Unlocked phone and 3 (three) sim question

[BigManBill]

My n95 8gb on three slowly started to break, i smashed/hit it (during the time i did this it did not break anymore than it already had) eventually i gave up trying to use it and sent it for repairs. I was told it had water damage inside and was un repairable (so cant use a £400 phone in the rain these days while my brothers iphone is fine). my offers from 3 were pay £120 for a new n95 (no thanks, was a pile of s while it worked) or choose one of the rubbish free phones they offer and extend the contract from 6 to 12 months left. didnt want that either so my dad unlocked his old vodafone v1415 (HTC Vox/S710). after it was unlocked he put the 3 sim card in and it didnt work and the man who unlocked it said no it wouldnt work because i have a three sim card and the phone it is in requires 3g. i do not understand why a three sim will not work in it, my phone/sim wasnt only restricted to 3g otherwise i wouldnt always have access everywhere i went because there isnt total 3g network coverage. why can my sim not work on older networks in an older phone like it would have been doing at times when i was out of 3g coverage using my n95, all seems a load of s to me.

 

[squawkBOX]

Your post was very hard to read - however the reason for the handset not reading the 3 USIM could be one or more of the following:

- The HTC handset could be fussy with the types of SIMs that it can read. The 3 SIM is actually a USIM and I know some older handsets are fussy with them. However, that model doesn't look too old - so I doubt this would be the case.
- Handset might be locked onto vodafone's GSM bands (900) and therefore the roaming partner for 3 (which is Orange and runs on GSM 1800 may not operate). Again, this might not apply as I know vodafone use 1800 in some places.

Therefore in order to look into it more. Can you give a little more information rather "it didnt work"?

Do you get any error messages on the screen? Have you tried a manual network selection (for either 3 or Orange)? Have you tried other SIM cards (non-voda or 3) in your HTC? If so, what is the result?

As a former employee of 3, I know that they do audits of the handsets that are using the network, you *might* get a warning SMS if they detect you using too much roaming (especially in areas of 3G coverage).

 

[mrochester]

My n95 8gb on three slowly started to break, i smashed/hit it (during the time i did this it did not break anymore than it already had) eventually i gave up trying to use it and sent it for repairs. I was told it had water damage inside and was un repairable (so cant use a £400 phone in the rain these days while my brothers iphone is fine). my offers from 3 were pay £120 for a new n95 (no thanks, was a pile of s while it worked) or choose one of the rubbish free phones they offer and extend the contract from 6 to 12 months left. didnt want that either so my dad unlocked his old vodafone v1415 (HTC Vox/S710). after it was unlocked he put the 3 sim card in and it didnt work and the man who unlocked it said no it wouldnt work because i have a three sim card and the phone it is in requires 3g. i do not understand why a three sim will not work in it, my phone/sim wasnt only restricted to 3g otherwise i wouldnt always have access everywhere i went because there isnt total 3g network coverage. why can my sim not work on older networks in an older phone like it would have been doing at times when i was out of 3g coverage using my n95, all seems a load of s to me.

3 sim cards are designed to work only in 3G phones. From my experience, they simply will not work in 2G only phones. Note that this is completely unrelated to your N95 falling back to a 2G connection - the N95 is still a 3G phone regardless of whether you are currently connected by 3G or not.

 

[lynchy6789]

i have just got a Nokia N95 8GB on my contract for

£25- Ulimated texts, 500 anytime minutes, ulimated 3 to 3 Minutes.

I really like my phone for the week i have had it.
My friend has blackberry Curve which would be my number 1 choice (I phone just couldn't deal with texting on it, I pod touch does my head in some times)

To your question- Doesnt the phone have to be 3G compatible.

 

[BigManBill]

Your post was very hard to read - however the reason for the handset not reading the 3 USIM could be one or more of the following:

- The HTC handset could be fussy with the types of SIMs that it can read. The 3 SIM is actually a USIM and I know some older handsets are fussy with them. However, that model doesn't look too old - so I doubt this would be the case.
- Handset might be locked onto vodafone's GSM bands (900) and therefore the roaming partner for 3 (which is Orange and runs on GSM 1800 may not operate). Again, this might not apply as I know vodafone use 1800 in some places.

Therefore in order to look into it more. Can you give a little more information rather "it didnt work"?

Do you get any error messages on the screen? Have you tried a manual network selection (for either 3 or Orange)? Have you tried other SIM cards (non-voda or 3) in your HTC? If so, what is the result?

As a former employee of 3, I know that they do audits of the handsets that are using the network, you *might* get a warning SMS if they detect you using too much roaming (especially in areas of 3G coverage).

wrote it quickly as i really cant be bothered with it anymore. the error message when using the HTC was invalid sim/sim registration failed, it worked when using my mums old virgin sim, but came up as t-mobile when in the phone? what i dont understand is why my sim is restricted to 3g phones only, what if i want to use a crappy old one ever, and also it begs the question what loan phone would they have given me (i didnt get one as they didnt have one in store, useless).

 

[mrochester]

wrote it quickly as i really cant be bothered with it anymore. the error message when using the HTC was invalid sim/sim registration failed, it worked when using my mums old virgin sim, but came up as t-mobile when in the phone? what i dont understand is why my sim is restricted to 3g phones only, what if i want to use a crappy old one ever, and also it begs the question what loan phone would they have given me (i didnt get one as they didnt have one in store, useless).

It's against the Three terms and conditions to use anything other than a 3G phone, so even if you could use an old phone, you're not allowed to anyway. They're certainly not going to make it so that you can easily use a 2G only phone! Those were the T&Cs you agreed too.

 

[squawkBOX]

Invalid sim/sim registration failed - This could point towards a fault with the USIM that you have. Although I am not 100% certain as I don't know if 3 sending you a new USIM would fix this issue.

T-Mobile appeared on the handset, as Virgin are an MVNO of T-Mobile and therefore use T-Mobile's masts/backhaul etc.

what i dont understand is why my sim is restricted to 3g phones only

3 have to pay Orange for roaming (it is a bit like international roaming but rather than being overseas, you are simply roaming in the UK), therefore the more you use the 2.5G services, the more 3 has to pay Orange. So it is in their best interests to force you to use 3G (as per the terms and conditions in the contract).