25% of iPhones UNLOCKED

[RadioFoneGuy]

Originally Posted by scotsboyuk

Maybe I'm being really daft here, but I'm still not sure I understand. The unlocked iPhones available in France are legitimate, they are sold by Orange with the full knowledge of Apple. I imagine that non-French can buy a legitimately unlocked iPhone in France although they do cost quite a bit more than the locked versions.

Didnt know Le Frogg Wireless was aloud by Apple to do that, seem very non Apple.

[RadioFoneGuy]

I have never had that bad of a time on GSM and I have been on all 4 world wide frequencies. probabably at least 10 carriers world wide and on a multitude of handsets.

The only time I ever had poor audio it was due to the handset or tower. The only time normally I had real bad interference with electronics was on older GSM running EFR which is wider than AMR and not frequency hopping.

I had my TV on yesterday talking on the cell right next to it while reading the serial off my Cable box and no buzz.

The thumb area your in also gets some interference from the Canadian Carriers,

Interference on a GSM BCCH causes more damage than on a PN from CDMA. That is a benefit for CDMA.

Its also possible your phone wasnt set up right.

From your words if definately sounds worse case senario.

Sucks you had that experience, now your going to be that Chevy VS Ford guy because of the same sorta issue.

"I will never use GSM again because the Flux Capaciter is causing interference with my MP3 player to tape deck adapter"

Im just playing dont be so negative.

POP QUIZ

Question 1

CDMA biggest threat of interference is from What?

A. GSM
B. Analog
C. Solar Flares.
D. Itself

[bobolito]

I think even if the iPhone was available to all carriers they would still have this many iPhones unlocked. Many of us forget that the point of unlocking an iPhone is not only to use it on another carrier but to be able to do a lot more with it than Apple wants you to. The problem is Apple confines the iPhone to be used with iTunes only and only to install their authorized applications. When you Jailbreak an iPhone, you can install a whole variety of programs that let you do all kinds of things with the iPhone.

I've had an unlocked one in my hands, and let me tell you the iPhone is A LOT more fun after unlocked even if you're still using it with AT&T.

[RadioFoneGuy]

I bet it is, if you could also add MMS would also be sweet.

Something else that is sweet is a Tilt running one of the Iphone themes, you can do just about everything minus the visual voice mail (boo hoo) and the Tilt has a keyboard back up.

Apple needs a 3G with a slider keyboard for those with fat fingers, MMS usability, better camera, choice of web browers, better email support similar to Blackberry and bang I might actually buy one, minus that fact that I dont care for itunes. Just my opinion im sure there more that can be done.

[Simon5282]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

POP QUIZ

Question 1

CDMA biggest threat of interference is from What?

A. GSM
B. Analog
C. Solar Flares.
D. Itself

E. All of the above

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

I bet it is, if you could also add MMS would also be sweet.

Something else that is sweet is a Tilt running one of the Iphone themes, you can do just about everything minus the visual voice mail (boo hoo) and the Tilt has a keyboard back up.

Apple needs a 3G with a slider keyboard for those with fat fingers, MMS usability, better camera, choice of web browers, better email support similar to Blackberry and bang I might actually buy one, minus that fact that I dont care for itunes. Just my opinion im sure there more that can be done.

And the Tilt is cheaper, 3G, and has expandable memory. It supports MicroSD's up to 32GB.

-Jay

[scotsboyuk]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

Didnt know Le Frogg Wireless was aloud by Apple to do that, seem very non Apple.

Apple didn't really have a choice if they wanted to sell it in France. French law mandates that an unlocked version must also be available for sale. I'm just wondering now whether this could be used to force iPhones to be sold unlocked in the UK. I seem to recall there being something about goods sold in one EU member state having to be sold under the same terms as in other members states. I'll need to look into that.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by scotsboyuk

Apple didn't really have a choice if they wanted to sell it in France. French law mandates that an unlocked version must also be available for sale. I'm just wondering now whether this could be used to force iPhones to be sold unlocked in the UK. I seem to recall there being something about goods sold in one EU member state having to be sold under the same terms as in other members states. I'll need to look into that.

They can probably get around that by issuing the French models a special model number, and say its due to a French character set and language, and not make it available anywhere else. Can't you hear it now... "Oh, iPhone model 8gbFR_UNL is unavailable in the UK because it has a French character set, and French models are not sold in the UK..."

-Jay

[cellular_freak]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

I have never had that bad of a time on GSM and I have been on all 4 world wide frequencies. probabably at least 10 carriers world wide and on a multitude of handsets.

The only time I ever had poor audio it was due to the handset or tower. The only time normally I had real bad interference with electronics was on older GSM running EFR which is wider than AMR and not frequency hopping.

I had my TV on yesterday talking on the cell right next to it while reading the serial off my Cable box and no buzz.

The thumb area your in also gets some interference from the Canadian Carriers,

Interference on a GSM BCCH causes more damage than on a PN from CDMA. That is a benefit for CDMA.

Its also possible your phone wasnt set up right.

From your words if definately sounds worse case senario.

Sucks you had that experience, now your going to be that Chevy VS Ford guy because of the same sorta issue.

"I will never use GSM again because the Flux Capaciter is causing interference with my MP3 player to tape deck adapter"

Im just playing dont be so negative.

POP QUIZ

Question 1

CDMA biggest threat of interference is from What?

A. GSM
B. Analog
C. Solar Flares.
D. Itself

Yeah, I have heard that the Thumb and Eastern Michigan up to I-75 suffer from interference from Canadian frequencies, but you never seem to have a problem down by Detroit. Have you ever heard of a 1900/850 MHz GSM issue? With 850 getting the bulk of the buzz and not 1900? Because, all I know is that even the other day, I was talking to my grandma and the phone and she has a GSM phone and all I head was this "BZZZ BZZZ BZZZ" coming from her end. I asked her if she was standing next to an electronic and she said no. But that's the same buzzing I had in my phone when I had a GSM phone too. But, since I do live in the Thumb, and this is what's happening, I'll have to forever pass on switching to AT&T for the iPhone until the WCDMA verision is released and hopfully WCDMA does not suffer the same downfalls as GSM.

And you're right: I will never drive a Ford.

[Eric47]

Originally Posted by cellular_freak

iPhone until the WCDMA verision is released and hopfully WCDMA does not suffer the same downfalls as GSM.

And you're right: I will never drive a Ford.

why would UMTS suffer from GSM "downfalls".. im not sure what those downfalls are..and the fact that UMTS is superior to anything else out im confused a bit

[cellular_freak]

Originally Posted by EricN4707

why would UMTS suffer from GSM "downfalls".. im not sure what those downfalls are..and the fact that UMTS is superior to anything else out im confused a bit

I'm saying that I'm hoping WCDMA is a lot like CDMA in the fact that voice quality is much improved and there is no interference with electronics (as is with GSM). I will not switch to AT&T to get the iPhone if it come out in a WCDMA version if WCDMA is still like GSM with those annoyances. But if WCDMA is like CDMA, I will be more than happy to make the switch!

[Eric47]

its better than CDMA...3G on ATT is amazing to me. i love going to ATL on day trips and i take my old LG CU500 just for the occasion, data/voice/etc is all great. UMTS/WCDMA, whatever you wanto call it is a True 3G, comparing it to CDMA is no comparison at all.


besides GSM's interference is not that bad, just dont stand next to any clock radios and you wont hear any buzzing

[cellular_freak]

Originally Posted by EricN4707

its better than CDMA...3G on ATT is amazing to me. i love going to ATL on day trips and i take my old LG CU500 just for the occasion, data/voice/etc is all great. UMTS/WCDMA, whatever you wanto call it is a True 3G, comparing it to CDMA is no comparison at all.


besides GSM's interference is not that bad, just dont stand next to any clock radios and you wont hear any buzzing

Okay, that's kinda what I wanted to know. I just wanted somebody to tell me if WCDMA was any different than GSM as far as the voice quality and interference went.

It's just I'm going to have to conclude it's where I live then that GSM but be that bad, because even when my family and I were watching TV and my brother's phone went off, the whole speakers started going crazy! It was SO loud!! The whole time he was on the phone, it was a constant and consistant buzzing noise. I'm guessing that maybe if they deploy WCDMA in my area, this problem will go away. But it must really suck for people that have regular GSM phones. It would explain Thumb Cellular's popularity here possibly. (Maybe not, the only reason a lot of people even have GSM phones in the thumb is because of when Dobson went from TDMA to GSM, not because they knew what was happening. I think that if people knew that they could cure the buzz by swiching to a differenct company, they would)

[bobolito]

It depends on what kind of speakers you have. I can be on the phone anywhere in my house and none of our speakers go crazy unless you are a few inches from them.

[RadioFoneGuy]

Nobody in the thumb is putting in trouble tickets for a buzzing or audio problems. You can tell right away when there is a network problem because you can see on system reports that show dropped calls, call quality, link balance (UL vs DL) hand off failures etc. Customers will also call in to 611 to put in a trouble ticket and if its a legit problems you will have more than one.

I had a problems with one of my towers and when I started work that day I had about 15 trouble tickets.

I have never had the problems you talk about on GSM and Ive been doing this since the Analog only days. I have test both CDMA and GSM and most of the time it come down to how well the network is built and the handset. I had to drive Test Alltels network in Michigan for a couple of townships didnt want new towers and wanted proof that their network needed it.
Alltel sent a couple of Cheap Moto test phones and the audio was aweful with choppy audio and the underwater robot garble. At the same time I had a cheap Alltel Nokia Pre-paid phone and the Audio wasnt to bad and I made a few test calls at 1 bar which was impressive at the time because I was used to TDMA which need 2 or more.

UMTS utilized the best of CDMA and GSM so its definately better.

If you stick with Verizon you will eventually go down the UMTS / LTE path.

By the way anytime you use EVDO thank GSM for things it contributed to make EVDO possible.

[cellular_freak]

Originally Posted by RadioFoneGuy

Nobody in the thumb is putting in trouble tickets for a buzzing or audio problems. You can tell right away when there is a network problem because you can see on system reports that show dropped calls, call quality, link balance (UL vs DL) hand off failures etc. Customers will also call in to 611 to put in a trouble ticket and if its a legit problems you will have more than one.

I had a problems with one of my towers and when I started work that day I had about 15 trouble tickets.

I have never had the problems you talk about on GSM and Ive been doing this since the Analog only days. I have test both CDMA and GSM and most of the time it come down to how well the network is built and the handset. I had to drive Test Alltels network in Michigan for a couple of townships didnt want new towers and wanted proof that their network needed it.
Alltel sent a couple of Cheap Moto test phones and the audio was aweful with choppy audio and the underwater robot garble. At the same time I had a cheap Alltel Nokia Pre-paid phone and the Audio wasnt to bad and I made a few test calls at 1 bar which was impressive at the time because I was used to TDMA which need 2 or more.

UMTS utilized the best of CDMA and GSM so its definately better.

If you stick with Verizon you will eventually go down the UMTS / LTE path.

By the way anytime you use EVDO thank GSM for things it contributed to make EVDO possible.

Well, I can tell you right now then there must be a problem with all the phones that they are selling around here because I have yet to see one GSM phone not act in such a way as to interfere with every electronic it comes in contact with even from across the room before it rings and while you're making a call!!! I don't know if this is just a problem here in the thumb or what but it isn't the phones because this has happened with our old GSM phones as well as with my brother's and my dad's brand new spanking RAZR 2's. It happens with my aunts and uncles and my grandma's Samsung phones they just bought through AT&T and it happens with my mom's RAZR V3xx occassionaly. So is your answer that they all bought defective phones coincidentally? The answer is no. This is how GSM affects electronics and I believe most people deny themselves this fact because of this standard being a global standard and they do not wish to believe that there can be something like CDMA that could be better than it. If Europe had never chosen GSM as it's path, we wouldn't be having this conversation because I would guarantee you that most if not all American cell phone companies would be using CDMA.

Also, as another point, a lot of people think that buzzing noise in their phones and such is "normal." They probably don't know that if they were to switch to another carrier, that it would go away and their voice quality would improve. Like I said in my last post, my mom was astonished when she talked in my phone and it was clear as day. You know how many articles have been written and YouTube videos have been made called "Annoying GSM buzz?" I'm not the only one. I'm not hearing crazy noises, my brother was yelling at me to get off his phone because he was trying to watch TV because the buzz was so bad!!

[Eric47]

RIGHTTTTTTT


honestly the last time ive heard a buzz come from my phone is when i was on a call and put my phone directly up to a unprotected speaker on a time clock.

buzzing does not come from speakers,it doesnt come from TV's, it doesnt come from stereos, it doesnt come from 99% of consumer electronics, unless you own some of the cheapest and crappiest electronics available.

this is an interesting tactic for you to spread misinformation, but thats OK.

[scotsboyuk]

Originally Posted by cellular_freak

The answer is no. This is how GSM affects electronics and I believe most people deny themselves this fact because of this standard being a global standard and they do not wish to believe that there can be something like CDMA that could be better than it.

In my opinion I doubt most people care. I think most people probably want something that works and don't look too closely into networks standards. In fact I would be surprised if most people knew what the technical differences between CDMA and GSM were. Every technology has it problems, but if those problems don't out weigh the advantages and the technology does what people need it to do then I think most people are happy enough to use it.