That function, Visual Voicemail, requites the AT&T network to operate. So, of course, it won’t work in another network; the iPhone is just as cable of handling its end, but the other network isn’t.
I still haven’t used that feature. Guess I’ll check it out.
That’s a cool feature! Is there anything to prevent another carrier from enabling it?
What a cool 
kid! He took care of his buddies.
My impression is that it’s not a standard GSM feature, but rather something Apple and AT&T worked out together; AT&T had to upgrade their network to provide it. Now, if other networks are willing to add the same upgradel, then it will work on them too.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Depending on what country you are in and their laws, the TurboSIM thingy is illegal to use, or altering your sim card at all.
You are correct. It was a new feature Apple worked with AT&T on. No other provider currently has it available so it won’t work with anyone but AT&T. Everything else works, though.
OK I figure the reason the ATT iPhone plans are so expensive (I pay $49.99/month for 2 lines with T-Mobile, ATT’s cheapest iPhone plan is $109.99/month) is because they include internet. So if I, using T-Mobile with a hacked iphone, wanted to use the Wi Fi I’d need to upgrade to a T-Mobile internet plan, right? (I’m utterly clueless how this works).
Would I only be able to get wireless internet in certain locations (like where I can get a phone signal), or is that good pretty much anywhere?
Boscibo, WiFi is non-cellphone wireless internet. It’s what home base stations use. It’s what you get at coffee shops and such. It’s fairly inexpensive and easy to put in. Thing is, without a lot of special arrangements behind the scenes, it doesn’t let you move away from the base station while using it and not break the connection.
Mobile use requires cellphone internet, which has all kinds of roaming abilities built in to both the phone and the network. There are various standards for doing this, but all of them are much more expensive and not as fast as WiFi.
I suspect that one reason Apple didn’t want to open the iPhone to third-party software is that, if they did, Skype would have a client for the iPhone in about 15 nanoseconds. Apple’s afraid that people would sit around in coffeeshops all day making calls using free coffeeshop WiFi internet connections, and not using the lucrative cellphone connections.
My iPhone plan with ATT is $59.99/month, including everything. That’s 450 regular minutes, which is more that I ever use. They also rollover.
Here are the plans:
It’s not the cost that annoys me, it’s the lack of choice/
This is incorrect. iPhone rate plans start at $59.95 cite which BTW is just about the same as plans for their other phones when comparably equipped.
My AT&T plan is $39.95 with no text messages, and no internet. these two items are roughly $20/month
My overwhelming curiosity forced me to post this question in the proper forum.
The price I’m talking about is for 2 lines - my SO and I have a $49.99/month family plan (no internet) that includes 2 lines. We do most of our talking to each other, so this sort of plan is the cheapest for us. The $109.99 is for a 2 line iPhone plan.
I admire the kid for what he did, but at the same time it makes me a little sad… he’s done something that, if he had the capital, could set him up for life.
Now, we’ll see the company the guy who traded for the phone start selling unlocked iPhones.
Ah well. Free enterprise at it’s greatest!
True, but it comes with unlimited internet, which is about 1/3 of Apple’s selling point. If you see a demo iPhone or check out a friend’s, it comes with a YouTube client, Google Maps, and other things that need some sort of data plan. They expect that you’ll want to use the internet with it.
Hey, does the iPhone do 3G? Or is it just Edge?
^^Yes, I understand all that. That’s why I asked if I were to get a hacked iPhone to use with T-Mobile if I’d need a T-mobile internet plan to make it (internet on the phone) work. If I look at it that way, $109.99/month (and a switch to ATT) for the 2 phone lines I need doesn’t seem like a bad price.
I was just unsure how the whole internet-over-the-phone thing worked.
Looks like another group is set to release their software iPhone unlocking tool to the public next week – and they don’t seem to have caved to legal pressure – at least, not yet.
Its strictly EDGE at the moment.
Declan
Potential buyers:
- Someone who wants to open it, see how it is done and then charge people to “fix” their phones. Won’t take too many orders to cover the cost.
- Someone who REALLY hates AT&T.
- Steven Jobs.
I would pay $500 for an iPhone with ATT if it did more things. I want a cell phone that will cook my dinner and do my laundry. I can’t understand why Apple didn’t think of that.