I have an iPhone and I live in canada. It's definitely not a commodity here and I've probably been asked 100 times (literally) the following question: "are iPhones available in Canada yet?". The answer to that question is of course no. So I thought I'd write an article explaining how I got one here and how it's working in Canada.
So first of all you have two options with regards to using the iPhone in Canada. Fido and Rogers. You have a few options for purchasing an iPhone. If you are looking for one brand new you must purchase directly from the Apple store. Believe it or not this is your least expensive route. The other option is to purchase used from somewhere like eBay or Craigslist.
I chose to drive down to the Apple store in Lynnwood, WA for my iPhone. It was worth my while since work was reimbursing me for the phone and I brought a few extras back to flip. If you choose to acquire a used iPhone I'd urge you to unlock and jailbreak it yourself. More on this later.
So the first step once you acquire your device is to jailbreak and unlock it. Jailbreaking is the act of hacking the device to allow for the installation of unauthorized software applications. Unlocking allows you to use your Fido or Rogers SIM card in the phone. To reiterate, jailbreaking allows you to install software on your device while unlocking allows you to actually use it on the Canadian wireless networks.
There are a number of methods for jailbreaking and unlocking all which achieve the same end goal of using your phone in Canada. Here are some options:
ZiPhone - Mac and Windows
Pwnage - Mac only (though a Windows version is in the works)
Liberty+ - Mac and Windows
I would suggest ZiPhone for any first-timers out there. I've used a number of tools over the past month and ZiPhone definitely was the most intuitive. It worked well on both Windows and Leopard as well.
I'm not going to go into detail about unlocking your phone in this article. There are plenty of them out there:
So once you've unlocked and jailbroken your iPhone the next step is putting your Rogers or Fido SIM card into the phone. For this you'll need a thin paper clip. If you look at the top of your iPhone you'll notice a small hole, simply put the paper clip in the hole and press down on the catch. It should pop out. Here is a quick video tutorial from YouTube:
The next step is to configure the APN settings for your network. This is only applicable if you have a data plan. WiFi is a free alternative however I need Internet access on the go so this isn't an option for me. Go into Settings, General, Network, and finally EDGE. Here you will see three fields: APN, Username, and Password.
On rogers the settings are as follows:
APN: Internet.com
Username: wap
Password: wapuser1
On Fido the settings are as follows:
APN: internet.fido.ca
Username: fido
Password: fido
You should now be able to browse the internet and send/receive email over the EDGE network.
There are a few options with regards to data packages on the Canadian networks. Some have stated that they were successful in setting up the $7/month unlimited browsing package on the iPhone however I'd be cautious here. You can read more about this on howard forums Rogers or Fido. One thing to keep in mind is that the iPhone does use a lot of data. With regular e-mail checks and even small amounts of web browsing you'll find you blow through the standard data packages pretty quickly. I opted for the Flex Rate PC Card plan which starts at $65/month and includes 1GB of transfer. The great things about this particular plan is that if you go over 1GB it automatically bumps you up to the 2GB package which is only $15/month more. This mostly eliminates concern for overage charges of say $85,000 :)
Previously I mentioned that you should unlock and jailbreak the phone yourself and here's why. Apple releases new software upgrades (called Firmware) periodically for both the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Since the products release there have been 4 releases most of which include new functionality or bug fixes. If you purchase an iPhone that's already been unlocked you'll be stuck with the firmware they originally provided you with. It's really a simple process and it takes under 5 minutes to complete.
Finally I'd like to talk about reception. I think it's important to mention that the iPhone has provided me with better cell reception on the Rogers network than any device I've used. I'm able to drive through spots that were dead-zones with my Blackberry Pearl which was definitely not a poor performer with regards to reception.
15 comments:
Hi,
Thanks for the info on the iPhone in Canada. After you jailbreak and unlock the iPhone, can you still sync contacts and calendar stuff through iTunes or does Apple try to re-lock your iPhone each time. I really would like to have an iPhone, but I am worried about the syncing, which I can not go without.
Thanks again,
Kornelis
Hi Kornelis,
Yes you can definitely still sync your email/contacts/calendar/music and so on. iTunes will pop up a message automatically when new versions of the firmware (software) come out however you don't have to install them you can simply select no.
If you do decide to update the firmware to the latest versions you WILL have to re: jailbreak and unlock it however as mentioned in the article...it's VERY simple.
There have only been 4 releases of firmware since the products launch so you don't really need to be too concerned about the prompts I mentioned either.
Hope that helps and let me know if I can answer any other questions.
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
This really helps, thank you. I am definitely going to buy one now!
I'll let you know when I have got one.
Kornelis
Hi Ryan,
I bought one yesterday. Unlocked it with ziphone, which was really easy. I am really happy with it.
Thanks again, your blog was really helpful.
Kornelis
Kornelis,
Glad to hear that the site was helpful to you! The site is new and there isn't a lot of traffic coming my way but in time I hope to turn this into a great resource for more like you.
Thanks again and enjoy your new iPhone :)
Ryan
Very informative post. Good work!
hi ryan,
great blog and very informative articles. very nice to read you use a macbook pro and iphone... great combination! i also use a macbook pro and iphone as well. i am curious as to how the express card works with the iphone? is it a combined $65 data package u can use with your mbp and iphone? or does the iphone pick up the wifi signal from the card and the mbp when it is running. i am really looking to get data on the go with the iphone and would really appreciate your help.
thank you in advance, parm
Hi Parm,
The data plan is on my account under my phone number. I have one SIM card that I swap back and forth between the expresscard and the iPhone.
Hope this helps and thank-you for the kind words about my site! Much appreciated! :)
Ryan
hi ryan,
thanks for the feedback. now that i realize it has a sim that can u swap back and forth... it makes sense. i live in vancouver as well. would it be possible to view this in person. i am using the macbook pro as well and am just concerned with download speeds before i make the big investment in this hardware. thanks again and i would really appreciate your help. parm.
Hi Parm,
There are many sites out there reviewing the huge array of 3G cards available on the market. I'm currently using the X950D and you can read my review on it here: http://blog.ryan.kononoff.com/2008/04/x950d-on-rogers-wireless.html. I think that should give you a good indication as to how well it works.
Additionally you may find some of these videos informative: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=site:youtube.com+x950d&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8.
I'm a pretty busy guy so meeting up would be pretty difficult--sorry. Feel free to post any additional questions though and I'll do my best to answer them.
Thanks,
Ryan
no worries. i have tried rogers portable internet and was really disappointed with reception and speed. actually was brutal and that is where my fear stems from. how do u find reception while in the car, skytrain or near downtown high rises? speed?
additionally, what happens to my present rogers sim card in my iphone. would i get a new one? same phone number? do u find it easy enough to swap back and forth between the two devices? do u still get calls while the sim card is being used in the mac. i have experienced edge speeds on the iphone and of course wifi speeds are better on it. how does the merlin speeds compare in the real world? is there an option to pick up wifi from the merlin to the iphone as well?
finally, i understand the issues with the iphone release in canada due to the comwave patent fiasco. what are your thoughts about a resolution around 3G release time at apple WWDC? and more importantly, if rogers adjusts data plans to follow the steve jobs unlimited data on the iphone... should i even be thinking about locking into a 3yr data plan? are you locked into a plan or is month to month an option. also, if 3G arrives, wll we need to be with fido for that benefit?
thanks for all your help ryan. take care.
Wow! That's quite the list of questions! Perhaps I should consider a follow-up article to answer some of your questions...
For now...here we go:
Speeds are more consistent when you are not moving around (ie. train, car, etc...) however they are still very good while in motion. I use my aircard almost every day on my commute in the car and it works great. There are dead zones and spots where speeds drop down to edge but it's completely usable. In fact I often stream internet radio while commuting.
Reception will completely depend on your area...typically if you have good reception on your iPhone, you will have good reception on the PC Card. Additionally you can purchase an external antenna if you wish. Remember this is intended for mobile internet, not as your main internet connection. There will be dead spots and your speeds are completely dependent on your signal strength.
With regards to high-rises and the skytrain...again it depends on your signal strength. If you find you have good signal strength on the train, chances are you'll experience good speeds over 3G. It's something you'll really have to experiment with however I assume you already have a data plan on your iPhone? If so, from a data perspective, taking relative speeds into consideration, your experience should be similar. Clearly the 3G card will be much faster, however your speeds to signal strength ratio should be similar.
I use a single SIM in both devices. This means when the SIM is in my PC Card in the laptop, I do not receive calls--they go straight to voicemail. Txt messages are lost as they are sent to the PC Card and due to the fact that the software doesn't display SMS messages, they are "lost". SMS messages will work as-per-normal once you move the SIM back to your iPhone. You could put a new phone number on a separate SIM (this is what you're actually supposed to do according to Rogers) however this means you would either need two data plans (one for the iPhone SIM and one for the PC Card SIM or you would have to go without a data plan on the iPhone. This wasn't an option for me...I needed data primarily for my iPhone and secondarily for the PC Card and I certainly wasn't interested in 130/month in data packages :-)
It's easy enough to swap the SIM back and forth yes. I simply carry a paper clip around with the aircard in the case it comes with. This only takes 30 seconds to do.
The speeds on the Merlin are 3G and aren't even comparable to EDGE. Much, much faster. They are on-par with home internet connections (and in some cases faster...) though again this is dependent on your signal strength. My experience has been very positive and I'm happy with it. You just learn to put up with the occasional drop outs or speed-reductions while mobile. I haven't used the Rogers portable internet service so I can't really comment on that.
On average I'd say that I see around 1mbit downstream and 300k upstream. High speed lite is typically 1.5mbit downstream and 128k upstream. When downtown you should experience much faster speeds. Whenever I have full signal (which I imagine you would experience downtown) you should see over 2mbit downstream and closer to 1mbit upstream. As a comparison, I have shaw high-speed extreme at home and I'd be lucky to get 1mbit upstream. Again...you'll have to experiment.
I share my 3G internet connection over WiFi while commuting. This is a function of vista or mac osx. This would allow you to connect to the internet on your iPhone over WiFi.
I don't anticipate an iPhone release in Canada this June. I most definitely could be wrong...however time will tell. I do anticipate a 3G iPhone release in June of this year. Even if the iPhone does come to canada, I expect that I'll still purchase them from the US as they will likely still be less expensive to import than to purchase from Rogers.
I am locked into a 3 year data plan which I think is the way to go. It's only 20/month to a max of $100 to cancel and I see $100 to cancel as peanuts. I will always have the need for a data plan and do not anticipate the need to cancel. I'm currently on the 1Gb flex rate data plan as stated in the article. If I go over 1Gb I simply move into the 2Gb plan for an extra $15 and thus there are no overage charges.
Finally if a 3G phone does arrive in Canada I believe it will be with Rogers however again I could be wrong. I don't really care who it arrives with as I stated earlier, I believe it'll still be more cost-effective to purchase in the states and unlock/jailbreak. I prefer to have an unlocked phone...if I travel I can simply pickup a SIM from that country rather than pay international roaming rates.
Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions.
P.s. Perhaps this should have been an article considering it's length lol
Ryan
hi ryan,
wow! i was away for a few months taking care of some family priorities back home and i come back to not only an apple store in vancouver but an iphone 3G in canada for $199... and on july 11th...
first of all, thank you for all your input with the air card. i actually ordered it on monday the day i got back to work with the flex data plan. i agree with you that this is the way to go and is actually quite reasonable when sharing between the iphone and mac. also the price for the hardware is significantly cheaper on a contract.
what does the 3G support mean for us. will we be able to surf at 3G speeds now or were you already on the 3G network before?
what do u anticipate the new data plans to be for the iphone?
parm
Hi Ryan,
Does your swapping of the SIM card into your wireless express card still work as of 2009? (i.e. you don't get any unexpected overage charges?) I have an iPhone 3G, and have a Merlin card that I only use occasionally and I don't want to pay for an additional data flex rate plan on the iPhone - I'd rather combine them into my iPhone SIM and put the SIM in my expresscard when needed. The people at Rogers said it won't work because the Flex Rate Plan on the Expresscard is "different" and that I would get unexpected charges.
If it still works I would add the Flex Rate to my iPhone and cancel the data plan on the Expresscard.
Thanks!
Cadman.
Hi Cadman,
Is your iPhone jailbroken? There is a great app out there called PDANet which allows you to share your iPhones internet connection over WiFi. I haven't used my Expresscard for months since this app is much more convenient than swapping SIM cards out.
If you don't want to jailbreak your phone, or simply prefer the expresscard to a tethered device, you will likely have to look at putting the flexrate data plan on your iPhone sim. It should work for both the phone and the 3G card once you put the APN settings in.
Hope that helps!
Ryan
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