I have a cell phone, a pay-as-you-go cheap little trinket.
I’m thinking of buying a used iPhone for purposes unrelated to telephony, and I do not want to switch to a standard monthly-billing plan.
I’m pretty freaking ignorant about all things cellphonish, but I know there’s a thingamabobbie called a “SIM card” that, when you switch it from one phone to another, is akin to a brain transplant at least as far as the telephony-and-account setup and settings are concerned. And I’m under the impression that they’re kind of standardized, so a Samsung SIM card could be put into a Nokia phone?
If that much is basically correct, …I also know there’s something called “jailbreaking” which is something one does to an iPhone to get it to play with service providers other than the one or ones that Apple approves for iPhone telephony services, yes? Does this go as far as making it possible for me to switch my pay-as-you-go service INTO a used iPhone and using it there? Is it just a matter of switching out the SIM card? Something different? Not possible at all?
I’m not sure about the SIM card swap (highly doubt it), but I know someone using an iPhone on the Net10 prepaid network. When using iPhones on non-approved networks there will be tradeoffs, like not being able to upgrade the operating system. And even though they have unlimited data, occasionally their phone stops talking to the Internet for a few days, then starts working again.
Would an iPod touch do what you want, and maybe be cheaper? I know it would be two devices to carry around but you wouldn’t have to fight an iPod Touch to keep it working.
The SIM cards used by iPhone are not specific to Apple. They come in different sizes:
The other complication is network locking (which is a different thing from jailbreaking). An iPhone bought on a contract is almost certainly locked to only work on one particular cellular network, regardless of the SIM. Sometimes the network will provide a way of unlocking it so you can switch to a different network - you have to call them up and ask.
SIM cards aren’t really linked to specific brands of phones (i.e. iPhone, Samsung, Nokia etc.) so much as they are linked to carriers, mostly AT&T (I don’t think Verizon uses SIMs). IOW an iPhone could probably use a Samsung SIM if both phones came from the same carrier, though not 100% guaranteed (there are slightly different models & generations of SIM cards). SIM cards are mass produced by the billions so their physical hardware is not expensive, but it has to be linked to an active account. If you bought a used iPhone off eBay, as long as it’s an AT&T model you could probably take it to an AT&T store and activate it with a contract and a SIM would be included in it. Thing is, you can get older, refurbished iPhones right from a carrier (with a contract) for as little as 99¢.
SIM cards are specific to GSM phones connected to a GSM network. GSM is ubiquitous in Europe/UK, but there are also CDMA networks in the US that require a different model of phone. And (as noted) there are SIM cards (credit-card sized), mini-SIM cards and micro-SIM cards. Apple phones are either mini or micro SIM devices, but you can get carriers to adapt micro-SIMs to mini-SIM.
Then you have Carrier locking and jailbreaking.
You need to check your phone/provider to see if you are on a GSM network. Then you need to select an appropriate iPhone to connect to it, and make sure that it is network unlocked - if it is off contract, the original provider should allow you to do this. While a SIM does give you number transfer ability, most Smartphones (Apple, Android) do not usually rely on the SIM for Contact Transfer, but rely on internet based services for global access to contact backups. You also need to ensure you have full access to the iCloud account for proper internet management of the phone - this requires the password and account details to be transferred when you buy the phone. If it is legit, this is easy. If it is not legit, then this cannot be done and the owner of the iCloud account may have access to much that you do in the phone.
Actually, LTE devices on legacy CDMA carriers such as Sprint and Verizon use SIM cards as well.
I don’t have a good answer for the OP right now - I’m a bit sick and can’t think straight. I’ll try to remember to check back when I’m better to see if I know anything useful.
As others have said, the SIM card is mainly linked to the carrier. I used to operate my iPhone on an AT&T contract. I’m now with Staight Talk, which sold me an AT&T compatible SIM. If you’re off contract, you can also have your iPhone unlocked. It can then also operate on the T-Mobile network. I have two iPhones, a 3G and 3GS. The card will work in either phone without a hitch.
Also, my iPhone does talk, text, and data pretty well. I can still talk on the phone and surf on the internet at the same time like I did when I had my AT&T contract. It’s still running on AT&T’s network, after all. Carriers like Straight Talk just buy airtime in bulk from the major carriers and resell it to its customers. My phone won’t do MMS, or visual voicemail. But those aren’t too important to me.
I did exactly this in 2011 with an AT&T GoPhone. Just moved the SIM to a 3GS.
As noted, be aware that there are 3 sizes of SIM cards used in iPhones, but for iPhone 4 and 5 variants, just ‘micro’, and ‘nano’ respectively. You can carefully trim a regular SIM to ‘micro’ (instructions can be found online). I did this when I moved to an iPhone4. I later bought a new SIM from TMobile for their online only $30/month plan - had to port the original number.
You should be careful that you buy an ‘unlocked’ phone, probably AT&T / TMobile instead of Verizon and that your plan allows iPhones.
Yes, this is what happened in Canada. The legacy CDMA carriers, Bell and Telus, built a new UMTS (“3G”) network alongside their CDMA networks, so they could a) sell the iPhone and b) get roaming fees from visitors to the 2010 Winter Olympics. They later upgraded it to LTE along with everyone else. I saw a report recently that Bell and Telus are thinking of shutting down their CDMA networks. (They shut down their analogue networks long ago.)
So all the big companies in Canada may possibly be using the same standard, and using phones with SIMs. I expect the US will follow suit at some time. There are a couple of smaller companies that I think are still CDMA, but I could be wrong.
The iPhone 3GS was the last model that takes a full-sized SIM. The 4 IIRC takes a mini, and the 4S takes a micro. Allegedly you can make a mini or micro SIM from a regular one with a pair of scissors, the active part - chip and contacts - is the same, but you better cut accurately.
The SIM card does not care what kind of phone it is in. The gotcha, of course, is that the SIM card defines the carrier, phone number, pay plan etc. If you did not sign up the SIM for data, you won’t get data… just voice. Ditto for text - if the plan does not include text (is there such a plan today?) no text… (But you might still get iCloud imessages, wifi only if no data plan. )
Careful. Unlocked for iPhones is done via the App store - only. I looked all over, the only real unlock is the legit one via the carrier that “owned” the phone (and sold it to the original owner). You ask them to unlock it for a highway robbery fee, they send the phones ID code to the App store, you connect to App store (even via wifi) and tada! Any carrier’s SIM works! Rogers in Canada charges $50 for this, provided the phone is paid for (contract expired or paid out). If someone offers much cheaper, they are selling a jailbroken “unlock” meaning you can’t upgrade the phone or use the app store sometimes, and/or the jailbreak may fail. If you have to reset to factory default, the jailbreak will vanish.
I have an Etisalat SIM in my 3GS for a trip to Egypt, after Rogers unlocked my 3GS. Usually, if you are spending an extended time in a foreign country, this is cheaper (much much cheaper!!!) than roaming fees. There was nothing special about this card, just “a SIM” bought from a corner store by our guide for about $17. Buy “refill” cards all over the middle east -scratch the code and enter into the phone to reload. We refilled it a few times, every so often fire it up and connect to Rogers (roaming) so back in Canada, the card stays live. Often foreign prepay SIMs will die if they are left too long with zero balance, or if not used for a year. (Our NZ SIM for a cheap flip phone died that way, but when put in the iPhone convinced the thing it was in NZ even if it could not find a network.)
I understand about one word in 10 in the posts following the original post. Sounds really complicated.
OK, let’s go at this differently: Let’s say I buy a used iPhone and DO NOT acquire any cell phone service for the damn thing and continue to carry around my silly little Nokia for the making and receiving of actual phone calls.
Which of the following iPhone functionalities would be available to me, if any?:
• If I’m in range of a WiFi hotspot, can go online? Participate in networked environment with computers, browse the web, etc?
• Download and install apps, in general? I assume that involves playing nicely with the Apple App Store, would they “care” that I had no telephony plan?
• I know there are GPS apps. If I’m out in the wilderness, can these things receive and send info to GPS satellites without being “online” via WiFi and also without access to cellphone connectivity (which I presume I would not have w/o a cell phone plan)? Compare to standalone GPS “handheld” devices.
An iPhone without the phone is basically an iPod, so my answer to your questions is Yes, Probably yes, and I’m not sure. Many GPS-using apps like Google Maps suck down additional data as they move, but I don’t think simply displaying GPS locations requires additional data. I will have to try an experiment.
In range of wifi- you can do anything data related. browse, check email, etc. You can even send text messages to other iPhone users signed up for iCloud service (and if the recipient’s data is also online) You can download an app like Skype and make calls over the internet.
We used Skype and an iPad on vacation, and bought “skype out” minutes - called land lines in North America from overseas for 7 cents a minute, with an iPad with no cellular capability)
You can also download apps etc. from the app store. Essentially you have an expensive iPod or tiny iPad with unused radio parts.
GPS? Good question. I don’t know off-hand. I thought part of the GPS function relied on wireless. Of course, apps like mapping want to download data, so being in the middle of nowhere without wifi, you might get a GPS reading on some apps, but it won’t show you local area because it can’t download the map data.
PS. Short simple answer -yes, you can put your SIM into the iPhone IF IT IS UNLOCKED (if it will fit size-wise). However, if it is data enabled, you might rack up real serious dollars without being aware.
I put the Etisalat SIM into my 3GS and turned off data roaming. However, apparently Etisalat in Egypt is LOCAL data, so I found that annoying scrolling stock ticker on my phone next time I tuned it on. I had to turn off all cellular data. I don’t think that cost me more than a dollar, but KNOW THE DETAILS OF YOUR PHONE PLAN before doing something that could cost serious bucks. See what data costs you first.
True - I did this too. …but, without cellular data or WiFi connections GPS Apps must be of the variety with built in maps (since they cannot be downloaded on the fly).
An iPhone without a cellular plan is basically the same as an iPod Touch. You might as well buy one of those. You can do anything on wi-fi that you can do with a data plan. You can browse the web. You can use the wi-fi to make VOIP (Internet voice) calls with services such as Skype or Google Voice.
You can download apps from the App Store or music and movies from iTunes and download podcasts. You don’t need a data plan. You just need to make an iTunes account with Apple.
I don’t know about other carriers but I know AT&T’s unlock process. there is no charge to unlock a phone. The original account holder/person on the account, has to be the one to request the unlock. Next the requested phone can’t be under contract. Other requirements include checking to make sure the phone is not been reported as lost/stollen, that no more than 5 unlock requests have been made in a year, and the account has to be in good standing with no past due balance.
Once a request for unlocking an iphone has been approved, one backs up the iphone preferebly thru itunes, then one erases the iphone, during the re-activation process when one connects back to the activation server the phone will be unlocked. I have seen a person backup to the icloud (most people don’t have enough space on the icloud) and of course the backup is only necessary if one wants to save the data that is currently on the phone.
By the way, the non-iphone requirements are the same, but one recieves a code, which one needs to enter in a particular method depending on the manufacturer and model of the phone.