on this site too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_virtual_network_operators

Check for ones that are hosted by AT&T and you should be sorted.

Things aren't quite as straight forward in the USA as they are in Europe because there are multiple frequencies used for GSM and UMTS. Europe was far more standardised as the frequencies were allocated with these technologies in mind. The FCC made a bit of a hash of it in the states with all sorts of weird and wonderful allocations that are specific to one operator in some cases.

You need it to be compatible with :

UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); (at least one of these)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) (at least one of these)

The issue with T-Mobile is that their UMTS is on 1700Mhz in some areas.

Matt Bauer

Good advice, Solair.

Green Diesel

Just to confirm, is the same the case for an iPhone 4?

Solair

Green Diesel wrote: »

Just to confirm, is the same the case for an iPhone 4?

iPhone 4S:

UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz);
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz

iPhone 4:

UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz);
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

iPhone 3S:

UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

iPhone 3:

UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Apple's phones are compatible with the AT&T GSM/UMTS infrastructure in the US as AT&T was their core supplier there. It's also using fairly standard specs.
They're also compatible with ALL ETSI/European Specification GSM/UMTS networks used in the EU, and most of the world other than North America.

T-Mobile USA is an odd-ball network as it has some strange frequency allocations.

Apple (and other manufacturers) don't generally make custom phones for one network.

So, basically the same advise applies for all iPhones, other than the original iPhone which didn't support 3G at all.

The issue in North America is pretty simple. The FCC (the US version of ComReg) made a dogs dinner out of the frequency allocations for mobile operators. The result was that the US has ended up with an amazing array of frequencies for 2G and 3G services.
The industry has generally now consolidated on two incompatible technologies : UMTS/GSM and CDMAOne/2000. UMTS will ultimately replace CDMAOne/2000 as all the operators are now planning to converge on GSM's 4th Generation technology LTE.

Until a few years ago you'd even more incompatible networks: 1) TDMA, 2) CDMA, 3) GSM, 4) iDen and 5) also some analogue services were still on air until relatively recently.

In Europe there was a deliberate effort to ensure that networks across the EU were compatible. That's where GSM came from in the first place. It was designed to eliminate several totally incompatible analogue technologies and to ensure pan-EU roaming. UMTS (3G) and LTE (4G) are part of the same family of standards and retain all that compatibility in their design.

From a consumer's perspective, the EU approach has turned out to be a lot more friendly as it means you can swap networks and keep your handset and devices just work without having to think too much about frequencies and other things that are irrelevant to a normal end user.

The whole idea of GSM standards was that the customers' accounts are linked to a SIM card and that that SIM card could be put into any GSM-compatible device and the whole thing just works. It incorporated a lot of ideas about portability and ease of moving between networks and countries.

Non-GSM networks like CDMAOne/2000 in the US still lock the phone to the network using hardware built into the handset, much like the old 088 network did here.

So, basically if you're moving to the US, you're a lot more restricted in terms of which networks you can swap between without having to ditch your phone.

Green Diesel

Very interesting, thanks Solair.