Canadian Readers: We Need Your Help On iPhone 4 Story

By Leander Kahney (4:00 am, Jul 31 2010)

We’d like to ask our Canadian readers for help with a story we’re working on about the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4 just launched in Canada on Friday, and Canadian buyers are able to buy the device unlocked (if it’s bought from Apple rather than a carrier).

We’re looking for readers who are getting an unlocked iPhone 4 and can test it on Wind Mobile’s network to see if it can support 3G data speeds.

Why do we want to test the iPhone 4 on Wind Mobile’s network?

Wind Mobile is an up-and-coming carrier that uses the same GSM network technology as T-Mobile in the United States.

The iPhone is rumored to be coming to T-Mobile USA in the fall, breaking Apple’s exclusive deal with AT&T. However, it’s not clear whether the iPhone 4 has the right radio hardware to support T-Mobile’s 3G data network.

We’re told Wind Mobile in Canada has the same network infrastructure. If it works on Wind Mobile’s network, it should work on T-Mobile’s.

T-Mobile’s 3G data network operates on the 1700/2100 MHz bands. According to Apple’s specs, the iPhone 4 works on the 2100 UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA band, but not the 1700 band, which has led some to conclude that it is incompatible with T-Mobile’s 3G network.

However, there is some debate whether Apple simply didn’t list the 1700 band, which seems to be the convention when listing such specs. And no one has yet tested the iPhone 4 on T-Mobile’s network in the U.S. Despite the efforts of the Dev Team, there isn’t yet a publicly available unlock for the iPhone 4.

This is why we’d like help testing an unlocked iPhone 4 on Wind Mobile in Canada.

If you can help out, please email us at news (AT) cultofmac.com. In return, we’ll send you some goodies in the mail.

UPDATE: In the comments below, reader @Qorax tried a Wind Mobile SIM in a brand new, unlocked iPhone 4 he purchased over the weekend. Unfortunately, the SIM card didn’t work at all: no voice or data. We would have predicted he would have at least got voice. iPhone users here in the U.S. who unlock their phones and use T-Mobile SIM cards get voice and data — but Edge only.

But now that the iPhone 4 has been unlocked here in the U.S., we’re on the lookout for reports of usage on T-Mobile US’s network.

PS: @Qorax’s comment is worth reading to see how he beat the gigantic line for the iPhone 4 at his local Apple Store. Tricky!

26 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)| Read more posts by Leander Kahney.

Posted in Apple, Cult of Mac, iPhone, News |

Ryan
Don’t think this makes sense. Why can’t you test the iPhone 4 with TMobile down there in the states. If the spectrum is the same, then your iPhones will work just as well as our iPhones on Wind…
I think all of our carriers up here have the iPhone except for Wind.
James
Really?? The iPhone 4 simply does not have the required frequency of 1700MHz (AWS) to support Wind mobile here. All other carriers here use 850 and 1900 for 3G.
Story is done.
Jim.
Bobby
Why TMobile they suck I don’t like em. Why not us cellular or sprint?
IcyFog
Surely Cult of Mac creators and writers know the audience of this blog better than I do, but I’m disappointed the focus had turned to jailbroken iPhones.
Sam
I put my Wind Sim in an unlocked iPhone4 I bought in Australia and was able to roam on it on Telstra. Works perfectly (Albeit expensively). I just put my T-Mobile (USA) Sim in and it appears to work, although I have no credit on that account. It does connect to the network and is roaming.
Erick
@IcyFog: not sure what you mean. Apple sells unlocked iPhones to Canadians (this is in fact the only iPhone purchasable directly from Apple). How is this related to jailbreaking in any way?
mic
Here in Italy, where the iPhones were fully unlocked from the launch two years ago, Wind, our 4th carrier, they work fine.
Wind is also selling the microSIM to be installed on iPad.
So I think that the Canadian iPhone should work as well.
mic
Sorry, I’m quickly typing on the iPhone…
I meant that Wind is working fine here and the data plan is it is cheaper compared the most famous carrier such as Vodafone…..
Diana
You can buy one on Kijiji for $2K: http://ottawa.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-phones-PDAs-ipods-NEW-Apple-iPhone-4-Black-32GB-Factory-Unlocked-W0QQAdIdZ220785060
firesign3000
There is even less chance of the iPhone coming to T-Mobile than to Verizon. Seriously.
Gazoobee
Supply is so constrained most of us up here won’t be getting our unlocked iPhones until late August anyway. My shipping date is the 26th, so after waiting four months, we now have to wait another month as well.
The way I heard it, each Apple store (and there’s only a few in the entire country), got 1,500 phones, and each cell carrier outlet got maybe a dozen iPhones to hand out.
Everyone else is still waiting.
porkchop1234
Gazoobee here in Wpg my cousin went to the Apple store this morning around 11:00 and got her new iphone4. She didn’t even preorder it. Not sure what you mean by constrained supplies seems to be enough supply here in Wpg through both the brick and mortar Apple store and Rogers.
P.S.
So far she hasn’t been able to recreate the grip of death on it although she said does seem to lose a bar the odd time while using it.
Andrew
I don’t own an unlocked iPhone 4 (mine is locked to Rogers) but I’m 99% sure this won’t work. WIND uses the 1700 MHz band for its 3G, and the iPhone does not support that band. WIND doesn’t run on any other frequency.
On my (Rogers-locked) iPhone 4, I can only see Rogers, Bell, and Telus in the carriers list. If WIND operated on a frequency the iPhone supports, it would show up on that list.
Gazoobee
@porkchop1234: No offence, but that’s Winnipeg. Not exactly a big city and kind of a backwater as well.
For instance you said she went to the Apple store at 11:00 AM and got an iPhone on release day. In Vancouver people camped out a day ahead of time and most of those lining up didn’t get one by the time they finally made it to the store.
I ordered mine online about a half hour after the online store started selling them. The option to pick it up in the store was removed from the online page, and my ship date is the 20th of August with an arrival date of August 26th.
That’s just incredibly bad. they are saying it only takes six days to get it to me, but that the factory won’t have any available until late next month, because (presumably), the number of people ahead of me (who got up at 5:00 AM to order instead of 6:00 like me), is so high that it will take that long before mine is made at the factory.
For those that don’t know, up until Apple started selling iPhones, they won awards every single year for having the BEST supply chain on the planet. Now they can’t even make enough product to satisfy their main markets, let alone anyone else. Their customer service has also fallen into a deep pit.
http://iakmal.com Akmal Wardak
I lined up 13 hours for iPhone 4 at Fairview mall Toronto. Went there 11:00 PM and left 12:00 next day. Despite that I was the 100th or so person in the line.
mic
Again here in Italy there weren’t enough iPhone even in the official Apple Store… in Milan Apple store received 500 phones but at the 9:00AM there were 1500 people waiting….. most of them from the day before.
in Rome, where the other official Apple Store is, same story… Outside the two shops, the desert…. the official carriers shop, in the centre of both cities received around 10 pieces each….
it was the worst brand new product ever…..
CHarlie
Hey everyone,
You are all going around the bush, Cult of mac asked one question: they asked if someone tried, a wind or t-mobile. GSM sim card in an unlocked, Iphone4, They want to know if it works on the 1700/2100 band (3g), we all know it should not work (that the Key word (should not work), but they have reason to believe, that it does work, but APPLE would publish the 1700 band specs on the fact sheet, because that have contract agreement with the respected carriers.
Erickbauman
I will drive to Toronto from NYC right now, get an iPhone 4 & wind sim if cult of Mac reimburses me for the phone & sim. I get to keep the phone for my troubles. Deal?
Qorax
A. There r enough iPhone-4 stocks @ Apple Stores. Relax!
B. Got mine yesterday @ 1325 hrs. While a friend got his today.
C. It doesn’t work with Wind Mobile SIM [I tried].
D. There’s no ‘death grip’ issue here [the eqpt is flawless].
PURCHASE DETAILS:
-Purchased from: Apple Store, Sq. One, Mississauga-ON.
-Model: iPhone-4, 32Gb, Unlocked
-Price: $779 + GST (total -$880.27)
-SIM card: Bell (offered Free)
-Activation plan: Pre-Paid
-Plan cost: $40/month (Voice*+iPad shared Data**)

ACTION PLAN:
In the morning, booked the “iPhone-4 Explained” workshop*** for 1500hrs. Got their reply confirmation email immediately. Upon reaching the store fund an enormous line (aprox 150+), walked past them, showed the email to the guard (6 additionally contracted) & was let in w/out a question.
As the workshop concluded we showed our interest @ purchasing (we were 3). A salesgirl assisted us cheerfully. Within minutes we bought ours & gleefully decamped with our star-bar, having successfully beaten the line. Boy, was I overjoyed? U bet, Sir!
THE WIND FIASCO:
Upon returning home, I set to ‘cut’ my Wind SIM to the Micro size (did it with ease). Inserted, started the iPhone-4… No joy. Tried a couple of more times, shutting off & restarting the phone… w/out success!
Today morning, I visited the Wind Store @ Woodbine Mall, Etobicoke. Obtained one more replacement SIM. Returned & repeated the same drill. Ditto! No luck. Wind, with it’s AWS-1700 just won’t work on iPhone-4. Period!!!
Hope that clarified to all. Especially, Leander… Bro, I tried!
*250 minutes Talk time, 500 SMSs, Unlimited Voicemail. Per month @ $30.
**iPad Share Promotion @ $10/month, for my existing 6Gb/month plan…
http://www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpPopup_DataPromotions.page
***Apple is running a daily 1hr iPhone-4 workshop @ their stores.
Justin
I don’t know if this helps but if the whole frequency thing is true then wouldn’t tmobile not even show up on the carrier list? I’m from Vancouver and traveled to Seattle today and I’m roaming on tmobile..so it works just fine for me. Hope this helps sorry if I’m wrong and wasting your time..
-Justin
Sent from my iPhone 4 on tmobile :p
Andrew
In the United States, the T-Mobile network is GSM (1900 MHz) and 3G (1700 MHz). So your phone, which supports the 1900 MHz band, would have been using T-Mobile’s GSM network (i.e. not 3G). You can confirm this by looking at the top of your phone’s screen and seeing “E” instead of “3G”.
Rob
@bobby
Because US Cellular and Sprint use CDMA phones which don’t have SIM cards. T-Mobile uses a GSM network, which requires a SIM card.
dan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDvMP9-61tk&feature=related
Tmofan
@Dan. Thanks for the link to this video.
I was wondering if anyone knows whether or not it would function like an ATT iPhone in terms of when you sync it to your computer through iTunes? Also I am assuming you would have the same access to the app store? I would hate to go to Canada and buy one only to come back to the US and not use it like evryone else’s iPhone here in the states.
Ryan
@Tmofan – We’re pretty awesome up here, and worth the visit regardless. It looks like TMobile only had Edge though in the video, so o 3G. But it will work with the app store the same as it does on AT&T.
http://cultofmac.com Leander Kahney
@Qorax
Many thanks for your report — good work. Shame it doesn’t work. I would have thought you’d at least get voice. iPhone users here in the US who unlock their phones and use T-Mobile SIM cards get voice and data — but Edge only.
Amazing success beating the line also — tricky!