The General iPhone Thread and FAQ

[dawiz]

	Quote:	Jonnyinter
	Is there anyone here that has used the iphone 3g abroad? Is the roaming incredibly expensive or not? I travel lots so it would be nice if it wouldnt cost an arm and a leg. Thanks.

I've used my Blackberry abroad in the past, with Swisscom's CHF 3 per MB roaming plan. 3 megabytes of data ended up costing me 188 Fr.

the problem is that Swisscom charges you in 300kb chunks, not per kb. So yes, it's insanely expensive - don't do it.

peter

[Jonnyinter]

Thanks Peter but do you know anything about orange roaming?

[Ed Pummelon]

Orange prices are listed on their site but I'm pretty sure they're just as bad

Hi,

Dos anyone know how to load a certificate into Safari on the iPhone (3G, 16Gb)?

I've tried googling and searching this thread but no joy yet.

I've tried mailing my cert to gmail and downloading like that but Safari says it can't download that file. :/

[Ed Pummelon]

	Quote:	Shippy
	Hi, Dos anyone know how to load a certificate into Safari on the iPhone (3G, 16Gb)? I've tried googling and searching this thread but no joy yet. I've tried mailing my cert to gmail and downloading like that but Safari says it can't download that file. :/

It appears they can be a bit tricky. This discussion may be relevant...

[MaZo]

I'm still on the look out for a pre-paid / no subscription iPhone 3G. I prefer Swisscom since I already have a Swisscom pre-paid number, but why the heck does Orange charge CHF 240 more (CHF 759 against CHF 519 at Swisscom) for the same damn phone? I can get myself an HTC Diamond for the same amount of money.

[dawiz]

	Quote:	MaZo
	I'm still on the look out for a pre-paid / no subscription iPhone 3G. I prefer Swisscom since I already have a Swisscom pre-paid number, but why the heck does Orange charge CHF 240 more (CHF 759 against CHF 519 at Swisscom) for the same damn phone? I can get myself an HTC Diamond for the same amount of money.

Orange doesn't offer the iPhone with a prepaid plan. The 759.- are for the phone without a plan - but it still is operator-locked. There's no point in using the iPhone with a prepaid plan anyway. Even if you don't use it much, you'll easily be using up 100mb of data per month.

Considering the problems I've been having with the iPhone lately, you might be better off with an HTC Diamond anyway :-/

peter

[robban]

	Quote:	Ed Pummelon
	Orange prices are listed on their site but I'm pretty sure they're just as bad

My appalling experience of orange.ch continues. You don't automatically get international roaming when you take out a contract (I am on Optima 100). I thought this might be the case so deliberately called them before I went to a wedding in the UK this weekend and asked for international roaming to be switched on. Guess what? When I got to England, no service at all, no phone, no data... nuffink. I borrowed someone else's phone to call orange.ch to find (surprise surprise) my iphone has to be in Switzerland to be activated and they hadn't done it before I left. Moral: Make sure you have international roaming switched on before you leave. The flip side is my weekend in the UK cost me nothing in extra charges

I'm still waiting for them to pick up the second iphone they sent me, still untouched in the packing box...

[Worm_Buffet]

	Quote:	Jonnyinter
	Thanks Peter but do you know anything about orange roaming?

It's 8 CHF per MB for a certain region (europe), and 15 CHF everywhere else. Still ridicously expensive in other words.
I believe the iPhone has a setting to turn off data roaming, to be on the safe side.

[MaZo]

	Quote:	dawiz
	Orange doesn't offer the iPhone with a prepaid plan. The 759.- are for the phone without a plan - but it still is operator-locked. There's no point in using the iPhone with a prepaid plan anyway. Even if you don't use it much, you'll easily be using up 100mb of data per month. Considering the problems I've been having with the iPhone lately, you might be better off with an HTC Diamond anyway :-/ peter

Prepaid or not, that doesn't mather for me. I'm just looking for an iPhone without a subscription.
I just don't understand why Swisscom can sell an operator-locked phone for CHF 519, while the exact same package (and also operator-locked) costs CHF 759 at Orange.

[Worm_Buffet]

	Quote:	MaZo
	Prepaid or not, that doesn't mather for me. I'm just looking for an iPhone without a subscription. I just don't understand why Swisscom can sell an operator-locked phone for CHF 519, while the exact same package (and also operator-locked) costs CHF 759 at Orange.

Swisscom are more naive than Orange?

I think someone posted earlier in this thread that Swisscom had stopped selling the prepaid phones. I don't think it makes much sense to subsidize prepaid phones that heavily, especially with the threat of an unlock hanging over them.

[Ed Pummelon]

	Quote:	MaZo
	Prepaid or not, that doesn't mather for me. I'm just looking for an iPhone without a subscription. I just don't understand why Swisscom can sell an operator-locked phone for CHF 519, while the exact same package (and also operator-locked) costs CHF 759 at Orange.

Because it's not the same package, as per Peter's post. Are you not planning on using data? If not, then I don't really see the attraction of an iPhone over anything else. If so, then the question of whether it's pre-paid or not should be relevant for you, surely?

[Castro]

	Quote:	Worm_Buffet
	It's 8 CHF per MB for a certain region (europe), and 15 CHF everywhere else. Still ridicously expensive in other words. I believe the iPhone has a setting to turn off data roaming, to be on the safe side.

This is why the iPhone Maps application is so rubbish, you can't use it abroad unless you want to run up hundreds of francs in data charges.

[Worm_Buffet]

	Quote:	Castro
	This is why the iPhone Maps application is so rubbish, you can't use it abroad unless you want to run up hundreds of francs in data charges.

It's depressing how carriers everywhere seem determined to gouge customers on data roaming. Despite the constant pr disasters where a carrier eventually backs down on an exorbitant bill some poor ignorant customer obtained while checking e-mail on holiday.

I guess it will be a few years before it comes down to a reasonable price, much like roaming in general did.

[Castro]

Have to say, poor 3G reception isn't one of my major complaints

iPhone 3G reception just fine say curious Swedes with engineering degrees

by Thomas Ricker, posted Aug 25th 2008 at 5:40AM

There's been a lot of discussion lately about iPhone 3G reception issues. Whether they exist or not is largely irrelevant in a world dominated by sound-bite driven perceptions. Nevertheless, some industrious Swedes decided to apply a little scientific method to the argument and found something interesting: the iPhone 3G performed just as well (or just as poorly, depending upon your mood) as a Nokia N73 and Sony Ericsson P1 when compared head-to-head in a mobile communications test chamber. The test was conducted by real-life antenna engineers just like those camera-fumbling souls contracted by the FCC. Of course, who's going to let a few facts stand in the way of contrary opinion and litigation, eh?

Engadget

[dawiz]

	Quote:	Worm_Buffet
	Swisscom are more naive than Orange? I think someone posted earlier in this thread that Swisscom had stopped selling the prepaid phones.

they only stopped selling them to people living outside of Switzerland - as 99% of these phones ended up on eBay (and quite pointlessly so, since there's still no software-unlock for the 3G iPhone and it's getting more and more likely that there's not going to be one, either)

peter

[dawiz]

	Quote:	Castro
	Have to say, poor 3G reception isn't one of my major complaints iPhone 3G reception just fine say curious Swedes with engineering degrees

I guess the question is: how many phones did they test? Apple says the issue is present in only 2% of the phones.

peter

[Ed Pummelon]

I'm finding it more and more difficult to separate fact from fiction - especially, as the article so rightly says, in a world ever more driven by soundbites.

All this smacks a bit of the complaints about poor battery life, with many people conveniently ignoring the fact that although it was shorter than that of its iPhone predecessor, it was still one of the longest out of its equivalent competitors.

However, if Apple have admitted to the problem, then I guess it must exist.

I just get the feeling that people are finding more reasons to complain about their phone than they are finding reasons to enjoy it. But as always the universal Web 2.0 law applies, decreeing that it's always the negative experiences that rise to the top of the blogging / forum pile, so its very difficult to judge whether this is really the case or not.

Christ I'm rambling. Time to lay off the coffee for a bit.

[dawiz]

	Quote:	Ed Pummelon
	I'm finding it more and more difficult to separate fact from fiction - especially, as the article so rightly says, in a world ever more driven by soundbites. All this smacks a bit of the complaints about poor battery life, with many people conveniently ignoring the fact that although it was shorter than that of its iPhone predecessor, it was still one of the longest out of its equivalent competitors.

It may be true that it's better than the competitors' - but that's just a bad excuse, really. Because the competitors don't get it right doesn't mean Apple doesn't have to get it right, either.

All I know is: I like my iPhone but lately I've been having an increasingly big number of issues with it (stability problems, apps closing all the time, push email doesn't work right anymore etc.). I think the overall stability improved when I did a full restore last night - but the whole experience hasn't been a very satisfactory one. Not that other phones would be better, though

peter

[Ed Pummelon]

	Quote:	dawiz
	It may be true that it's better than the competitors' - but that's just a bad excuse, really. Because the competitors don't get it right doesn't mean Apple doesn't have to get it right, either. All I know is: I like my iPhone but lately I've been having an increasingly big number of issues with it (stability problems, apps closing all the time, push email doesn't work right anymore etc.). I think the overall stability improved when I did a full restore last night - but the whole experience hasn't been a very satisfactory one. Not that other phones would be better, though peter

Just for clarity, I should point out that I'm not using any of this as some kind of defense of the iPhone's shortcomings, of which there are many - and christ knows it's as easy to be written off as some kind of blinkered fanatic on this forum as it is anywhere else. My point is more that when a product gains as much media and public attention as this one, it becomes very difficult to separate myth from reality. And that goes for the manufacturers as well as the users.