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How do Irish iPhones work

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  • 14-12-2011 9:43pm
    #1
    BogMonkey
    Registered Users Posts: 356 ✭✭


    Do iPhones over here use sim cards? In America it depends on the service provider. One service provider sells iPhones which need a sim card, the other one sells iPhones without sim cards. Is it the same thing over here?


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    #2
    ethernet
    Registered Users Posts: 3,568 ✭✭✭ethernet


    Unlike Verizon's CDMA phone, they all have SIM cards here (GSM). Some phones are locked to the network that subsidised the phone, however, unless you buy the phone carrier-free (unlocked) for the full whack of ~€500.


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    #3
    Solair
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,230 ✭✭✭Solair


    The European-originated GSM family of standards : GSM (2G), UMTS (3G) and LTE (4G) (All backwards compatible) is the absolute standard for mobile phones in Ireland and throughout Europe and it specifically requires that all devices have a SIM card.

    So, all Irish mobile phones, iPhone or otherwise, have a SIM.

    The concept of a SIM card was developed to allow people to move network with ease and keep their handset and it is very much a fundamental part of the GSM system and also one of its key selling points as a technology.

    You can also unlock your iPhone (officially) after your contract is complete or buy a SIM free iPhone from the Apple Store etc.

    If you buy a SIM-unlocked iPhone or if you have an unlocked one from another network, when you put a SIM card from another phone company that has a deal with Apple to sell iPhones, the phone will usually automatically configure the APN (data network) settings.

    While this is really user friendly, it also means that the networks can gouge you for data charges as they will usually specify a different APN for 'teathering' so you cannot use your monthly data bundle with your laptop and end up having to pay an extra €20/month or whatever for a 'tethering bundle'

    CDMAOne/CDMA2000 is a proprietary mobile phone standard developed by Qualcomm in the USA. It is used by Verizon and Sprint and a few others in the US and also by Bell Canada. It's used in a few Latin American countries and also in South Korea.

    In general, most networks seem to be now converging towards the GSM-standard for 4G known as LTE and moving away from CDMAOne/2000/EvDo etc because it is just opening up a huge variety of network equipment providers and handsets.

    The GSM market is enormous and the standards are basically open where as the CDMAOne/2000/EVDO market is quite limited in size and also has supplier lock-ins as it is proprietary technology.

    Hence, in the US, you will see SIM cards appearing on new Verizon phones when they move to LTE!

    Just to be really confusing:

    CDMA - Code division multiple access, is actually a generic term. GSM family phones using 3G/4G use a CDMA technology known as W-CDMA to encode data and voice signals.
    In the US, CDMA tends to get used as shorthand for Qualcomm's CDMAOne/CDMA2000 standards, which use similar technology but it is not at all compatible with the GSM-3G standards.

    2G GSM uses TDMA Time division multiplex access, which is an older technology. However, it provides absolutely excellent results and still is in widespread use for voice/SMS communication.


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