3G SIM in 2G phone?

jlang

The 3G phones are all too heavy and bulky and until they bring them down to compete with the size of the slim 2G phones, I wouldn't be recommending them to anyone. But the Vodafone new 3G tariffs seem pretty good value for heavy users, so ... (assuming no interest in videocalls, clips of soccer matches, overpriced data downloads or any of that WAP ****e)

can you use a 3G SIM in a 2G phone? What do you need to say to the shop to get them to give you a 3G SIM (or should you just buy the cheapest 3G phone)? If it's up to the discretion of the shop dude, anyone know one where will do it?

Pythia

Just ask to upgrade to a 3G sim. They might give it to you,they might not.

JohnnyMobile

just tell them you bought a 3g handset out of the nuy and sell and you want to go onto a 3g tariff. They will do a sim change for you there and then.

I currently swap my 3G sim in and out of all manner of phones and it works fine so there wont be a problem using the 3G sim in a non-3G handset

whiskeyman

jlang wrote:

can you use a 3G SIM in a 2G phone? What do you need to say to the shop to get them to give you a 3G SIM (or should you just buy the cheapest 3G phone)? If it's up to the discretion of the shop dude, anyone know one where will do it?

Yes, but you obviously won't avail of the 3G services.
The current network is actually 2.5G

Just say you've purchased a SIM free 3G phone and wish to use the Vodafone tariffs.
I'm not aware that they are selling SIM only packs though.

Akula

When I tried talking to Vodafone customer care they said that a 3G sim in a 2.5g phone would end up causing me a lot of problems.

However they did say it was possible to get the hire tariffs on a blackberry which is 2.5g. Thus the decision has nothing to do with the sim type, just a policy decision. Try calling them and speaking to a supervisor and say you know that other people are getting around it and that you want it or you are taking your business elsewhere.

flywheel

Akula wrote:

When I tried talking to Vodafone customer care they said that a 3G sim in a 2.5g phone would end up causing me a lot of problems.

hi, did they say what 'problems' would be caused?

like JohnnyMobile my 3G SIM goes in and out of many different devices with no issue

dshakey

dont forget vodafone are launching 3g on ready to go at the end of the summer!! maybe then they might start selling 3g sim packs. its going to happen sooner or later!!

Akula

I think they were talking through their ass about problems.

Anyway you don't need a 3G sim. About five minutes after posting my last post vodafone called me. Random customer care thing. Told them I was thinking of leaving them since they wouldn't let me switch on to perfect fit 600 and lo and behold, she said, well to keep your custom we will let you do it.

I'm guessing this will only work for people who aren't tied into a 12 month contract though.

dshakey

very interesting. i might do the same thing.. its just stupid that us heavy users cant have the goof tariffs.

NOTE: back when i had a contact i remember phoeing them up and asking how could go about cancelling my contact. the girl explained and said that i had to pay 20e for every month i had left, i had only 2 months left. anyway the point to this story is that the next day i had another girl on the phone, asking me was i happy with vodafone, i said i wasnt and i was thinkin of porting over to o2, later that day she rng me back and offered me an free upgrade to stay even doh i was still in contact..

a bit of telling over to vodafone can get you a long way..

JohnnyMobile

whiskeyman wrote:

Yes, but you obviously won't avail of the 3G services.
The current network is actually 2.5G

Just say you've purchased a SIM free 3G phone and wish to use the Vodafone tariffs.
I'm not aware that they are selling SIM only packs though.

2G / 2.5G I didnt feel like typing the .5 but thanks for doing it for me.

When you have configured the core network infrastructure for an APN come back and talk to me.

jlang

I know I started the thread, but I can sort of see their reasons for trying to discourage this. They've just built this nice new 3G network with loads of free capacity just waiting for people to use it so they can afford to pay back their license fees. The backward compatability was supposed to be only to allow complete national coverage without having to put 3G base stations everywhere. If too many people use 3G sims in old phones, they won't ever be using the new network that VF just spent millions upgrading, and will in fact just be free-loading by using the cheaper tariffs on the old congested network.

(It doesn't matter that the license fee wasn't in the mega-bucks in this country, Vodafone bought all across Europe and if the Irish are used to paying more for their phone service, the line seems to be that they can continue to be used to it and pay off the parent companies debts.)

So, the bottom line for me is that I can't wait till 3G phones come out that don't have all the fancy video/media features and their resulting weight/bulk/battery life penalties as I just want to use the relatively uncongested 3G network. Until then, if they'll let me use the cheaper rates on my <100g phone, I'm happy to take advantage of them.

JohnnyMobile

my 3G phones are in a drawer... went back to my 6310i it works!

Akula

obviously with more capacity on their 3g network the cost of providing 600 minutes on that is effectively lower than providing it on their 2g network since there is capacity to burn at a guess.

Still though, not having ANY tariff of anything approaching a decent price for users that use more than 100 mins is a bit crazy. I had been on business 400 and was on the verge of a hop over to meteor.