: Buying an unlocked iPhone


kaeve
Mar 20th, 2012, 12:02 PM
Hi all,

If I buy an unlocked iphone from apple canada, will it work with Virgin Mobile? I've heard of people having MMS not work and then having to configure APN settings. I don't know how to do this. Will the phone detect the sim card's network and automatically configure everything?

I already have a plan, but had to put it on hold since my locked iphone got stolen.

Thanks

jhollington
Mar 20th, 2012, 03:04 PM
The short answer is yes. I'm not really sure why anybody would have problems with Virgin Mobile Canada, as it's not only specifically identified by Apple as a supported iPhone carrier but is really just a rebranded version of Bell Mobility service. Virgin Mobile Canada uses the exact same network and exact same settings as Bell. In fact, you can even use a locked Bell Mobility iPhone on Virgin Mobile Canada or vice-versa, since they're using the exact same network.

In fact, I'm not even sure if an iPhone on Virgin Mobile Canada displays "Virgin" or "Bell" in the top-left corner -- Bell would have to be using some advanced trickery to get it to display anything other than Bell, since again it's the same network, and the same internal iOS carrier configuration files are used for both Bell and Virgin Mobile Canada.

kaeve
Mar 20th, 2012, 03:28 PM
Thanks for the quick reply, jhollington!

It showed "VIRGIN" as a carrier on my old iphone. I was just making sure I wasn't going to spend $750 at Apple and have something not work. Just making sure. Thanks once again!

Sword Fish
Mar 20th, 2012, 03:42 PM
Hi all,

If I buy an unlocked iphone from apple canada, will it work with Virgin Mobile? I've heard of people having MMS not work and then having to configure APN settings. I don't know how to do this. Will the phone detect the sim card's network and automatically configure everything?

I already have a plan, but had to put it on hold since my locked iphone got stolen.

Thanks

I haven't tried it on Virgin Mobile but my unlocked IP4 works on Rogers, Telus and AT&T using there own SIM. Never have to do anything other than install the SIM.

Joker Eh
Mar 20th, 2012, 04:19 PM
I would just ask Virgin mobile, they could be on Bell's old network (the one before Telus and Bell built their new one together), therefore that might be a reason why some things may not work the same.