I posted a few days ago about my recent good fortune in winning an iPhone. I had already unlocked it and had it working in the USA with my US T-Mobile account without problem. However, I ran into a few issues getting my UK T-Mobile to work as easily. Here are a few tips for anybody having similar problems.
SMS Settings
My main problem was that I couldn’t get SMS (text) messages to send from my iPhone on T-Mobile UK. I had figured out that this was down to an incorrect Message Service Centre number on the phone and I was basically correct. There are a series of codes you can dial on the phone keypad to query and change various settings on the phone. The SMS related settings are as follows:
- Check Service Centre number (SMSC) – dial *#5005*7672# and press call. This will display the current Service centre number. If this doesn’t work you have a different problem; see below.
- Delete Service Centre number (SMSC) – dial ##5005*7672# and press call.
- Set new Service Center number (SMSC) – dial **5005*7672*+nnnnnnnnn# and press Call. N.B. +nnnnnnn is the number of the SMS service centre number that you need to find out from your cell phone provider. It’s in international format and therefore starts with a + sign before the country code.
If option 1 doesn’t work for you, as it didn’t for me, then you have an outdated SIM card. Mine was my original One2One SIM from the days before T-Mobile in the UK and was about 9 years old. I went to my local T-Mobile shop and they replaced it with a new one for a £10(GBP) fee – I then called T-Mobile and they agreed to credit that amount to my bill since I was replacing it for “wearing out” due to old age. Since I switched SIM cards, everything has been hunky-dory with the SMS service.
EDGE/GPRS Internet
The iPhone doesn’t (yet) support 3G internet service but does work over what used to be called WAP – this runs, these days, in some territories over the EDGE network (as in the US) and in others over GPRS (most parts of the UK). I believe that EDGE is currently only available on O2 in the UK. You may need to manually configure the settings for this to work and you will need a Data plan/bundle from your cell phone provider – otherwise it can be ludicrously expensive. Typical prices in the UK run to £7.50/MB transferred – thats about $15 (USD)!! I pay £7.50/month to T-Mobile for a Web’n'Walk plan that gives me unlimited data transfer.
I had some problems tracking down the correct settings to use. T-Mobile UK doesn’t officially support the iPhone and their settings are only available on their website via a service that downloads the settings directly to your phone – and if it’s not supported it doesn’t work! I called T-Mobile Customer Services and the chap who ‘helped’ me tried to put my phone details into the same web-service rather than having any actual information! I did a thorough search online and eventually came up with the correct settings (after many attempts with incorrect ones) at the Carphone Warehouse website. They are:
- APN: general.t-mobile.uk
- Username: user
- Password: wap
Please note the lack of “.co” in the APN – I didn’t spot that straight away and had more problems. If you are on a different UK mobile network, you can find the settings here. To find your way to the right iPhone menu for these settings click: “Settings->General->Network->EDGE”.
iPhone “Unlocking Services”
In the midst of my confusion over the SMS issue I tried a few different packages for unlocking my iPhone. The simplest and best seems to be ZiPhone. I foolishly bought into a package called UnlockiPhoneUK since they promised to unlock all features and provide future-proof support against new iPhone software released by Apple. I paid £29.99 (GBP) for what proved to be a rebranded version of the ZiPhone software (which is free!) and a mediocre help section on their website. I implore you to not repeat my mistake. I will be emailing their “Customer Service” and requesting a refund when I have a moment.
I hope that this information proves useful to anybody trying to get their unlocked iPhone up and running. I have been helped enormously by many sources all over the internet to collect the information above and I thank those who posted it. This is all regurgitated information and none of it is my own work. I just hope that having it in one spot makes it easier to find. I’ll post anything else useful I come across as I go along…
Wow, thanks for this article, would have never figured all that crap out without it!! Thanks again!
Any idea if 3G will be supported on the iPhone which is available now?
i recently bought an unlocked iphone from ebay and everything works (safari, youtube etc) apart from the phone itself, i cant make or receive calls or send sms, im using my tmobile uk sim, any advice?
@Steve:
What error messages do you get from your iPhone, or on iTunes when you connect it to the computer? My suspicion is that the phone has been activated but not unlocked. I presume that none of the network specific functions work including GPRS/EDGE internet. Does the phone show the network name in the top left corner of the screen?
Simplest solution is to download a copy of ZiPhone and unlock it yourself. You may need to restore the iPhone to the latest firmware (1.1.4 at time of writing) first but that’s not difficult to do and you will find ample instructions on the ZiPhone site.
Good luck and let me know how you get on….
@Jim
You’re most welcome, glad it was helpful.
Not sure about the 3G – I read conflicting reports about whether a hard- or software fix is necessary to enable it. Let’s hope for the best….
thank u, when i try and make a call it says “call failed” immedietly and if i try and callmy phone i get a message saying ” the phone u are trying to cll is switched off”, not connected it to itunes yet, iv just downloaded Ziphone and il giv it a go this evening and see what happens, il let u know
cheers
using Ziphone everything works great, used the edge/gprs internet codes aswell and allseems good, thanks
Glad to be of assistance. Have just cracked getting your own ringtones for free too! Will be posting about that shortly….
one last thing, my bluetooth isnt working, says its on and “now discoverable” but it just keeps searching for other devices for ages
The bluetooth service on the iPhone seems pretty scant. If you set your Bluetooth headset to pairing mode the iPhone will discover it. Other than that, I’ve not been able to do any kind of file transfer as I have with previous phones. I believe it’s possible to use the iPhone as a bluetooth modem for your laptop but with GPRS speeds only (unless you’re on O2 and in the right 30% of the UK) it hardly seems worth it.
Hi,
Just wanted to say a massive thanks! I’ve had an unlocked I phone on t mobile for a week now but no one could figure out how to do the EDGE thing for me. After reading your web page I had it sorted in a couple of minutes.
Cheers.
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Hi mate,
I have an i-phone, and put my virgin sim card in the phone.
I tried the settings which was given on the carphone warehouse website to get access to the internet via GPRS/WAP, but its not working.
Do you by any chance know what the settings are?
Thanks
Sorry – I don’t immediately have any info about settings for other networks. Try Googling it – that’s basically what I did in the first place.
Best of luck…
hey,
i have got an 8gb iphone unlocked on t-mobile with the web n walk also but i dont seem to be able to setup EDGE?? i have input all the details above but my youtube still doesnt work?
Is there an option somewhere to turn EDGE on?
Thanks
The EDGE network is only available on O2 in the UK as far as I know. The settings I’ve listed will allow you to use GPRS internet on T-Mobile UK which allows you to send and receive email, and use Safari, Maps, Weather and most of those other applications. Unfortunately the data transfer is pretty slow so the iPhone is set to only allow data over EDGE or WiFi for certain applications – YouTube included. I guess it’s not viable to stream video over GPRS.
If GPRS is available you get a little blue square next to the operator logo. That becomes a letter ‘E’ in a blue square when EDGE is available.
ok.
i am trying to get the installer app onto my phone aswell but i am unsure how to do it? do you know?
thanks
The Installer app comes ready-loaded if you use Ziphone to unlock/jailbreak your iPhone. Since that’s what I’ve done most recently, that’s the best recommendation I can make.
hi there,
having input the above tmobile settings into the edge setup screen…i still cannot get my gprs connection to work?
I have a blue square in the top left when i am out of wifi range but when i click to refresh mail folders i get the following message…
“Cannot get mail” – the connection to the server “imap.apple.mail.yahoo.com” failed
and if i click on safari i get
“safari can’t open this page because it cant find the server”
could you offer any help would be greatly appreciated….As you can tell i am not the most hi-tec kid in the world!!
many thanks….
Hi there.
I used your settings to set my iPhone up for data use on t-mobile, & so far it’s worked perfectly.
Today, it doesn’t want to work. Safari “can’t find the server”, & mail is saying “the connection to the server “mail.mac.com” failed”.
Is anybody else having problems? Or is anybody aware of T-Mobile outtages in the Nottingham area?
Cheers
IAN
@Ian
I had problems with the T-Mobile data service yesterday as well. I guess it was a nationwide problem as I spent the day driving from Leeds-Bournemouth and it wouldn’t work anywhere. It’s not been great today either – still intermittent. How about for you?
Hi
Same intermittent problems for me with T-Mobile data.
Seems a bit better today.
Glad it’s not just me
I have managed to get an unlocked 3G iPhone in New Zealand, whilst on holiday, everything works except data (im still in NZ but romaing), have used settings (same as my existing vodafone phone which works on data) but it just comes up with same error message “could not activate cellular data network” any ideas
Its all working now must have been NZ that had the data issue on their network
Hi
i am trying to get safari working. I am on t-mobile with same web and walk package. I have put in the APN settings but still can’t connect. The message l get is “Safari cant open the page becuase it is not connected to the internet”. Do you have any ideas what l am doing wrong?
Many Thanks
@Shell
As you see from previous comments, the T-Mobile GPRS service has been a bit erratic lately. I’ve been having problems myself, whereby a page in Safari appears to load but comes in completely blank. If I figure it out, I’ll be sure to post about it.
Sorry I can’t be of more help.
thanks for your speedy response. It now works.
I see your comments about bluetooth. I just can’t send pictures/ ring tones over from old phone. Infact can’t even send anything from any paired bluetooth device.
Shame.
Really appreciate your help.
Kind Regards
Shelly
Hi, I have recently unlocked a 2g iphone using winpwn. I am using an orange contract sim and I can make and recieve calls and messages but the internet functions only work through wifi when I’m at home.
I’ve read through forums and here and people mention EDGE but I cant find this in my settings. Any help would be great as I would like to take advantage of using google maps etc on the go.
Many Thanks
Carl
@Carl
On your iPhone go to Settings->General->Network->Cellular Data Network. You can enter the settings from the Carphone Warehouse page there. The EDGE network is only available on O2 so you just get to use GPRS on other networks.
Hi mate, I really need some help, I have followed numerous process to get the settings on my T-mobile unloced iphone but when I go to Settings – General – Network there is NO EDGE icon to add these settings in. I put the General.t-mobile.uk stuff in the APN area but that makes no difference to me.
I too have called T-mobile who say that I need to do what everyone else keeps saying but I have no EDGE icon, how can I get this? I am on the 1st Gen iphone with 2.0 firmware.
Thanks
@Mashlie
To enter the settings follow the instructions I gave Carl in my previous comment.
To repeat, EDGE is not available on any UK network apart from O2. We have to struggle along with GPRS. O2 only introduced EDGE because it’s the 2G Data Network used in the USA.
Hi trumpetBoy,
I am from Australia and i bought an Iphone 2G which was from US. I wana use it to check mail and browse internet. But when i try to connect to safari, it says “Safari can’t open the page because it cant find the server” and with youtube it says “cannot connect to youtube” but with WIFI i can connect to youtube but cannot connect to safari.. my carrier is OPTUS and VPN is not configured in the settings folder. there is a blue box in the upper left corner of the phone.. and the version is 1.1.4
il b really greatful if u can help me..
@Robby
You need to check with your network for their internet settings and then enter them in the appropriate spot as listed in my original post. The ‘blue box’ on your screen indicates use of a GPRS internet connection rather than EDGE – most likely your network doesn’t support EDGE as is the case with so many worldwide. This means you’ll only be able to browse YouTube over WiFi – GPRS isn’t fast enough.
Don’t forget that it’s now possible to update your firmware to 2.02 using the iPhone Dev Team’s tools.
I hope that’s of some help…
I am in the USA. Bought an unlocked Ipnone on e-bay. Everything worked great. Last week somehow it was automatically updated by Apple and froze. I unlocked it again and everything works except receiving email while not on Wifi? Says”could not activate cellular data network:you are not subscribed to a cellular data service” I am with t-mobile and have not made any changes to my service with them. Is problem with settings or my service t-mobile?
Thanx
@Niel
Double-check the Cellular Data Network settings and make sure they’re correct for T-Mobile USA. They may have been overwritten in the firmware upgrade. If they are, there is a ‘T-Mobile USA T-Zones’ hack available via the Installer – maybe that’ll do the trick?
Hello TrumpetBoy,
Fantastic write up, very clear an very useful! I need to get rid of the EDGE error an was trying to find out how to do it. 5 mintues on your blog an I am up an running. Also I wish everyone reads all the comments before asking TrumpetBoy the same questions over an over again!
two quick question though, you worked out how you can put songs as your ringtone? Most I have found are to install an app? Also do you know how to increase the ring tone? The standard ones are very quier (most advise to put a hole in the material in front, don’t know how true this is though.
Many thanks again, much appriciated.
Abz
@Abz
Glad to have been of assistance.
I did a write up about ringtones. You can read it here. If you are self-editing tracks outside of the phone for use you can, of course, boost the volume in the process.
I’m surprised you keep saying that in the UK Edge is only available via O2. I’ve been using it successfully with Orange since I got my iPhone in January 2008.
Until yesterday. Now the service is very intermittent, and I’m getting the dreaded “Could not activate cellular data network”. Anyone know if there’s a temporary problem with Orange?
Martin
@Martin
I wasn’t aware that Orange had EDGE coverage too. I stand corrected. Since I’m on T-Mobile I have no frame of reference for other networks except when I tinker with friend’s iphones for them. So far, that’s only been on T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2.
I have a 2g iphone which about a month ago successfully had a t-mobile GPRS/EDGE connection with ‘Webnwalk’, it was of course slow but was useful. When I renewed my contract with t-mobile, it was suggested that I would be better to use PAYG mobile roaming as I wasn’t really justifying my usage with Webnwalk. I changed to this option and also got a t-mobile ‘pers> network message, presumably containing some sort of settings change.
Since all of this I have not been able to get mobile roaming access. I have just successfully upgraded to pwnage 2.0 and itunes 8 and changed the ‘Cellular Data’ (previously Edge) APN settings to: general.t-mobile / user / wap and I still can’t get back EDGE/GPRS. It makes me wonder wether I have to have Webnwalk or maybe t-mobile have just upset my settings. I presume VPN should remain ‘not configured’.
Anyone with any ideas apart from signing up with 02 (with hindsight maybe not such a bad idea)
MAN, YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER! It works!!!!!
I bought my unlocked Iphone in dubai and use my T-mobile sim. I have no problems with my mail but whenever I try to download certain applications, i get the message that my phone is not cofigured for these applications. Its not all applications but dont understand why some work and others dont.
@Bev
I’ve never encountered that problem myself. Which version of the iPhone firmware are you using? Perhaps you need to be on the latest version (2.2.1 at time of writing) for all apps to be compatible?
Thanks. Checked my version and its 2.0.2. how can i get the lastest version and will it mess up what little i can use now.
but now i have another problem. Not sure how it happened but now cannot access the internet. Whenever i try to access safari, I get the message: could not activate cellular data network. I have checked my settings, Cellular Data Network and have the following details: general.t-mobile.uk, user, wap
when i try to access the carrier is just searches but never comes up with any options.
@Bev
To update to the latest version, google for the iPhone Dev Team and follow their instructions. They have a program called QuickPWN which should unlock everything for you. In regard to your current internet predicament, it’s probably worth resetting your internet settings and setting them up again. Go to Settings->General->Reset and use the “Reset Network Settings” button. Don’t “Reset All” unless you want to wipe your iPhone completely! Again, these aren’t problems I’ve experienced myself so that’s the best advice I can offer. I hope it helps.
Thanks alot for that info mate ive been pulling my hair out!
Youve been a great help!!
Steve
really appreaciate this info u gave us, i was able to set the edge thing on my iphone with tmobile.GOD bless u.
trumpetboy, ive just unlocked my brandnew iphone via 02/apple..can you talk me through setting up webandwalk etc, you seem to be the one.
Brilliant. I was given an iphone 3g phone, but wanted it on t-mobile. I had it unlocked but had a cellular data network problem for weeks. But WOW, I came across your site – and guest what! Internet and Maps now works. Very greatful, keep up the good work, your now in my favourites. DJ Smiley
Thanks you’re a genius!
I could cry im soo happy!! THANK YOU SOOO VERY MUCH…. I have spent days trawling through the net trying to work out how to set m dam data thing up with t-mobile!! LIFE SAVER, I thought id bought a dodgy phone of ebay lol… kisses all round
I have an unlocked apple 3gi but when I tried to download a map from i tunes it connected to wap and cost me £32 how can i prevent this happening? I am on virgin pyg. There advice is to disconnet the wap how do i do this
Sharon: No matter what carrier or plan you’re on, you need to have fixed-rate data plan. Not using the internet really negates the point of having an iPhone!
The only way I can think of to stop the phone connecting to the Internet is to delete the APN settings altogether. That way it will only connect over WiFi.
There maybe some kind of app available on Cydia or Icy to add a toggle for the Internet – similar to the Data Roaming switch for when you’re abroad.
Please help me – you seem like the guru in this space so I hope you can.
I have a T-Mobile Account with iphone and have the walk n walk etc.. as part of a busness plan.
I can only ever connect to internet and app store etc.. when I have WiFi connection. Most of the time I cant get WiFi connection and I am sure this must be wrong as though 3G supported internet connection as long as you have a good phone service reception.
I have the general cellular data set as
general.t-mobile.uk
user
pass
MMS
general.t-mobile.uk
pass
http:mmsc.t-mobile.co.uk
149.254.201.135.8080
307200
Internet Tethering
?
?
?
Do you know what I need to do please, please, please. Driving me around the bend.
Any help much appreciated.
Best
Jimmy