Upgrading from 3G to 4

[slide]

Hi all,

I just got my iPhone 4 which is unlocked by Apple and sold in Canada. I hope to be able to use it here in the US, but before I try, I want to make sure I don't mess something up in the upgrade.

What I need to do is to get iTunes to recognize the new iPhone 4 and I suppose, de-recognize the 3g (if such a thing is possible). I also wish to make sure my apps purchased through the iTunes store dont' go with my 3g which I plan to sell. I want to make sure they get loaded on the iPhone 4.

I"m sure there is a FAQ about how to move from iPhone to another but I'm not sure I can find it. Will someone please post a link to such a site? Thanks.

Oh, BTW, when I do the upgrade, I'll report here if the unlocked by Apple iPhone 4 will work on US T-Mob.

 

[lonbeehold]

I just bought an iPhone 4 today, too. Enjoy! No link, but this is what I did. Plug your old phone into iTunes and do a backup. Remove, and plug in the new one. iTunes will tell you it sees a new iPhone. Click restore from backup and what was on your old phone, right down to your wallpaper and app order, will be transferred to your new phone. Plug the old one back into iTunes and click restore-this will completely wipe your old phone.

 

[slide]

OK I'll try that. Right now I've hit a roadblock outside of iTunes. I will try to address this and whatever I'll post my results using an Apple unlocked iPhone from Canada with T-Mob USA.

 

[sting7k]

With Tmobile USA you will get EDGE service only.

 

[slide]

Worse, T-Mob doesn't use micro SIM cards and all iPhone 4's demand it. This is an utter bust. I can't use the phone at all.

 

[MachoDonut]

Worse, T-Mob doesn't use micro SIM cards and all iPhone 4's demand it. This is an utter bust. I can't use the phone at all.

I believe people do cut down T-Mobile SIM cards to fit. I have never tried it tho.

 

[BigB]

They sell kits to cut down sim cards but you're still gonna stuck on the edge network which is really slow and doesn't allow simultaneous voice and data.

 

[slide]

Well, I may be stuck with this phone which will mean either eBaying it off or cutting down the SIM card. This is a factory unlocked iPhone 4 and yeah, the T-Mob Edge 2G net is slow but I can live with it given much of what I do is WiFi.

So the two posts above raise two questions:

1. Is cutting a SIM card to a micro SIM safe and reliable? That is, does it work all the time or is it a crap shoot?

2. Where do go to learn how to do this? I don't want to mess up my SIM trying to make a micro SIM. This whole iPhone adventure has cost enough already w/o me having to start paying T-Mob for replacement SIMs.

Thanks.

 

[BigB]

I would think that using a sim cutter would be pretty reliable but I haven't tried it myself..

Search "sim cutter" on amazon.com and you should find a bunch of them..

 

[slide]

I did and I did. I think I'm going to give it a try.

edit: I ordered a cutter rather than try the cleaver / scissors route. I will report back my entire experience trying to get the Canadian Apple unlocked phone to work with T-Mob when I have further news to discuss.

 

[jponte55]

Will someone explain to me why people buy unlocked phones for a crapload of money and use them on a slow network? Do you save that much money? I mean, what's an unlocked iphone $600? So on T-Mobile maybe you pay $50 a month. AT&T iphone is $200 and I pay about $90 a month. So, over two years you save $960 for monthly charges but pay $400 more for a phone. So 24 months, saving $460 or $20 a month but the level of service is crippled. It just doesn't seem worth it to me but maybe I'm missing something?

 

[MachoDonut]

In addition to the savings from a lower plan, you are also not bound into a contract.
Also, AT&T may not have reliable service in the area where some people live.

 

[slide]

Will someone explain to me why people buy unlocked phones for a crapload of money and use them on a slow network? Do you save that much money? I mean, what's an unlocked iphone $600? So on T-Mobile maybe you pay $50 a month. AT&T iphone is $200 and I pay about $90 a month. So, over two years you save $960 for monthly charges but pay $400 more for a phone. So 24 months, saving $460 or $20 a month but the level of service is crippled. It just doesn't seem worth it to me but maybe I'm missing something?

I guess you are talking about me here so I'll explain my reasoning.

For reasons I can't explain, the difference in monthly costs where I am is greater than where you are. Not but much, but the numbers do tilt a little more in favor of using T-Mob.

My main reason is that I wanted to use either an iPhone or an HTC Incredible. No solid reason aside from wanting one. Now the HTC is Verizon only where the costs are much more than AT&T per month for the service I pay T-Mob $59 / month for. IIRC, Verizon quoted me roughly $109 / month for what T-Mob charges me $59 / month for. That put me off of the Incredible which would have cost $300 from Verizon with a 2 year contract. So let's take the $600 for two years on T-Mob for a total cost of 600 + (60 * 24) = 2440. Now let's look at Verizon 300 + (109 * 24) = 2916. There is a savings there.

AT&T where I am has terrible coverage. Many people gave up their iPhones reluctantly to move to T-Mob or Verizon due to the very very poor coverage. So network speed isn't relevant if you are at zero bars. So for me even if AT&T was $30 / month and a $200 iPhone I'd not do it.

The only area where I lose is when I'm working data at Edge speeds. This is a rarity for me because most of my data work exists in a WiFi area. Yes, the few times I may wish to access data outside of WiFi, I lose, but aside from that I win.

In short, if AT&T's service in my area was even 80% as good as either T-Mob or Verizon, I"d use it, but it's not. It's famous for being terrible.

Did that answer your question?

 

[BryanTheRed]

Not to offend anyone but from my experience around here most folks who have to use T-MO due so due to credit issues. Aside from that there is no benefit here to having their service as they only provide EDGE service in this state with the exception of Charlotte... I tried them out in between Verizon and AT&T without doing any research, never again!

 

[slide]

Well, we all don't live in NC where T-Mob coverage isn't good. Where I am, AT&T is terrible and that extends to folks having a variety of credit ratings.