[Yawn]

I have an iPhone 3G that's been SIM-unocked by the carrier after the initial contract ran out. All I had to do was ask them to unlock it. The guy entered the IMEI into his terminal and off I was. I was told to use iTunes to do a restore and the phone would be unlocked. And that turned out to work just fine. As if no SIM lock ever existed.

So here's the big question: I'll be traveling to The Netherlands quite soon. If I get a SIM card there with a data plan (Telfort "unlimited" 3G for 10€/month) will I be able to tether my iPhone?

There seem to be ways for carriers to block tethering even on data plan SIMs that are sold independently of an iPhone (T-mobile in Germany for instance can somehow do this). Is there any way to find out in advance if a carrier's data plan SIM will allow tethering or not on an unlocked iPhone?

And in case any Dutch members read this, do you have experience with Telfort? Any advice? Since they use the KPN network their coverage is probably about as good as it gets in Holland. But what about speed? I know T-mobile and Vodafone rate theirs higher, but what about real world use?

[Yawn]

Nobody?

[olePigeon]

Not sure if anyone knows.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Yawn 

So here's the big question: I'll be traveling to The Netherlands quite soon. If I get a SIM card there with a data plan (Telfort "unlimited" 3G for 10€/month) will I be able to tether my iPhone?

I can’t even find that option on Telfort’s web site—the only SIM-only ‘Unlimited’ plan I can find seems to be non-3G, and charges 50¢ per MB of used data (!).

None of the contract/SIM plan pages mention anything about tethering, either. I think you’d have to contact their sales department to find out, or just try it and see if it works …

[Yawn]

The plan exists. On top of a minimum voice/text plan. It's in every store there so no use debating that here.

Can somebody chime in who actually knows details behind tethering restrictions? How come T-mobile can block it in Germany but AT&T can't block it in the US?

Their website doesn't mention anything about tethering. Their sales people hardly know what it is. They claim they know it's not being blocked, but they also say they don't endorse it because as they openly admit they'd rather sell you a 3G USB stick for your notebook. I'd like to believe that it'll work because they say they don't block it, but since I'll be stuck with this for at least 12 months it would be nice if I could get something a bit more reassuring.

[Yawn]

If I don't get any good advice here I'll have to try it out, but if it turns out it doesn't work I'll want to return it and try something else. No idea if/how I can get out of a contract. In some European countries there's a couple of days grace period where you can cancel, but I don't know about Holland.

Any Dutch members here?

[amazing]

Just curious: You're the first I've ever, ever heard about who managed to get an iPhone SIM-unlocked by the carrier itself. AFAIK, it's never been done. Could you provide more details?

[Yawn]

Details of the unlocking are in the first post. I think carriers here are required by law to offer unlocking after the contract has run out. They charge a 30€ fee for it though.

[Cold Warrior]

Tethering is managed per provider. Now that your iphone is unlocked, you can use any provider you wish, but it is up to them whether to allow tethering. If you can't find it as an option for this provider, and don't know anyone who tethers their iphone with the plan/prepaid SIM you plan to get, then I doubt it would be available.

However, with the iPhone 3G, you could simply jailbreak it and use one of the tethering applications available to jailbroken iphones.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by amazing 

Just curious: You're the first I've ever, ever heard about who managed to get an iPhone SIM-unlocked by the carrier itself. AFAIK, it's never been done. Could you provide more details?

You’re assuming Yawn is in the US, which obviously (s)he isn’t. In Europe, carriers are, as Yawn said, generally required to unlock any phone if the customer requests it, though they’re allowed to charge for it. Don’t know which carrier it was that unlocked Yawn’s phone for only €30, but that’s a good deal—I’d have to pay about €70 to get mine unlocked.

If you can't find it as an option for this provider, and don't know anyone who tethers their iphone with the plan/prepaid SIM you plan to get, then I doubt it would be available.

Depends. Around here, carriers don’t usually advertise tethering capabilities, but they tend to be there regardless. My carrier (3) only mention tethering once on their web site, buried quite deep in some support page, and others don’t mention it at all.


I still say the best way of being sure for Yawn would be to just send them an e-mail asking if tethering is supported.

[subego]

It would seem odd if they wouldn't let you try it in the store first to see if it works.

FWIW, I've had a store lend me an actual phone for a day (without a sim) so I could test if I got decent reception in the places I needed it.

[Yawn]

I talked to them, called them, and sent email. Bottom line they don't know jack about tethering. Not even level 2 support. As I already said, they did say they don't actively block tethering. For whatever that's worth. Considering how little they know about tethering in general, I was hoping to get some more reliable information before I pull the trigger. Alas, I can't seem to find a Dutch guy who's actually tried it on their network.

[Yawn]

Originally Posted by subego 

It would seem odd if they wouldn't let you try it in the store first to see if it works.

They did actually. They have a SIM there that I could try. Problem with that was the SIM wasn't activated with any kind of plan. I asked them what the heck they used it for then and they said to check if phones were SIM unlocked. Anyway, without any kind of plan activation on that card I couldn't really test tethering. All I could verify was that my iPhone was no longer SIM locked which I however already knew.

[JohnD]

An unlocked iPhone 3GS with tethering enabled won't work with an iPad.

[Spheric Harlot]

True, but that wasn't the question.

[JohnD]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

True, but that wasn't the question.

Oh sorry, to much iPad on my mind..

My unlocked iPhone with KPN SIM has tethering enabled. Don't know about Telfort. My iPhone is an unlocked version from factory, not an "end of contract" unlocked version.

[Yawn]

Great answer, thanks. That's what I was looking for.

If it works with a KPN SIM I guess a Telfort SIM would work as well since Telfort is just a reseller on the KPN network.

Unfortunately that answer came a few days late. I ended up getting a dutch T-mobile SIM with a 12 month data plan after being promised by a salesperson that tethering would work. After I got the SIM I saw though that tethering is blocked (the same mysterious "real-time blocking" I saw on T-mobile in Germany*) by the network. I went back to the store, asked about it, and got the very clear answer that T-mobile blocks tethering in Holland. IOW after I bought the SIM card I finally get the first straight answer. Great. Anyway, after some complaining the boss at the store offered to annul the contract since their employee had misinformed me.

The irony is I still can't switch to a Telfort SIM. Telfort requires foreigners to present a Dutch residence permit. T-mobile was cool with a Dutch bank account and address, but Telfort wants to see your permit. Paying in advance or offering some kind of collateral doesn't work for them.

*) By "mysterious real-time blocking" I mean that you can take an iPhone that tethers just fine, take it to Germany (T-mobile), switch on data roaming, continue to have it tether, swap to a German T-mobile SIM, and watch all the tethering widgets on your iPhone mysteriously disappear in real time. No error message, no nothing. All of a sudden any mention of tethering on the phone just disappears. Put back in the foreign SIM card and watch tethering reappear just like that.

[dutchpants]

Originally Posted by JohnD 

My unlocked iPhone with KPN SIM has tethering enabled. Don't know about Telfort.

I have a unlocked iPhone with a KPN prepaid SIM. I however could not get data to work, can you explain how, if you indeed also have a prepaid account. thanks.

[JohnD]

Here is some information,

internet-tethering (uw iphone gebruiken als modem op uw laptop) | iPhone Instellingen