This is my "i-smartphone 2008" story.

I live near the US-Mexico border, in McAllen, Texas, and I have a mexican number (Telcel) with me for business and friends.

I bought an iPhone 3G with 2.0.1 firmware, and the seller included this 'i-smartphone' chip, which I used for like 10 minutes inside my phone.

First, I have to say, I was fooled, because with no tweaking (except you know the usual cutting chip procedure), I had my Telcel 3G carrier detected and it seemed the phone worked immediately.

I made two or three calls, and they went through with no problem. I sent two texts, they also were sent with no problem at all.

But then I was wondering why there weren't any incoming calls nor texts, so I called myself from another number and I got the 'user not available' message from Telcel.

I got a friend to text me, and I didn't get his text.

Then, I moved around with my iPhone, and I got 'No Service'. It stayed like that for 3 or 4 minutes, and I switched the phone off and took out the sim.

I decided to give it another chance, so I stuck off the i-smartphone off my chip, and placed my chip into my unlocked Nokia N95, and now I had access to calls and texts.

So, my personal experience with this i-smartphone sim is that it doesn't work with incoming voice nor text, I will not test anything else with this.

I already ordered a Universal Sim, which I see is the one that has the best reviews here so far, we'll see what happens when it gets here.

more than likely your i-smartphone sim is gold and doesntw ork well. Reports say that the black version works better

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T-mobile USA w/ Edge on the 3G iPhone

i-Smartphone - Don't bother

Universal Sim v550 Review

Virgin-Sim "High Speed" Review

Combined Preliminary Sim Results

Yeah, it's a golden one.

I went ahead and ordered the same item as described in your post: http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/show...&postcount=406

I hope it works. What I'm worried about now is, should I upgrade to 2.1?

My i-Smartphone is Black, and its working well with 2.1.

Wow, lots of stuff has happened in the past 5 days. I have been without power since Sunday night from the hurricane and I live in Ohio! NewWayAround, I will try that solution when I get the chance, thanks.

By the way, I spent some time with my iphone and macbook pro surfin the web on battery a couple times, so inverter + iphone + tethering + macbookpro = people crowded around my computer in the car on the internet .

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"Oh, you're a windows guy.... um..."

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Ok, I finally ordered the Universal Sim off Ebay, it should be here on Friday, we'll see what happens.

I think I'll upgrade my iPhone to 2.1 tonight.. or should I wait?

Do the 2.1 through Pwnage Tool, with "activate" checked.

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Is is the same as activating the phone with my AT&T Prepaid card?

either way you can do it, so yes

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Is there a successful and safe way of removing turbosim/universal-sim without damaging the hardware? What techniques have you come across?

I just bought my turbosim...i am just too scared to insert it...because somehow it makes me think its going to get stuck inside.

On youtube...there are videos of how to insert it...but not even a single video shows it removing. Does this mean...it will permanently be stuck inside?

Please post your answers...it will help lot of people who are having this doubt.