[scottdk]

I'm in Tokyo, and I travel to Hong Kong from time to Time. (And have friends in HK who travel to Japan often) I noticed that apple sell fully SIM unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong, in order to comply with laws against locking a customer to a provider.

Has anyone ever brought an unlocked iPhone to Japan and put in a Softbank SIM card (prepaid or otherwise) and continued as normal?

Although cheaper to get a Softbank version here.. I'm worried that I can't unlock it to use local prepaid SIM's when travelling instead of roaming - softbank seem to change the phones a little. And also worried that if I return to Australia to live in the near future, I won't be able to use it.

Does the first "activation" of an unlocked phone such as this then lock you into that provider?



Automerged Doublepost:

I gave up on English language forums, and did some googling in Japanese. I found this article in Japanese I went to Hong Kong to buy a SIM Free iPhone!

machine translation here from Nifty

Apparently it was activated using a Softbank SIM card. And it accepts standard SIM cards, (unlike the Japanese version which only accepts special iPhone only "Black SIM" cards, meaning even if you unlocked your Japanese iPhone, you still might not be able to use it overseas.)

After initial activation he used the phone with Softbank AND NTT Sim cards, as well as testing roaming with some HK SIM Cards. Results in the article.

So very tempted to get a friend in HK to buy one and send to me.

[vinko]

As far as I know all iPhone 3G sold in HK are full carrier unlocked iPhones, so it should accept any GSM SIM. Just to make sure, the iPhone is activated properly I would activate it in HK using any SIM card from a HK carrier. Since Apple's EULA requires you to use the iPhone in HK, in case they [Apple] have a hidden method to check your activation location and SIM card.

On the other hand, are you sure that iPhone 3G from Softbank unlocked with Yellowsn0w (iPhone Dev Team) will not accept SIM cards from foriegn carriers? As far as I know the unlock using Yellowsn0w is total and will result in an iPhone similar to those sold in HK, Taiwan and Belgium

[etriess]

I am in Japan also, I am using softbank bought iphone unlocked with yellows0w. I have succesfully used a japan docomo sim, and a tmobile sim while in florida for the holidays. I also tried an AU sim but i could not get that to connect. don't know why? hope this helps you out,,,,

[imagine engine]

Any iPhone 3G will work in Japan but not the iPhone 2G model. This is because of the frequency 2100 MHz chosen by the only two carriers who decided not to follow the standard frequencies used by other international countries. Anyway, at least they support 2100 MHz so you'll be able to make use of voice, data and SMS. For those using an unlocked iPhone 3G it's cheaper to get a prepaid 3G SIM card from Softbank or Docomo. The latter of which appears to have more expanded coverage across Japan. If you decide to use your country SIM card then ensure your network carrier has enabled international roaming otherwise you'll find that your iPhone 3G won't connect to the other carrier network. For those interested here is some useful information on international roaming for Rogers customers http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wi...tional_roaming and the two carriers in Japan http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/ and http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/

[vinko]

Originally Posted by imagine engine

Any iPhone 3G will work in Japan but not the iPhone 2G model. This is because of the frequencies chosen by the only two carriers who decided not to follow the standard frequencies used by other international countries. Anyway, at least they support 2100 MHz which is used for the 3G network in Japan so you'll be able to make use of voice, data and SMS...

I believe the reason the 1st generation iPhone (aka iPhone 2G) will not work in Japan is because the carriers in Japan had migrated their networks to the, comparatively, more advance 3G network from CDMA, which majority of the world's GSM networks had been or in the process of doing the same for the past 4 years.

I believe your comments, "... decided not to follow the standard frequencies used by other international countries." is not correct. The 3G network is a more advanced mobile carrier network compared to what majority of the GSM networks are on. As you may already know, "3G" stands for "3rd generation". The most common GSM networks in used at the moment are 2G and 2.5G (aka, EDGE), where 3G is much more prevalent in many of the countries in Asia and parts of Europe.

In the case of Japan and South Korea, they are already in the process of planning the deployment of 4G networks. Here in Hong Kong, it was only last week that the government had finished the auction of 4G licenses.

As for whether you can have access to Data using the non-Softbank SIM card will depend on whether you have the correct APN entered, and of course an accompany Data plan is assumed.

Just some additional information for the readers. I hope it was helpful.

[scottdk]

Originally Posted by etriess

I am in Japan also, I am using softbank bought iphone unlocked with yellows0w. I have succesfully used a japan docomo sim, and a tmobile sim while in florida for the holidays. I also tried an AU sim but i could not get that to connect. don't know why? hope this helps you out,,,,

Thanks! That's really good to know. Nice to see you could use yours with Docomo and overseas too. Does that mean you shouldn't do firmware updates until the yellowsn0w developers have caught up? This is the "cheaper" option for me, seeing as I'm already on a Softbank plan.

But somehow the thought of a hassle free fully unlocked phone from HK that I don't have to fiddle with is more appealing. I'm a simple user, and just want the normal functions, and the ability to slip in a local prepaid SIM wherever I travel to without worrying about hacks and firmware versions.

Yes, I read somewhere how AU are on a different network, not the normal 3G, and so that's why their SIM wouldn't work in the iPhone. not sure of details why, but didn't need to know. Bottom line, no AU in normal 3G phones, I believe.

[etriess]

yes cannot update until yellowsn0w gets a grip on it, thats the only draw back, but those guys at dev team are quick so it doesn't bother me. I travel to quite a bit in asia so being able to use other sims is helpful an cheaper.

[Mes]

I can confirm an unlocked 2G iPhone works in Thailand (voice+data), Cambodia(voice only) and Vietnam (voice and s..l..o..w data) using local carrier sims. Next test? The 3G+yellowsn0w

[jason.ri]

My 3G worked in Vietnam when I was on a business trip, although I used and sim adapter. Worked without noticeable problems.

[rightct]

Originally Posted by etriess

I am in Japan also, I am using softbank bought iphone unlocked with yellows0w. I have succesfully used a japan docomo sim, and a tmobile sim while in florida for the holidays. I also tried an AU sim but i could not get that to connect. don't know why? hope this helps you out,,,,

I just arrived to tokyo, and my Iphone 3G (US version, unlocked with Yellowsn0w) doesn't pick up any carrier. I took my sim card out, and plug it in my Nokia, and I got Jp DoCoMo. I wonder why this happen, could you share your trick to make it work with DoCoMo?

[Mes]

"For what it's worth, NTT DoCoMo does not run a GSM / EDGE network. Any iPhone released on DoCoMo's FOMA service will be UMTS / HSDPA -- right, the 3G iPhone."
iPhone coming to Japan's NTT DoCoMo? - Engadget

Also .... some interesting reading. Not Big in Japan
Not Big In Japan: The iPhone (AAPL)

[ponnialevi]

Hi everyone !

Well I have been reading those posts with a rising interest since I am in Japan with a iPhone I bought in France and though willing to contact with Softbank, I am unable to do so because they refuse to contract with iPhones they did not sell.
As I had a previous contract with Docomo, I inserted the sim card in my iPhone but bot reation : not carrer is founded.

How can I get my iPhone to work in Japan ?
It should be fully sim unlocked but It detecks nothing for the time being.

Ponnial

[vinko]

How is your iPhone 3G unlocked? Was it done by the carrier in France? Did you activate the iPhone in France before you left France?

If it was not unlocked with the above method? How did you unlock your iPhone?

[ponnialevi]

Thank you Vinko for your answer.
It was unlocked by a friend and activated. I used it with Orange as well as with Bouygues who is not supposed to be accessed.
My friend told me the process was simple : one had to enter a long serie of figures... But I was not there at the time he did it.
Does it help ???

Ponnial

I have no knowledge in the "above method" but I understand you must refer to the "yellows0w" which I don't know.

[vinko]

Originally Posted by ponnialevi

Thank you Vinko for your answer.
It was unlocked by a friend and activated. I used it with Orange as well as with Bouygues who is not supposed to be accessed.
My friend told me the process was simple : one had to enter a long serie of figures...

It sounds like your iPhone 3G was carrier unlocked by Orange, this sort of carrier unlock is normally for unlocking the iPhone within the country it was purchased. This is very similar to the carrier unlock conducted on iPhones by the Apple carrier partners in Australia, Taiwan and Belgium, but very unlike the "factory unlock" done by Apple for iPhone 3G sold in Hong Kong.

Can you go into the Settings --> General --> About, and check the version of the Modem Firmware? If it is NOT 02.30.03 then you can use iPhone Dev Team's application Pwnage Tool to unlock your iPhone permanently. Unfortunately if the Modem Firmware is indeed 02.30.03, then you will have to wait for the official release of the version of their tool to unlock iPhones with that version of the modem firmware.

If the Modem Firmware of your iPhone 3G allows you to unlock it permanently using the Pwnage Tool then you can follow the very clear instructions at HackTheiPhone to do so.

PS: note that there are several tools out there who claims to be able to unlock iPhone 3G with 02.30.03 Modem Firmware, but none of them are officially from the iPhone Dev Team. So using it will be very risky.