The iPhone Again

Back to my iphone journey.. Here’s some more sharing about my experience with the iphone. Do you get this problem of having server connection problems when you try to download iphone apps from your computer?

After fiddling with windows here and there, I found the answer. (Hey, so you think a lady who knits and does Yoga can’t be equally geeky? Well, you’re wrong baby! ) You just need to turn off your firewall if you want to download Apps but remember to turn it back on again after you’re done because your PC may be at risk of picking up viruses from the net. To turn off that firewall, go to control panel, look under security and click turn on or off firewall. There you go! Another iphone tip for you.

Experimenting with the prepaid broadband bundle on the iPhone.

Ok….so far so good. I’ve activated the $1 at 10MB  and I’ve only read emails and little bit of facebook….I’m still within the 10MB range. So what am I trying to prove here?  That we can still be economical and not pay so much for broadband packages by going prepaid if you’re not a heavy surfer….hmmmm… if this really works, imagine what I can save without all those fixed cost bills…..

Setting up the network configurations to download data and some iPhone blues.

Ok, here’s my next sharing about the iphone. Configuring the phone so that it can surf the internet.. I had spent quite a few hours trying to get it to have data access for quite a while and then I surrendered and called my mobile operator. Why didn’t I think of that in the first place? Only the mobile operator will be able to give me the name of the APN for their network. After all, they should know best.

To change the required setting, you’ll have to go to settings, general, network, cellular data network and then key in the name of the APN as given by the mobile operator. Yep, it’s that simple but not so simple if you’re new to the iphone like me. Baah!

Next…here comes the mother of all shocks Data charges can be very expensive and it can wipe out the value of your prepaid SIM if you’re not careful how you use it. Actually…that’s exactly what happened to me. :-o I had downloaded about 2 Apps and the third one was in process when it sort of froze. I wondered why but I thought it was just the network. So I checked the value and gasp. Yep, my SIM card value was reduced to zero. I had activated a prepaid plan of $1 for 10MB but…for that sort of bundle, never use it to download apps. When the 10MB is up, it would simply charge $0.27 per KB after that and so .just to download 40KB, it cost me $10.80. I learnt through the hard way and you as my faithful reader have the privilege to hear it from me to avoid the mistake. For heavier downloads, they have the $7 for 1 GB plan. That would have been more economical…but just to be safe, remember to switch off the cellular data when you’re not using it. You can also choose to download your mails on the go manually instead of the push mail feature to minimize data usage. If possible, read your mails at home. Reserve data charges if you’re expecting an urgent email.

As for the Apps, I’ve yet to explore further because its best to use your home internet plan to download the apps and sync with the iphone. If there is an option to switch off data downloading when you’re not using the apps, I would go for it. I’ll blog more about this when I figure this out.

One great thing about living on our tiny island is that currently we have free wireless internet access at selected areas such as shopping malls, libraries, cafes like Delifrance and some public places that have hotspots. Take advantage of this free internet access by switching on the WIFI function on the iphone whenever you can. This can save on data charges for sure particularly Prepaid SIM card users…..I’ve yet to explore more. Till my next blog session.

Getting the iphone to work when you first buy it.

Recently I joined the bandwagon and bought an iphone from the Apple Store. I was so excited about it that I had it delivered to me at my workplace. Yeah, I couldn’t wait. I had to resist the temptation to set it up at work but I controlled and patiently waited till I got home.

Then came the headache. I had a hard time setting it up to get it to work properly. To make matters worse, there were no detailed instructions on what to do from the moment you put in the SIM card. It took me a long time to figure out what to do but I made it. I thought it would be a good idea to share this knowledge with my readers out there. Maybe there are people out there who are facing the same problems too.

When I had first put in the SIM card, the screen simply said that there is is no service found and to please insert a valid SIM card. (oh dear, I can’t remember the exact message but you get the picture.) You can imagine how I panicked when I got that message. After spending 700 bucks on a phone , it couldn’t read my SIM card so I was upset. Fortunately I surfed and googled and learnt that….after putting in the SIM card, you have first have to connect the phone to your PC and download the iTunes software. You see, itunes must first recognize your phone before you can slide the virtual bar below to view the screen with the many icons. And the minimum itunes version for the iPhone 3GS is V9.2. I downloaded version 10.2 which is the latest at the moment and voila! It finally worked!! I can now make calls and send sms-es from it. By the way, I’m still using a 2G SIM card and yes, 2G SIM cards do work on 3G phones. You’ll hear more of my experiences if I have any more of it to share later.