is iPhone 4 sold by Softbank in Japan locked in Japan & unlocked outside of Japan?
Is iPhone 4 sold by Softbank in Japan locked in Japan & unlocked outside of Japan?
The iPad sold by Softbank is exactly like that. Inside Japan it is locked to Softbank but outside of Japan you can stick any micro SIM in it.
I need to know if the iPhone 4 is like this or not.
Thanks
Well you have the same question that i do. im in the military here in japan. i have the Iphone 3g and it locked to softbank well haven't been back to the states to slap in a at&t sim card to give it a try. I was at Softbank today and was playing around with the new iphone 4 and found one strange thing about it. I went to settings/General/About with tell you everything about the phone. i compared its settings to my 3g settings and found one thing different. on my 3g network(softbank), line(softbank) and you scroll done a little bit and carrier says softback Mobile in Katakana. now for the iphone 4 at softbank it was network(softbank), line(softback) and Carrier it said AT&T 7.0 for some reason i have no clue why a iphone over here in japan would say that im curious. My wife is japanese and im going to have her call and see if i can get an answer to your question and the one that i found too. i will post when i find out.
Ok so went to softbank and had my wife with me and man was it confusing. i asked the question and the only response that we got back was that the iphone is locked to japan. i asked is it like the ipad here in japan and the softback employee said that the ipad is locked to japan too. either they dont know what im talking about but i doubt it because my wife told it to them in Japanese unless they just dont know which is what i really think. i think they were told for somebody high up or they received a memo stating that the phone is locked. Sorry i cant get you an answer on this one i was getting so mad in the store i gave up and left. the only othere way would maybe go to a bigger softbank store up in tokyo. i might try that this weekend see if i get anything different, but on another not the government announced that it would like the cellular company's to start selling unlocked phones. which is good, so docomo annouced that they will be selling unlocked cell phones starting next year so maybe softback will follow them. its only a matter of time and the government will make the cellular companys do it. the government had done it to a few thing here already and if they make the cellular company's sell unlocked phones im all for it. im going to be here for another 2 years at least so will have to wait and see.
It's my understanding that Japan has a Cell Phone system like no other in the World (frequencies & such). So if this is correct, your Japan iPhone would not work anywhere other than Japan (even if it was unlocked).
It's my understanding that Japan has a Cell Phone system like no other in the World (frequencies & such). So if this is correct, your Japan iPhone would not work anywhere other than Japan (even if it was unlocked).
Why? Apple only makes one kind of iPhone. It has like 5 bands in the antenna. That's why the same iPhone can work globally. Japan may have a funky cell network, but that doesn't mean it won't work in other parts of the world if unlocked cuz it physically has the antennas to do so.
Japan's CMRS is mostly proprietary as far as bands and technologies, but they do support UMTS 2100 (same as Europe), so iPhone works fine, and yes, there's only one model iPhone, it's the same all over the world.
I am a little confused. My Verizon phone was able to roam on GSM because they used TDMA. Tell it was shutdown. The phone recognizes it as Analog. If PCS has TDMA, It could be technically be used on GSM.
Originally Posted by Tabla
Y'know, I'm used to hysterical 14-year-old ******** on the internet, but this is exceptional. Never before in human history have so many nerds hyperventilated so publicly over so little.
My only concern getting an officially unlocked unit would be warranty issues. IIRC, Apple will only honor warranty of the iPhone from it's country of origin. So, if you get the iP4 from Japan to the US, and it needs repairs that would normally be covered under warranty, you're SOL unless it gets sent back to Japan!
I live in Yokohama, here in Hodogaya-ku. My wife works for Softbank, and as such I have a little information on this subject. First, all i-phones are not the same. There are special models of Iphone, 3G and 4G ready, that are Edy-compatible and SUICA-compatible. These are technologies you will only find in Japan and I have never heard of those technologies (hardware configurations not software) being deployed in Iphone anywere else in the world. This is why the Iphone was not introduced into the Japanese market for almost 2 years after it was introduced throughout the rest of the world, even in neighboring Taiwan and R.O.K. Edy and Suica capability are already 2 major differences between the Iphones from Japan and elsewhere. Secondarily, GSM is completely not deployed in Japan. Japanese Iphones, especially those for use with the Softbank (formerly Vodafone) network must run with a WCDMA network. The iphone4 has a hybrid UMTS/CDMA radio unit built in, not suitable for Softbank's WCDMA network. Japanese mobile providers keep many secrets, and the details of their networks are one of them. The only reason I know as much as I do is because my wife happens to be a Softbank employee. If I had to advise someone to about an iphone for use in multiple countries I would not recommend buying one from a Japanese provider. They are locked, and while they can be unlocked there are reports that this has disabled some phones. A better idea, is to go to Softbank, pick up a "pay as you go mobile". These are not like your cheapies in the U.S. or Britain. These will set you back ichimanen but they will also come with an ACTUAL Japanese SIM card. You can then take this, in conjunction with an unlocked iphone4 bought in Taiwan, (Taiwan is one of the few countries that makes their own cell phones to be compatible with Japan and western countries) and put the Softbank Sim in this phone. The problem with this is while the iphone will work, you may find the data features do not. You will have to upgrade your "pay as you go" account to a permanent account. This is not something Softbank likes to do b/c of problems with certain cell phone smuggling rings selling off very advance pay as you go mobile handsets to other countries for very high mark up. However, after you give them your gaijin torokushomeishou card and passport to let them make copies and proof of residency, they will upgrade your account. At this point, that original SIM will work brilliantly with an iphone so long as you have purchased some type of data package for your phone. If you do like I did, and just let the data costs build up w/o a data plan, you will fine the total charges to reach nearly nimanen a month if you surf much. No one said this would be easy, but there is a way where there is a will. For the average foreigner though, this will be entirely too much trouble. It is useful for those of us here who are expats and travel around Asia, and back home to see our family in the states every now and then. Take care and God Bless!
I live in Yokohama, here in Hodogaya-ku. My wife works for Softbank, and as such I have a little information on this subject. First, all i-phones are not the same. There are special models of Iphone, 3G and 4G ready, that are Edy-compatible and SUICA-compatible. These are technologies you will only find in Japan and I have never heard of those technologies (hardware configurations not software) being deployed in Iphone anywere else in the world. This is why the Iphone was not introduced into the Japanese market for almost 2 years after it was introduced throughout the rest of the world, even in neighboring Taiwan and R.O.K. Edy and Suica capability are already 2 major differences between the Iphones from Japan and elsewhere.
I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, but my AT&T iPhone works perfectly fine in Japan, both on NTT DoCoMo and Softbank. It is true that there is no GSM in Japan whatsoever, but NTT and Softbank both have UMTS 2100 networks throughout Japan and like I said, it works flawlessly with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G [S], and iPhone 4. The iPhone sold in Japan is identical to the one sold anywhere else in the world, there is nothing special about Japanese iPhones whatsoever.
The reason the original iPhone was not sold in Japan (or SK for that matter) is because there is no GSM in those countries. Taiwan has GSM just like anywhere else in the world.
XFF: give the guy a break. he tried to answer a thread that is over 1 year old. give him credit!
Suzumei: many thanks. Thanks for your input on the iPhone 4.
I have a question about the iPad2. Can you pls answer?
Is the iPad 2 locked to Softbank only in Japan but if it is used outside of Japan it can use any micro SIM card?
I know this is already an old thread, but since I'm going to Osaka/Kyoto for travel this September I might as well just try and ask here.
Since I got my iPhone from Japan earlier this year it was originally locked to Softbank's carrier. Right now I have it here in China with me jailbroken and using it now with the Gevey Turbo SIM. So far so good, but now comes the tricky part. On my phone plan I have 3G enabled, but my Gevey Ultra SIM doesn't work properly to let 3G through. So the thing I'm wondering now is when I go to Osaka this September, would Softbank unlock my iPhone 4 for me.
I have already verified that my iPhone indeed has Softbank's lock on it and it indeed doesn't work with my local provider here, China Unicom.
That's good argument, indeed. I would've if I didn't already have the iPhone 4 from Japan, and since I already had that one before the iPhone here came out I am not ready yet to buy another one just because of this.
Pity Softbank doesn't offer official unlocking, but after a good search and lots of trial and error attempts I finally got my 3G working. It appeared that all I had to do was to reset the network settings on my iPhone. I've already done so many attempts to just get that 3G working on my phone, semi-unlocked with Gevey Ultra Turbo Sim, so probably a lot of these settings were corrupting my current settings. After resetting those network settings, and filling in again my own provider's 3G settings, I could get the 3G working.
Now I'm already using it and also discovered Personal Hotspot needs an extra setting at the bottom of Network settings in order to be able to get used.
Thanks anyway for the tip to that page. I might just keep an eye on that to see when Softbank is gonna offer official unlocking or their iPhones.
Iam from India and i've won a bid in ebay for iphone4 which was used in Japan SoftBank carrier with firmware 4.3.3. I beleived it would work in India if i can unlock it. Could any one of you help me understand will i be able to unlock the iphone 4 in India and start using with any gsm carrier.
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Originally Posted by aea
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