Canadian iPhone: Get Less, Pay More > Get an unlocked iPhone instead,...

reply to jfmezei

Re: Get an unlocked iPhone instead,...

Give the guy a break. He's another know it all American who has no clue. Can't blame him. It's in his genes

reply to pfak

>Microcell IS Fido, and Fido Solutions is owned by Rogers.
>
>Therefore, there is one GSM supplier in Canada that serves
>all of the provinces (not territories).

There is no debate that Rogers owns the only nationwide GSM network in canada.

However, the 32-37 GSM code for Microcell still exists in worldwide GSM tables, and SIM cards announcing a customer of 32-37 are still issued by Fido. Fido's phones are locked to 32-37 and not to Rogers 32-72 network.

What Fido has done is a hack to make its phones appear to be on their home network when they roam on Rogers. Fido's orginal network was initlally almost all converted to broadcast 32-72 (Rogers), and then Rogers has progressively integrated it into its own network and removed redundant antennas. What is left of Fido would be small test sites.

With regards to the unlocked iPhones. I was not aware that Jobs had insisted that all Iphones had the full software optiosn enabled. I had heard rumblings last year about certain functions having been disabled at the request of AT&T (notably using Skype via wi-fi on the iphone).

However, buying an originally locked iphone still results in problems when upgrading the phone's software, and Apple makes that very clear: you unlock the iphone, and an attempt to upgrade its software may render phone inoperable.

This is why I would rather get a "true" iphone that was never locked and have my onw relationship with Apple instead of having one with Rogers and Fido for the phone.

GSM is meant to have phones independant from the carrier.

Note: I have a never-locked phone. I am a fido subscriber. The phone shows I am *roaming* on Rogers.