Orange France says 'testicules' to unlocked-iPhone-not-unlocked claim
Of course you can use an unlocked iPhone anywhere, carrier states
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Orange France has denied a claim that the unlocked iPhones it is offering are not actually unlocked but were simply set to work with any French carrier SIM card rather than, say, a SIM purchased in the UK.
The claim was made by website iPhone Atlas late last week. Without stating how it knew this to be the case, the site said Orange-unlocked handsets will only work with non-Orange SIM cards in France.
"In other words, you can’t take your French, 'unlocked' iPhone to Spain, the United States, or anywhere else, pop in a foreign SIM card, and make calls on a local carrier — you’re still stuck paying international roaming fees to your French carrier," the site claimed.
Nonsense, said Orange.
"Once legally (through Orange Customer Service) unlocked, the iPhone will operate with any SIM card, including foreign ones," a company spokesman subsequently told website iLounge. "But some applications like ‘Visual Voicemail’ may not work abroad."
The spokesman also claimed that far fewer than 20 per cent of the iPhone sold so far by Orange have been so unlocked. No great surprise, that, given the higher price of the unlocked handset - €749 ($1082/£536) to €399 ($576/£285) for the locked one - and the fast-moving efforts by hackers and coders to unlock the phone for free.
Orange actually charges €649 for an unlocked iPhone, plus a €100 unlocking fee if the process is carried out during the six months after the handset was purchased. After that, unlocking is free, Orange told Register Hardware last month.
COMMENTS
3G on 3
Yup - above is correct, three are the only 3G-only carrier in the UK (afaik) and only 3G phones will accept their simcards.
these days thats pretty much everything except the iPhone.
3 SIM on Nokia 6210
I've got an old Nokia 6210 with a 3 SIM sitting in my desk drawer. It's certainly not 3G and worked "fine" until the SIM credit expired.
@mohan Paul
"Aren't there some govt. services that can be provided by any government?"
Yes, but there are also some that can't. The French government have a monopoly on French public roads. I have to pay French taxes for the French roads.
A house in Belgium is serviced by Belgian roads and Belgian street lights. Part of the value of said house is derived from the accessibility of public services -- schools, libraries, playparks etc -- provided by the Belgian government. You derive value from their services -- not France's -- so you are their client.
Certain former government commercial functions have now been "unbundled", but in the UK that's only led to increased prices in electricity, gas, water (exc. Scotland), phone calls, public transport....
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