Canadian iPhone User - iPhoneUser.ca

Just a quick note, Ziphone 3.0 has been released. Here are the updates according to Zibri:

Here is a data plan from Rogers that will meet the needs of most iPhone users in Canada. It comes with 500mb of surfing and unlimited e-mails from the most popular domains (ie - gmail, hotmail, etc.)

The only problem?

The cost!

It's $80 a month.

Now 500 mb would be perfect for most Canadian iPhone users. I personally used 300 mb last month. Good thing I'm still on unlimited for another few weeks.

Am I going to get this plan? No way it's 80 bucks a month, plus Fido isn't offering it right now, only Rogers.

Does it work on the iPhone? Yes

I've heard from a Rogers rep saying that this is probably the best plan you can get for an iPhone right now which is usable. I've also read on the forums that someone is using this plan without any problems.

So if you don't mind paying an extra $80 a month, go ahead and get this plan. If it was $40-50 a month, I would have it by now.

I still don't know why Rogers can't give us a reasonably priced unlimited or 500mb+ data plan. Data is so cheap in the states, why can't we get something half reasonable here?

What about the $65 1 gig plan?

If you got this plan a few months ago, you are lucky. Because if you sign up for it now, it is strictly for pc card usage only, not iPhone usage.

What about the $7 unlimited plan or the $20 communicate pack?

See my thoughts on that here.

If you have got an invisibleSHIELD yet, now is the time. They are half price right now from the manufacturer, Zagg. Click here to read my review of invisibleSHIELD. It works out to about $12.50 for one. Free shipping takes about 3 weeks to arrive, if you pay, a little sooner.

Here is the link to order:
http://www.zagg.com/showspecial

It seems as if people are getting by using the $7 unlimited WAP browsing plan from Rogers or Fido. You can also be on the $20 communicate pack which includes the unlimited WAP browsing. People on the forums have been saying that they have not received any extra charges on their bills for data. Two of my friends who are with Rogers say the same thing. I haven't heard of anyone using it on Fido without any problems but I assume it is the same case for them.

Will I get it?

Honestly, I don't think I will. Since the disclaimer on the website for the plan says it cannot be used on non Rogers/Fido phones, it means they can charge you the 5 cents per kb ($50 a mb). They are suspossed to be IMEI tracking too. Since your IMEI on your iPhone is not recognized by Rogers/Fido, they can charge you the 5 cents per kb. Maybe I am just scared. I don't know. I just don't want to get a surprise $1000 bill and have to argue my way out of it or try get it reduced.

But I think that Rogers will close this loophole in the near future so I don't want to bother getting it right now. The people at HoFo say it will only work for a short period of time. Personally I have also met two Rogers CSR's and they both said that the iPhone could not be used on this plan. Is this browsing plan working for you? Leave a comment and let us know

Rogers disclaimer for the $7 plan
"Important: This plan includes unlimited on-device mobile browsing only. Plan is available on select phones only (PDAs such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile devices, PC cards and non-Rogers certified devices are not eligible). Data usage incurred on ineligible devices, incurred while tethering (using device as wireless modem for laptop) or incurred using non-Rogers (3rd party) applications downloaded to your device will be subject to pay-per-use charges of 5 cents/KB."

So I was in the States this past weekend and I had made a post before about How to Avoid Roaming Charges while in the USA. I said how much better it was, so of course I was going to test it out for myself. Once I was at the border and waiting in line obviously, I popped out my Fido sim card and put my T-Mobile sim in. Now I was set to go and make as many calls and texts that I wanted.

This weekend I was down in the States. One of the things that was a must for the weekend was go to the Apple Store to check out iPhone accessories and look at Macbook Air's. The Macbook Air is amazing but just a little pricey. It is always exciting to go to the Apple Store for me since there isn't one in Vancouver. I wish they would open one here, you guys are lucky in Toronto and Montréal.

Well, obviously not. But here's an interesting observation. I have been to the USA about 10 times since the iPhone's debut last June. Every single time I've been down there, I have not seen one person with an iPhone. Not a single one! I've seen lots in the Apple store and lots of people playing with them in the Apple store. But still, haven't seen one is about 10 trips. I see lots of people with their T-Mobile sidekicks or Verizon Voyagers, but no iPhones. At home in Canada, I see people with iPhones on practically a daily basis. Maybe it's because people who have an iPhone in Canada are just obsessed with it. I am thats for sure. Next time you are in the States keep a look out for other iPhone users and make sure you take a T-Mobile prepaid card.

A common question people tend to have is if I buy an iPhone now and then Rogers comes out with it, should I lock it back to Rogers?

Well there isn't a correct answer but here are my thoughts on that situation. First of all, if Rogers ever does come out with the iPhone, this won't be such a bad problem to have. There will be a few questions to answer though right off the bat.

The first is, can I use a 'Rogers iPhone Plan' on my unlocked iPhone? The simple answer is probably no. Rogers seems to like to control these types of things and will probably want everyone to buy a new iPhone from them.

The next question is should I lock it back to Rogers?
My response is, why would you want to? Unlocked phones rule! I love having an unlocked phone that I can use any sim with. I have a t-mobile sim for when I'm in the Statess.

I have an idea about how you would lock it back to Rogers. The Canadian version of iTunes will probably be updated and will want to activate your iPhone to Rogers instead of AT&T.

This brings up another important question/scenario. Say you restore your unlocked iPhone in iTunes and then it wants to activate on Rogers. The first message that will come up will be "You are using an unauthorized sim". You will basically have to get a 'Rogers iPhone sim card'. Where would I get one? No idea since they wouldn't be widely available like 1 million AT&T iPhone sims that aren't in use.

What will I do? Good question.

There are 3 situations that will make me buy a new iPhone from Rogers/Fido. The first situation is if once they finally release it, it is a 3G model. I will definitley be lined up to get the 3G model.

The second situation is if Rogers has Visual Voicemail that only works on locked Rogers iPhones. Visual Voicemail is awesome and I want it ASAP.

The third situation would be if they don't let me use the 'Rogers iPhone' plan on my unlocked iPhone. However, if they do come out with the iPhone, I'm sure data rates will be much more reasonable and they are in the USA no matter what phone you are using.

Apparently the Rogers Tier data plans which were supposed to be released March 18th, and then March 25th have been postponed with no release date scheduled.

This is what the data plan was supposed to be like that could be used on iPhones:

$15 - 20MB ~ Tier 1
$30 - 20MB to 60MB ~ Tier 2
$50 - 60MB to 500MB ~ Tier 3
$65 - 500MB to 1GB ~ Tier 4
$75 - 1GB to 2GB ~ Tier 5
$85 - 2GB to 3GB ~ Tier 6
$100 - 3GB to 5GB ~ Tier 7
$0.03 per additional MB
Everyone starts off at the $15 plan and based on usage, you move up the tiers

HoFo member O_ssie who announced this plan is now saying that it is being delayed and he cannot release any further information about it. It wasn't just a rumor post because everything that this guy has announced before has come true. He works for some special team at Rogers.

Now what?

Well this is terrible news. I was hoping that these would come out and Fido would adopt them too. If it is not out by the time my unlimited data runs out, I will just have to use no data. There is not one decent plan right now that I would be able to use. I do use a lot of data and I'm not really happy with this but you never know, we will have to wait and see what happens. I will get 12mb a month when my unlimited expires but I usually use that in a day and don't want to risk any ridiculous bill.

I have 3 favorite forum sites where I like to go to discuss the iPhone

here they are

Howard Forums

ehMac.ca

iPhoneinCanada.ca Forums

I love to sift through the forums and look for interesting new info that I may not have know or try to help people with their problems. Forums can get pretty addicting. You also have to follow a strict set of unofficial rules too - like search before you post, etc. otherwise people will get mad. It's kinda funny actually. Anyway, you should check out the iPhoneinCanada forums as they are new and we want to talk about the iPhone.

I have been talking about a few cases that I have used. Now I am going to talk about the one I actually like and use. It is the invisibleSHIELD. I love it and it works very well. It is a plastic film which covers the entire iPhone. It protects against scratches mainly. I think it offers some protection against dropping the iPhone, but probably not as much as other 'regular' cases do. Similar products are BodyGuardz and BestSkinsEver.

Whats in the box?

1. The front screen shield
2. The back shield
3. Small pieces for the home button, and the top and bottom metal rounded edges.
4. Solution application spray
5. Air bubble squegee.

Installation is a little tricky. It took me about 45 minutes. Installation stpes:

1. Remove the film from it's backing.
2. Spray the sticky side of the film liberally with the solution spray.
3. Line up film with iPhone and apply.
4. Hold each corner down for about 5 minutes to ensure it sticks. If it doesn't stick, spray some more solution on it and hold again.
5. Do the same for the front piece.
6. Use the squeegee to get rid of any air bubbles.
7. Let sit for 12-24 hrs - or so. Seemed fine after a couple hours.

Here is a video on its 'features' and installation



Why do I like it?

The main reason I like the invisibleSHIELD is that the protects the phone and maintains the sleek look of the iPhone. All other cases ruin the look of the iPhone. If you use a different case, what you have is an ugly phone with awesome features. The shield totally protects against all scratches. It also gives you a little better grip on the phone when you are holding it. I have to recommend this to everyone that doesn't have it.

My setup:

I am using the back shield on my iPhone and the Anti-Glare Screen protector. I don't use the invisibSHIELD front screen protector because I like how the one I already have reduces glare and fingerprints.

Cost:

It's $24.95 for the front and back protector. You can also find it on ebay for about the same price including shipping. I ordered mine from the manufacturer. I paid $1.80 for shipping and it took about 2 weeks. They also have a free shipping option but their website says it could take up to 4 weeks if using the free shipping. They also ship by fedex and ups I think, but why pay $20 for shipping. If you live in Vancouver and plan on going the States soon, I know they sell it at a apple authorized reseller called 'The Mac Store' in Redmond Town Centre.

Here are some photos of my iPhone with the invisibleSHIELD on. Look closely, it's hard to tell that it's on. You can see the how it holds onto the corner. You can also see how it looks a little shiney with it on.

You may or may not have seen this already. If you haven't, it's a must see. Looks pretty cool. This is what Steve Jobs and company introduced when they talked about the SDK and Enterprise features. It is suspossed to be released in June and contains the 'App Store' and Microsoft exchange support.

Check it out.

My battery life on 1.1.4 seems to be getting better and better after every charge. Here are the current stats:

iPhone #1 :
Usage - 4 hours, 35 minutes
Standby - 3 days, 14 hours
about 10% left

iPhone #2 :
Usage - 3 hours, 38 minutes
Standby - 3 days, 11 hours
about 20%

When I was at 1.1.2 I was thinking the battery life wasn't so good. Now I'm thinking that this battery life is better than any other cell phone I have ever owned. Especially with the things that it can do. With other cell phones I have owned in the past, it seems to me that the battery starting dying faster after about 1.5 to 2 years. I wonder how long my iPhone battery will last. I definitley don't want to open up the phone or send it in to Apple. Probably what will happen is that there will be a 3G iPhone out by then and I won't have to worry about the batteries on these current iPhones.

For most Canadians, the only other thing that is about as important to them besides their iPhone is Hockey. Playoffs are coming soon and everyone is excited. Here is a good way to get the scores live. You can even watch the score live and see the time tick down.

On your iPhone, bookmark the site:
http://www.nhl.com/scores/index.html

Scroll down and pick the game you want to watch live.

Click "Real Time" on the right of the page.

Turn your phone into landscape mode

Watch the game!

It will show you stuff like shots on goal, penalties, a mini play by play, etc.

It's a neat way to catch up on the scores or 'watch' the game if oyu don't have access to a TV or a radio. It will work perfectly over EDGE if you don't have a Wifi connection where you are. I am using EDGE in the picture and it didn't take long to load, and the time actually ticks down second by second. It's pretty cool. It is not a feature on NHL.com specifically designed for the iPhone but it is a nice fit to it. You can even put a button on your home screen if you want easy access to the scores.

Check out the pictues. (There wasn't any better games on)

Go Canucks Go!

New iPhoner users in Canada may have a 16gb one but I think most in Canada have the 8gb. Is 8gb enough for you? How many 8gb owners have upgraded to a 16gb? I think some have but probably not that many. I think the 8gb is sufficient and I still have 6 gb's available on my iPhone. I have 140 songs on it which uses about 1 gb. How much do you really need on your iPhone. They have 160 gb iPod's. Who is going to use that much? I don't think I known 1000 songs or would listen to each one more than once a year. I don't need a ton of pictures on it. I won't watch movies on it. If I'm on a plane, I have my laptop and I'll watch movies on it. I like being able to watch youtube on the bus or at work on my iPhone but that doesn't use any space.

So is 8gb enough? YES.

If you already have an iPhone, it's probably not worth upgrading it. If you are planning to get one soon, it's only $100 more for the 16gb so you might as well get it.

How much space do you have left?

I'm starting to think that Rogers may have missed the boat on the iPhone. I'm thinking that may be true because so many people in Canada have one now. With over a million unlocked iPhones out there, my estimate is that there is 100,000 of them in Canada. They aren't really that hard to get. You can pay $400 dollars to get one yourself and then unlock it or you can pay $500 - $650 and get one that is unlocked already. Since unlocking has become so easy, I think more and more people are just getting one.

If Rogers were to release the iPhone tommorrow, sure it would be popular, but with all the iPhones already in use, they are losing out on tons of sales. I have seen everyone from teenagers to middle aged women with iPhones. I'm seeing more and more regularly. I see someone almost everyday with an iPhone. I've seen a couple times where people meeting at Starbucks to pick up their iPhone. Not quite like how you see Moto Razr's everywhere but it's getting there. Over the past couple months, I've seen about 40 different people using an iPhone.

I believe that everyone who wants one, has one. It isn't that expensive if you think about it. $400 is the going rate for phone without a contract. Fido sells the Razr and the Krzr for $350 - $400 without a contract. Like anyone would pay that though. Rogers won't sell the iPhone any cheaper than $400 with a 3 year contract, so what are you waiting for?

The only consolation Rogers has is the 3G iPhone. I'm sure current iPhone owners will upgrade. Probably not all current iPhone owners but quite a few. Most of us want to have the latest toy. I hope Fido also gets it if Rogers does. I also hope we get Visual Voicemail in Canada too. Are you going to upgrade once it is officially released in Canada?

Here is an accessory for the iPhone that I love and everyone should get. It is the Power Support Anti-Glare Film Set for the iPhone. It is a small film that covers your iPhone screen. One of the best things about it is that it reduces fingerprints on the screen so that you don't always have to wipe the phone down to keep it looking sharp. It also reduces glare from the phone and the screen actually looks quite good with it on. It doesn't not affect the sensitivity of the screen whatsoever.

Installation is fairly easy. Just wash your hands before applying and make sure you are sitting on a table that doesn't have any dust. Remove the film from the backing and line it up with the home button. Carefully set it down inch by inch. If you mess up, just pull it back and start again. If dust happens to get underneath the film, use a small piece of scotch tape to remove it. The film is easy to remove if you have to, as long as u have nails. The film does not damage the iPhone screen.

The price is $14.95 from apple and includes two films. A little pricey for 2 pieces of film but trust me it works. There are some available on ebay if you are not heading down to the States anytime soon since it's not sold on apple.ca.

I don't recommend getting the regular film for the iPhone screen. It does protect but can increase the appearance of fingerprints.

Check it out on Apple's Website here

Saw an interesting article today. It was about the possibility of T-Mobile coming to Canada. This would be exciting because it would create more competition within the Canadian Wireless Industry and specifically for the GSM carriers. If this would have happened sooner, we may have seen the iPhone in Canada already because it would have forced Rogers to have reasonable data rates. But if they do set up shop in Canada, expect more reasonable data rates in the future. Anyways check out the article, let me know what you think.
T-Mobile Canada - from - electronista.com


I also just set up my T-Mobile to go account so that I don't have to pay $1.70 a minute to fido for roaming in long distance in the USA. I now have the Seattle area code I wanted. If you don't want to pay such high roaming charges, check out my post on how to avoid them:
How to Avoid Roaming Charges in the USA

This post is coming right from my iPhone. I made a bit of a mistake today with the edge settings on my wife's iPhone. Last night I noticed that the edge network was down. I wanted to make sure that it wasn't just my phone since I had just updated it and re-unlocked it. I put my sim card in and entered the edge settings for fido.
If you are wondering they are:
internet.fido.ca
fido
fido

So I realized that it was probably the edge network was down when it wouldn't work on her iPhone. After that I deleted the settings. What happened today though was that her phone was still connected to edge and she used data today by mistake. I didn't realize that the iPhone would save the edge settings.

She ended up using 550 kb of data. Now at 5 cents a kb that equals $27.50. A bit of a costly mistake but at least it wasn't 5 or 10 megs. That would have been a disaster. Not sure if we will get charged yet but we will find out once the bill comes. I'm pretty sure we will get charged since we don't have any kind of data plan on that phone.

So if you don't want to use edge anymore go to settings, general, reset, reset network settings. This will remove the edge settings from your iPhone.

So I decided to update my iPhone to 1.1.4. Ran into a bit of a problem while doing so but everything seems to be ok now. I decided to update because my texts seem to be arranged out of order. The times shown on texts received was 4 hours earlier than what they actually were. So I updated. But that didn't fix the problem. I restored in iTunes to 1.1.4 and ran Ziphone 2.5c again. After doing so, the mail program kept crashing. So I put the iPhone into DFU mode with Ziphone, restored again, ran Ziphone again and it's working fine now.

The problem I think is with the fido time not being adjusted to DST. When I set the time to automatically update, it shows 1 hour earlier than what the time is. I searched online and found that texts could be out of order when not using auto update time.

Right now though EDGE doesn't seem to be working. It's not just my iPhone, I tested it on my wife's too and I didn't do anything to her iPhone. Also tested it with my sim in her iPhone and still no EDGE. Oh well, we'll see what happens in the morning.

I know some people are worried about getting an iPhone because they've heard rumors about people getting $1000 + bills from data usage on the EDGE network. Well, it's true, people have gotten bills like that but it is mainly because they were not being smart. For example, using data when roaming in the US or abroad. Those charges add up quickly. Other cases have been from using data on an iPhone when being on a WAP browser plan.

My current data plan is the fido $18 value pack. This included 12mb of surfing and 4 months unlimited surfing. I still have 1 month left of my unlimited surfing. So once my unlimited is done, I can either restrict myself to 12mb a month or pick one of the following options. Since I use about 12mb a day, that wont work for me.

There are a number of ways to avoid ridiculous bills:

1. Simply don't have a data plan. If you don't need to use the internet or e-mail while you are out, on the bus, at work, etc, why have one? Just use wifi. If you have wifi at work or at some place you hang out, take advantage of it. Here is a listing of some free wifi spots in Canada http://www.wififreespot.com/can.html. Most people have a wifi connection at home so use it there. Why would I use my iPhone for internet purposes at home instead of my computer? I don't know? because iPhone is awesome?

2. New Rogers/Fido data plans coming March 18 or 25. Now these haven't been 100% confirmed, but it seems like they are coming to me. Here's the details:

Non-Rogers & WM Data & Tethering - 3 yr term with DECF

$15 - 20MB - Tier 1

$30 - 20MB to 60MB - Tier 2

$50 - 60MB to 500MB - Tier 3

$65 - 500MB to 1GB - Tier 4

$75 - 1GB to 2GB - Tier 5

$85 - 2GB to 3GB - Tier 6

$100 - 3GB to 5GB - Tier 7

$0.03 per additional MB

*Note: Everyone starts off at the $15 plan and based on usage, you move up the tiers

more info here: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1330048\

3. Change the IMEI on you iPhone with Ziphone, hack the iPhone so that you can browse WAP sites and use the Fido or Rogers $7 unlimited WAP browsing or the $20 communicate pack. More info on that here: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1323932

Personally, I am going to go with #2 since I love using my iPhone at work on my breaks (and when I'm suspossed to be working). I also use it on the bus on my way to work. I think that the rates for #2 are resonable and I don't mind paying $80-100 a month total to use the best phone in the world. Not everyone wants to pay that much a month for a cell phone so then I would recommend using option 1. I do not recommened using, or even trying option 3 as WAP browsing sucks, it is not proven that it actually works, and you don't really want to be messing around with the code of your iPhone unless you are a professional. One more tip, if you are outside of Canada, get a prepaid sim card so that you can use data. See my post on avoiding USA roaming charges. http://www.iphoneuser.ca/2008/03/how-to-avoid-roaming-charges-while-in.html

We all know that the iPhone battery life isn't the greatest but it is good enough that I don't think it is a major issue.

My Current battery stats:
Usage - 5 Hours, 49 Minutes
Standby - 2 Days, 2 Hours

with about 25% left

I actually think that is quite good. Probably better than what I have seen previously with my iPhone. I used it for a lot of texts, some browsing, some calls, some music. Not bad since I haven't plugged it in for over two days now.

There are many ways to save your battery life as well. One major way is to turn down the screen brightness. Another way is to turn of the 'Ask to Join Networks' in Wifi settings. Of course using Wifi, Bluetooth, watching youtube etc, will all drain your battery faster.

There was a rumor going around that turbosim, stealth sim, etc. caused your battery to drain faster. Since I have had first hand experience with it, I would say that it does make a difference without it. I was getting less usage and standby time before when I did have the turbosim in.

The averages were:
Usage - 3 to 4 hrs
Standby - 1.5 days

Obviously I am doing better than that now.

One more tip: I've noticed that the battery tends to last a little longer when I leave it plugged in beyond when it appears to be full on the screen. I usually leave it plugged in overnight and get more usage and standby than when I charge it for a couple hours during the day even though it does look fully charged.

Overall I think the iPhone battery is sufficient. It is not unreasonable to have to charge your phone once every 2 days. What are the stats on your battery life? Leave a comment and let me know.

Since I got my iPhone, I began to have a heightened awareness of Mac’s and other Apple products. So much so, that I have already decided to get an iMac. I will be getting the 24” model. That will probably happen later this month after another payday or two. Mac’s are a lot more expensive than PC’s but they just seem so much more fun to use and user friendly.


I’m Already looking forward to the creations I will make in iPhoto and iWeb. I even bought a copy of iWork 08’ off ebay in advance of the actual iMac purchase. I’ve been reading magazines and websites about Macs and Apple in general and it’s getting me very excited. I’ve only had my new Dell for 3 months now am I’m ready to scrap it. Well I will try and recover some of the costs from it.

My hesitation with getting or even looking into Macs for the better part of my life has been the misconception that no programs even work on a Mac and I thought the internet was like some special AOL thing or something when browsing from a Mac. I’m looking forward to docking my iPhone right alongside my iMac.

Apple has posted the iPhone SDK keynote presentation from yesterday on their site. Steve Jobs is an inspiration to watch and I suggest you watch the whole thing. They give a lot more info on the details on the SDK and future apps.

Here's the link:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/keynote/

Steve Jobs made the big announcement for it today. Basically the development of new apps is going to start now, it's not like we all of a sudden have a bunch of apple approved apps. Anyways, it is good news. Developers will have to pay a fee of $99 to join the iPhone developer club to have their app distributed in the 'App Store'. iTunes will most likely be handling the distribution of the apps and housing the 'App Store'. Seems to be a popular item because Apple's website for the SDK keeps crashing.

Personally, I was hoping for new apps today, as I'm sure a lot of people were. Anyways I think the excitement over the iPhone will only continue to grow when new apps begin to be released. One other important point - we are still unsure of if these apps will works on unlocked iPhones and what will happen to Installer.app

Apple's SDK site can be found here:
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/

Here is a great new app available in installer. It's called MxTube and allows you to download and save videos from youtube directly onto your iPhone. Now you can have all the music videos you want on your iPhone without having to pay for them on iTunes. It allows you to select either a high or low quality version of the video. It's is best used when on wifi but can also be used on edge. You can access the videos within the app once saved. Definitley a great new app that everyone should try out. Best new app I have seen in a while. Check out the video of it below.


MxTube IPhone Native App - Coming Soon - The funniest home videos are here

This was the first accessory that I bought for my iPhone. Got it at the Apple store in Bellevue Washington. Paid $29.95 for it. I was looking for a case to protect my iPhone and one that would still maintain the same appeal. The iPhone is a beautiful device and I didn't want to have a bulky case taking that way from it.

Needless to say, this case is not the answer. You couldn't test out the cases in the Apple store. So I picked the nicest looking one and hoped it would work. I used it for about two days and then took it off. The thing doesn't look that good, makes the phone feel a lot bigger, and is definitley not worth 30 bucks. I also read reviews online saying how over time this case, and ones like it will scratch the metallic parts on your phone. At least I was able to get 10 bucks for it on ebay.

Is http://www.iphoneincanada.ca
It has all the latest info, news, and info on 3rd party apps, etc. It is a great site and I usually check it every day. Right now they have a contest for a free InvisibleShield case for your iphone. Check it out!

Just got a second iPhone today. This one is for my wife. We ported our home phone number to fido and signed up for a second EPP plan (see below). The phone was on 1.0.2 firmware. Got a pretty good deal on it (nearly free) from a friend who got a new 16gb phone. It has a few scratches on it and a dent from being dropped but it works fine and you can't go wrong when you don't have to pay $400 for it. I restored it to 1.1.4 in iTunes, then ran Ziphone 2.5c, now it works like a charm. Well it worked before but I wanted to get rid of the contacts, songs, and apps we don't use off it so I just decided to restore it. I unlocked my iPhone on Ziphone 2.4b, now I can safely say 2.5c works fine, even coming from 1.0.2. I must say she is very happy now that she has her own.

The iPhone couple:

If you are with fido, get this immediatley! What a deal

Fido EPP plan :

One thing that always seems to be frustrating after a trip to the States is coming home and getting your cell phone bill. There is always $20 - $50 extra in roaming charges when it seems like you only used your phone for 2 minutes. I believe the cost per minute on fido is $1.70. 95 cents a minute for roaming, 75 cents a minute for long distance. Just a little ridiculous. The best way to do this is to buy a prepaid sim card from a US provider. I chose T-Mobile to go. You can’t buy the sim card directly from T-Mobile.com unless you are in the USA. But there are tons on ebay. You can get a prepaid sim card with 150 minutes on it ($30 value) for about $8 including shipping.

http://search.ebay.ca/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=t-mobile+to+go&category0

The most common sim you find on ebay are already activated and have an expiry date usually 2 months after your purchase date. If you need more minutes – you can buy refill cards at places like 7-11, t-mobile.com, or even on ebay. The refill cards start at $10 for 30 minutes. This allows you to keep the minutes and the phone number and the new expiry date will be in 90 days. As long as you purchase a new refill card before the expiry date, your minutes will always rollover. These sims usually come with a California Area code. I recently bought one of these and it works great. Haven’t gone down to the States yet.

The other way to do it is to buy a T-Mobile to go prepaid activation kit. These sell on ebay for about $10-20 and include 10 mins. The benefit to these it that it allows you to activate it yourself and choose the area code you want. I also bought one of these and will be activating a seattle area code and I travel there most often and have family there.

This is a cheap way to use your unlocked GSM phone in the States and not pay roaming. This is one of the advantages of being on the GSM network (Fido/Rogers)as this is not possible on CDMA (Telus/Bell). It only costs $10 every 3 months to keep your # active and have your minutes rollover.

Regular T-Mobile to go rates:
- Calling Canada – 50 cents
- Receiving calls – regular T-Mobile rate – starting at 33 cents a minute or less depending on the value of the refill card you bought
- Texts – 10 cents to send, 5 cents to receive
This is a fraction of what fido or rogers will charge you.

Included services:
- Nationwide long distance (including calls to Alaska and Hawaii)
- National roaming on the T-Mobile USA network
- VoiceMail, caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling

For more info on T-Mobile to go visit their site:

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/Default.aspx?plancategory=4

Update - I have posted a new and easier way to add NES roms through installer.
Click here for it:
http://www.iphoneuser.ca/2008/04/new-nes-roms-totally-easy-to-install.html


I am posting this guide because I haven't really been able to find a simple straightforward guide to do so. There was an easier way to do so previously which was the markmon.mine.nu:90/iphone/repo/repo.plist source but that doesn't work anymore.

1.

Programs needed on your iphone (through installer):

- NES
-OpenSSH
-BSD Subsystem


If you are not sure if you have these or not, go to installer, then to uninstall and it will list the programs you have.





2.

Programs needed on your computer:

- If you are using a PC - WinSCP - http://www.winscp.net/ - free download

- If you are using a mac - http://cyberduck.ch/ - I believe the process is the same



3.


The NES roms:- download from - http://www.theoldcomputer.com/Libarary%E2%80%99s/Emulation/NES/ROMs/NES_roms_summary.htm


There is like 900 available. Extract each of the roms to a special folder so you can manage them easier. You can also rename the rom files - Super Mario Bros 3 is listed as smb3 and thats how it will show on the phone unless you change the name.


4.


Putting them on the iphone:


- Connect your iphone to the computer

- Open the program WinSCP





















- Once WinSCP is open it will be asking you for a host name. This is the ip address.

- To get this - On your iphone - tap settings, wi-fi, then the blue arrow ( > ) for your network.



























-Back to WinSCP

- Enter the enter the user name and password

--User name - root


--Password - alpine


these are the defaults


- Then hit login and be patient, the first time you login will take about 30 secs, an error message may pop up saying it’s been waiting for more than 15 secs, keep waiting and it will be fine. Once you are logged in, you will see the folders of your iphone.


- Next steps - Open the folder ‘media’


- create new folder ‘ROMs’



- Open the folder ‘ROMs’create new folder ‘NES’

folder names are case sensitive.




- Last step - On the left side of the WinSCP window go to the folder where you have saved the roms, drag each one over and hit copy.

Update*

For firmware version 1.1.3 and 1.1.4 the directory where you put the roms should be:

private/var/mobile/media/roms

The most up to date way to unlock your iPhone is using Ziphone 2.5c. It will software unlock all iPhones including 1.1.4. It takes about 5 minutes or less to run the program and then your phone is unlocked. It doesn’t get any easier. It is a GUI (graphical user interface) so you just click the button corresponding to what you want to do – unlock – activate – jailbreak .


Steps:



1. Restore iPhone to latest firmware in iTunes.



2. Download Ziphone - http://www.downloadziphone.org/


3. Open the and unzip it to a folder named ‘ziphone’.


4. Run the program named ZiphoneGUI.

- This is what it looks like

5. Connect your iPhone to the computer and close iTunes if it opens.

6. Click the button for what you want to do and let it do its thing.

7. Make a call to see if you works and test iPhone features.

8. You are done!

For Canadian users – you are going to want to “Do it All” to get it to work on either Fido or Rogers.

Ziphone does not update your firmware. I recommend that you ‘restore’ your iPhone to the latest firmware before running Ziphone. Backup your contacts, photos, music, etc. before restoring as they will all be erased. All 3rd party apps will also be erased when restoring. Restoring is the best option to do if you phone is not out of the box brand new. If it's brand new, just skip step 1 and run Ziphone.

I have heard of people running into problems when using Ziphone. If you restore it first, I think you should be fine. Some problem reported were – no wifi, no edge, no Bluetooth, ring tones malfunctioning, and google maps locate not working. I restored my iPhone before running Ziphone and I don’t have any problems. Don’t be afraid, you will be fine!


More info on Ziphone here – http://www.ziphone.org