Vinko's Thoughts On... - Latest Comments

Re: iPhone 3G Officially Available Unlocked in HK

vinko — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:10:31 -0000

It is actually a bit more significant than that.

iPhone 3G sold in Hong Kong had always been "carrier unlocked". This latest move of Apple in Hong Kong may be a much bigger strategy change by Apple towards the whole iPhone business model.

Re: iPhone 3G Officially Available Unlocked in HK

ro11z — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:15:52 -0000

a Simfree iPhone :O im Sooo importing that

Re: Androids Arrive at Verizon

Travis — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:49:42 -0000

Verizon? Sure you don't mean T-mobile?
As of today I bielive Verizon is negotiating while T-mobile has a launch date.
I'd love your post to be correct, however.

Re: Smartone-Vodafone Dropping POP3

vinko — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:25:47 -0000

Hi Andreas,

Thank you for sharing your findings.

I find that most 3rd Party applications like Evernote, Qik, Palringo and NetNewsWire are causing Smartone-Vodafone to charge me data rate on top of what comes with the Internet Browsing plan.

Also, since a few months back, Smartone had remove the inclusion of email traffic from the Internet Browsing plan. They now charge a heavy monthly plan for email service.

As a result of the above change a 3G Data plan; I recommend the HKD118/month plan, which gives you 20MB per month to cover those extraneous data usage on top of he Internet Browsing plan is ideal for average iPhone use in HK.

Re: Smartone-Vodafone Dropping POP3

Andreas — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:40:54 -0000

Hi Vinko,
Have read your posts on smartone-vodafone and was very interested in your findings as I'm in the same situation with an iPhone 3g on smartone network.
I've been testing usage since I bought the phone last month, and found that the only extra data usage on top of internet browsing I was charged was checking the weather (apps such as bloomberg, youtube were fine, I checked this by keeping a calendar on which days I used which application).
Were you able to extract any additional information from your test? i.e. which apps exactly gets charged?

I'll continue my tests in my next bill cycle, would be interesting to share results.

Re: First Car to be Made in Hong Kong

vinko — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:18:26 -0000

Sorry I do not have any information on where this car can be purchased in Europe. Please do share here if you do find out.

Re: First Car to be Made in Hong Kong

KHALID S ALQUBAISI — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:26:19 -0000

HI can you please send me regard this car ( mycar ) from where if i want to order or byone .

thank you .

Re: Comment on: Swedish Engineers Test iPhone 3G’s Antenna

shaky — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:15:19 -0000

Couple of comments from my friends, with 3G iPhone, in HK:

At home (which has crap coverage across all networks, 3g and non 3g), it shows from nothing to full. My old iphone shows full all the time at home but when making a call, it is quite clear that the signal is crap.

and:

I see problems with the reception gauge being all over the place, sometimes full, sometimes almost empty. Even without moving my phone. I’ve not had problems making or receiving calls though, so I just thought it was the gauge screwed

Re: Beijing 2008 Olympic Medal Tally

Alan — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:20:54 -0000

I had the same frustration and then came this site: http://www.beijingmedaltally.com

Its got tally and looks like its updated all day long. Plus, its not cluttered with ads and junk like the others. I love it.

Re: Movie Review: The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

G-na — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:34:39 -0000

Ya I watched the movie in theatres and I was not pleased. I did not like tha fact that they changed the female lead to someone who suched a**. Also that stupid city in that cave or what ever. Ya um how come we didn't get to go into the city? If it was so important you think that they would let us see it but no. And that witch, how come she couldn't stand up when that fire blast or whet ever you want to call it went off but as soon as Jet Li became all powerful again she was able to stand up? For someone who is suppose to be guarding something that sure is some s***.

Re: Movie Review: The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

yay movies — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:42:01 -0000

Sounds like Tomb of the Dragon Emperor met everyone's expectations... generally Brendan Frasier tries too hard to act, so you can tell he's acting

Re: iPhone 3G Unleash-able from Three HK

hvx200 — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:01:54 -0000

Hi guys, just fell over this blog whole looking for any news on iPHONE 3G in HK unlocked for another carrier.

I'm one of the many HKers that have either been waiting for a legal unlocked iphone or with a carrier of choice that will sell the iphone. Sadly as I see my favourite carrier PCCW (I use them for business and they are great), does not sell the iphone currently.

Despite 'pressure' to go with a jailbroken 2G, I have resisted so far. I don't really need the 3G fuctionality unless I travel to say Japan etc, it would be nice. HOwever my usage is 2G and web and mail and I would really like to have a phone that is 100% reliably integrated with my MAC.

So I see form this forum and some others that Hutchison are the only place to get the unlocked 3G iphone and at a hefty price. Additionally the hassle experienced from '3' from the poster on this forum with 3 confirms my very small experience in 2005 with Hutchison that they have inferior service and support. The comment that their sales and tech people are 'clueless' was me experience so I moved back 3 weeks later back to trusty PCCW CSL..

THe information to get onbaord with an iphone 3G unlocked using Hutchison is interesting but expensive as I guess they have to make money... but commercially for me is a waste of money... (sigh)

My roaming is world wide (job related) is large and my bills are always over $HK12000/month.

I also need to use some other simms as do mostof us when we travel. A stated earlier too, I agree that people outside of ASIA dont seem to understand the use of multiple simms for travelling in other countries...

In summary, I'd like to hear if anyone has some thoughts or news that PCCW or other carriers in Hong KOng or even Apple may sell the phone unlocked in the future.

It is sad that I have waited so long for the iphone and still I cant get into one.

Re: iPhone 3G Unleash-able from Three HK

vinko — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:56:21 -0000

wZaHK,

Thanks again for sharing your experience with the rest of the readers here.

I am not sure if you had been to a real Apple Store; like in the USA, Canada, UK, Japan or Australia. The shopping experience is definitely not what you had described.

The issues you've faced are what millions had taken for granted, which is most telephone companies around the world have poor customer services and bad shopping experience.

I actually have a conspiracy theory as to why Apple let the respective mobile carrier take control of the iPhone 3G launch. I will explain this in one of my upcoming article in my Blog.

Re: iPhone 3G Unleash-able from Three HK

wZaHK — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:57:11 -0000

Hello Vinko,

FINALLY, after waiting 2 days over the weekend, my issues have been resolved.
After 3 staff checking with their Apple support, they fixed the service unit & also explained the reason to me.

The "service unit" that did not accept other sim cards is now fixed
- According to 3 staff, all their phones need to have the IMEA no sent to Apple in order to register these phones as HK "unlocked" phones. Apparently they did this & now my phone is "unlocked" & can accept any sim cards.

Mind you, there must be many users out there that are using service units with "3" cards in them, so they may have this problem but not aware of it. I urge users who have any iphone to double check & use another carrier's sim card to check.

Three Staff are still as hopeless & clueless when it comes to the iphone.

Definitely, this whole experience has put me quite off the 3G iphone.

Re: iPhone 3G Unleash-able from Three HK

vinko — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:55:28 -0000

wZaHK,

Sorry to hear you have such a bad experience. That is so typical of carriers, they usually have the worst service of any industry. That is why I choose to stay with Smartone-Vodafone, as I have found over the past 11 years in HK, they are the only carrier who actually try to deliver good service to their customers. Where as the rest just care less as soon as they sign you us as a customer..

The respond of the Three Customer Service saying that your "carrier lock" issue is a "... was an Itunes problem..." does not make sense. I cannot be certain, but iTunes only "activate" the iPhone, it would not place a lock or unlock the iPhone.

I ask all the individuals out there to help shed some light on this "carrier lock" issue. Can iTunes be used to determine which carrier to lock your iPhone to? This logic does not make sense to me.

What are the steps involved when activating an iPhone 3G via iTunes? Does one have to choose a country to activate the IPhone 3G in? Does it pick up your iTunes Store credentials that is already stored in iTunes? If the latter question is true, then it really does not make any sense for iTunes to be controlling the "carrier lock" on the iPhone 3G.

You need to ensure you pressure them daily to get this resolved. Remember to always record the name and extensions of anyone you speak to about this. If possible, obtain a case number.

I can tell you that your experience with Three Customer Service is not abnormal, that is why I think you should also contact AppleCare. When you get them on the phone, immediately ask to speak to a Customer Account Representative. Register a case number with Apple. Be sure to inform Apple of all the things that Three Customer Services told you.

I wish you best of luck and please keep us inform.

Re: iPhone 3G Unleash-able from Three HK

wZaHK — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:37:54 -0000

Hello there,
I was just at the 3 Service Centre in Mong Kok, & after explaining the problem to them, they acknowledged this problem meaning that I was not the only one who experienced this. Their official response to me was that they had reflected this to APPLE, & don't know why other sim cards do not work but insisted that ALL their "3" iphones are not locked.

With this reply, I then requested that they just exchange a new retail unit because obviously their service units do not work, but they insisted that NO NEW UNITS will be replaced because this is theirs & APPLE's policy.

I then requested to try out 3-4 service units which had the same result. They then said that this was an Itunes problem & they will pass this to Apple's technical support, but refused to replace my phone with a new one nor refund me.

The plain ignorance & cluelessness of the tech support people is so frustrating; I almost blew my top when they offered me one 'repaired' service unit that even had marks from the case being pried open; I was not going to accept a scratched up unit with god-knows-what was wrong after paying good money for a unit that was just used for 2 days.

Right now, I am still awaiting the reply from their customer services who insisted that I switch over to 3 service asap so that I can use their service units. I want my unlocked iphone.

Will update more later

I then demanded one of 2 things, 1. a working new unit, or 2. a full refund & cancellation of service.

This is bullsh1t. I paid HK$6000 for a unit that was used for 2 days then malfunctioned only to be exchanged a unit that does not work with other sims.

I went as far as to mention OFTA's regulations only to be shot down by the manager on duty that told me that it is only a guideline & that many other providers in Hong kong such as Smartone lock many of their premium phones.

At the end, I insisted

They understand the need for HK users to switch sim cards which is the norm in the

Re: iPhone 3G Unleash-able from Three HK

vinko — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:10:38 -0000

Thank you so much for sharing this with everyone.

You should definitely complain to Three about this. If the "Service Unit" you receive is locked, that is not "allegedly" to be compliant to Hong Kong OFTA's regulations.

Plus you can use the excuse that you want to use local SIM card when you are away from Hong Kong.

As for why these "Service Unit" are carrier locked. I don't think they are from carriers other than Three, as if they were from, for example Japan, then it will be carrier locked to SoftBank and not Three.

Your discovery could indicate a switch in strategy by Three to combat the large quantities of iPhone 3G grey market.

I believe the OFTA regulations state that if the customer request the phone to be unlocked it can.

Please do report back as to your results.

Re: iPhone 3G Unleash-able from Three HK

wZaHK — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:09:11 -0000

I saw your post on iphonehacks.com, I need to let you & everyone else know that the "service units" - units that Hutchison Telecom's mobile carrier "3" (Three) provides you with if you have a defective iphone, ARE LOCKED.

One of the 2 iphones I purchased earlier this week had a problem with the top of the screen, & when I took it in for servicing, they exchanged it with a "Service Unit" which they claimed was "new".
I found this unit to be network locked & not able to function with any other sim card other than "3" sim cards.

My guess is that they have some service units from australia or japan, possibly repaired iphones that were defective like one of the units I had

Re: Movie Review: Penelope

vinko — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:56:26 -0000

Hi Katie,

I did not know it was released on iTunes Store. Where did you hear that it was suppose to?

Re: Movie Review: Penelope

katie Norris — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:27:45 -0000

I can not figure out hwo to buy it on i-tunes i want to but when i search it it is not there and it was sopposed to come out today.