list of gsm phones where three.ie sim cards can be used

flodis79

Is there a list of phones compatible with three.ie's USIM sim cards? Will they work eg in a Nokia 6070, 6600 or 3220?

Urban Weigl

Any 3G phone will work.

Sam Vimes

6070 no

6600 no

3220 no

only 3g phones. this isn't a technology thing. they purposely prevent their sims working in 2g phones because they can't use their web portal and so can't make them as much money as they'd like

flodis79

@commandervimes: Ok, have you actually tried a three sim card in all of these phones I was listing? I know for a fact that some nokia phones DO work with the three sim card, but im not sure which ones. three sim cards here are just ordinary USIMs, eg the same as three are using in all other hutchinson countries. I have heard an Italian guy using these usims in certain 2g phones, with success..

That's why I posed this question.

Urban Weigl

What's the point though? Even if you manage to get it to work in a 2G phone, you won't get proper coverage as 3 only have a 3G network, and only have agreements with Vodafone where they don't have full 3G coverage yet.

Sam Vimes

flodis79 wrote:

@commandervimes: Ok, have you actually tried a three sim card in all of these phones I was listing? I know for a fact that some nokia phones DO work with the three sim card, but im not sure which ones. three sim cards here are just ordinary USIMs, eg the same as three are using in all other hutchinson countries. I have heard an Italian guy using these usims in certain 2g phones, with success..

That's why I posed this question.

i have seen a 3 sim in a 6230 but it was a t-mobile model. i assume it has software that allows it to use a 3 usim because its english. it doesn't work in an irish 6230 (just tried there). it was probably the same in italy.

and i don't think they are standard usims because vodafone 3g sims work in all phones

Sam Vimes

Urban Weigl wrote:

What's the point though? Even if you manage to get it to work in a 2G phone, you won't get proper coverage as 3 only have a 3G network, and only have agreements with Vodafone where they don't have full 3G coverage yet.

this is true. i just remembered that i put a 3 sim in an irish 6230i (this might be one to try). it worked but i couldn't get any coverage because 3 only uses their own coverage in dublin and they only have 3g coverage

rogue-entity

Commander Vimes wrote:

6070 nothey purposely prevent their sims working in 2g phones because they can't use their web portal and so can't make them as much money as they'd like

That is the biggest load of rubbish. 3G (UMTS) and 2G (GSM) are seperate, incompatible technologies and they use different SIM cards.
3G USIM cards generally will not work in a 2G phone, unless the phone's software supports it. 3G USIM cards for this reason will often have a backwards compatibility built in to them which will allow them to work in both GSM and 3G phones, as is the case with all providers that have existing 2G networks like Vodafone. This lets the provider give out one type of SIM regardless of the handset the user has, and if used in a supported phone, will make use of the 3G features available. I suspect that most networks that are testing 3G services, or planned on testing/launching said services, would have released these dual-mode cards so that customers could upgrade to 3G without any problems if they had a compatible phone. Though it is also possible in some cases for 2G-Only cards to work on a 3G network, how this is done I dont know, but it is likly a network-dependent feature.

I have been told by a Nokia Service Engineer that 3's cards are electrically incompatible with non-3G phones and that the phone can be permenently damaged if the card is used in non-3G phones. All I can confirm with this, is that the card cannot be used in an SE T630, or a standard SIM Card contacts-copier which wouldn't recognise it.

The most likly reason for any intentional incompatibility with 2G phones is that 3's services wouldnt work on them, and not only would you only have access to the limited version of their portal, but you would be using Vodafone's Network only, which would cost them more money then they would be making back on you, so they obviously dont want that. When they eventually complete the national 3G network, they will switch off the Vodafone backup in those areas to save them the cost involved.

Sam Vimes

rogue-entity wrote:

That is the biggest load of rubbish. 3G (UMTS) and 2G (GSM) are seperate, incompatible technologies and they use different SIM cards.
3G USIM cards generally will not work in a 2G phone, unless the phone's software supports it. 3G USIM cards for this reason will often have a backwards compatibility built in to them which will allow them to work in both GSM and 3G phones, as is the case with all providers that have existing 2G networks like Vodafone. This lets the provider give out one type of SIM regardless of the handset the user has, and if used in a supported phone, will make use of the 3G features available. I suspect that most networks that are testing 3G services, or planned on testing/launching said services, would have released these dual-mode cards so that customers could upgrade to 3G without any problems if they had a compatible phone. Though it is also possible in some cases for 2G-Only cards to work on a 3G network, how this is done I dont know, but it is likly a network-dependent feature.

I have been told by a Nokia Service Engineer that 3's cards are electrically incompatible with non-3G phones and that the phone can be permenently damaged if the card is used in non-3G phones. All I can confirm with this, is that the card cannot be used in an SE T630, or a standard SIM Card contacts-copier which wouldn't recognise it.

The most likly reason for any intentional incompatibility with 2G phones is that 3's services wouldnt work on them, and not only would you only have access to the limited version of their portal, but you would be using Vodafone's Network only, which would cost them more money then they would be making back on you, so they obviously dont want that. When they eventually complete the national 3G network, they will switch off the Vodafone backup in those areas to save them the cost involved.

you say its a load of rubbish that they purposely prevent their phones working in 2g phones and then you agree with me that they purposely prevent it because you wouldn't be able to use their portal, and you add that you'd be on vodafone's network thereby costing them money

so you described what i said as a load of rubbish and then basically restated what i said in your own words

do you agree with me or not?

rogue-entity

I disagree with you, because you say that their SIM cards could be compatible with 2G phones, that they deliberatly make them incompatible. The incompatibility is not intentional, 3 simply do not supply "dual-mode" SIMS like the other networks do because they do not have a 2G network, so it is of no use to them. They supply 3G USIMs to be used in 3G phones on their 3G network. The 2G roaming is purely temporary since they will gradully reduce the areas this will work in as their own network provides a more reliable service in these areas, e.g. Dublin.

Since 3 are in a business of providing a 3G service on their network it is in their interest to stop users using only Vodafone's backup service on a non-2G phone. They do not deliberatly cripple their SIM cards, but are simply exploiting the incompatibilities with 3G-Only USIMS and 2G phones that do not support them. Some phones may work with them, but I can attest that they will not work in a Sony Ericsson T630 as I tried.

I am not saying that 3 restrict their cards as you did, just providing an explanation of the incentive that they have to do so if it was an option, but given the general incompatibility with these cards, they most likly havent bothered to do.

Sam Vimes

rogue-entity wrote:

The most likly reason for any intentional incompatibility with 2G phones is that 3's services wouldnt work on them,

rogue-entity wrote:

I disagree with you, because you say that their SIM cards could be compatible with 2G phones, that they deliberatly make them incompatible. The incompatibility is not intentional

eh? which is it?

rogue-entity wrote:

I disagree with you, because you say that their SIM cards could be compatible with 2G phones, that they deliberatly make them incompatible. The incompatibility is not intentional, 3 simply do not supply "dual-mode" SIMS like the other networks do because they do not have a 2G network, so it is of no use to them. They supply 3G USIMs to be used in 3G phones on their 3G network. The 2G roaming is purely temporary since they will gradully reduce the areas this will work in as their own network provides a more reliable service in these areas, e.g. Dublin.

so you say they could be compatible but they choose not to make them so, exactly as i was saying. they could make them compatible so that they could be used in sim card readers and save people a lot of hassle trying to transfer their numbers from their old sim. they choose not to

rogue-entity wrote:

Since 3 are in a business of providing a 3G service on their network it is in their interest to stop users using only Vodafone's backup service on a non-2G phone.

pretty much what i was saying

rogue-entity wrote:

I am not saying that 3 restrict their cards as you did, just providing an explanation of the incentive that they have to do so if it was an option, but given the general incompatibility with these cards, they most likly havent bothered to do.

so you're saying i'm wrong in saying they restrict them but then giving reasons as to why they restrict them which were pretty much the same as my own. fair enough


my point can be summarised as: they could allow their sims to be used in 2g phones but they don't because they make more money by making them 3g only. do you disagree with this or not? you say you disagree with me but then you keep restating my point