I understand this tread will be closed in one minute later, but I just want to give all testers who are testing the Virginsim to gather their results here, just to show the forum users a fair view whether a virginsim solution a a good solution for the being, before a soft unlock available.

The results may prove it fail or success, just be fair. I just try to squatter a space in this forum to solve some unlocking issues.

May be the unlocking approach of virginsim will inspire someone to dig out a soft unlock solution.

Virginsim new samples send again to the following testers:

the fedex no. of reznor9 is 8658 1382 4824, SpookyET is 8658 1382 4846 and ranova is 8658 1382 4835

The reasons for sending samples again is our last samples seemed giving non-consistent results due to QC in manufacturing, although the unlocking results are quite good.

P.S. Known issue: A reboot is needed after Flight mode swith on & then off again , because we are keeping the STK menu for some country. We shall provide an alternative to handle "Flight Mode"

Originally Posted by virgin-sim

Virginsim new samples send again to the following testers:

the fedex no. of reznor9 is 8658 1382 4824, SpookyET is 8658 1382 4846 and ranova is 8658 1382 4835

The reasons for sending samples again is our last samples seemed giving non-consistent results due to QC in manufacturing, although the unlocking results are quite good.

P.S. Known issue: A reboot is needed after Flight mode swith on & then off again , because we are keeping the STK menu for some country. We shall provide an alternative to handle "Flight Mode"

Besides the black chip problem, what's new in these samples? What issues that we have reported have you fixed? Those sanded chips of the black samples work pretty well.

As a fail_ SIM seller you should respect the rules more than other members.

All SIM solutions are fail , do the same thing and will be permanently disabled with the 2.2 firmware

Open another similar thread and be banned

I just wanted to check in and say my normal speed virgin sim is still working. Calls working, SMS working and edge(w tzones hack) still working since 10-03-08. High speed didn't work but I am awaiting new samples and I will let you know.

I used to use the universal sim v550 and edge was always dropping out at least once a day, usually more... requiring a reboot(sometimes several) to get it back. The virgin sim does not appear to have this problem. Edge is always working.

FYI: just to confirm compatibility/functionality, I recently upgraded my modem firmware(02.11.07 baseband) to the latest version that came with the 2.1 firmware and it still works.

3G works with AT&T as well. No problems. My only annoyance besides no airplane mode support is the 5 minutes it takes to find a signal after it has lost it.

I haven't experienced any loss of signal. But I did experience late incoming SMS messages and calls. Outgoing calls and SMS work flawlessly, but incoming sometimes won't, even with full signal. I rebooted phone and recieved 4 SMS messages that should have came in hours earlier. Hope new samples fix this little bug

First off, thank you Virgin-Sim for providing samples to people on this forum. Not only that, but shipping it extremely fast to us and providing us even with updated ones.

Phone's tech specs:
iPhone 3G version 2.1
1.45.00 modem version
T-mobile USA located in Massachusetts
Edge using epc.tzones.com APN
Tested for One week.
Edge On, 3G off, Data Roaming On

I received the virgin sim samples a week ago and have been rigorously testing them ever since. My location is perfect since a) I had a dead zone in my bathroom where I lose signal completely and b) Have to drive to school where I lose signal due to dead zone and c) Jump to different cell towers on the drive there.

First impressions:

Virgin-sim was kind enough to send me two different samples. A high speed version and a normal speed version. Both were the low-profile new sim design a lot of the competitors are now releasing which require NO CUTTING to your sim. The IC chip is located on the other side now.

I quickly tested the normal sim, which was very similar to my Universal Sim v550 in terms of usage. Stuck it in, waiting around 10-20 seconds for it to find signal. Other users report that one upside to the virgin sims on the T-mobile USA network is that it does not lose edge - which was one of the downfalls of the Universal Sim v550, you could randomly lose edge connection (especially after losing and regaining cell signal) and would have to reboot to regain it.

I then tried their special "high speed" virgin-sim (denoted with a red line at the top), and it amazed me. I followed their instructions to power down the phone first, and then stick it in. Upon finishing booting, it had already found full T-mobile signal! Normally (with the Universal sim, normal speed virgin sim, and i-smartphone) it would have taken 10-20 seconds after booting for it to find signal.

After purposely losing signal (for at least 5 minutes) and switching cell towers multiple times, the high speed virgin-sim found signal right away right when I left the dead zone, which again, would take 10-20 seconds on a "normal" sim, and sometimes you would still have "no signal" until you reboot the "normal sims." For the past week, I have not lost edge (while still having reception) at all, even after losing and regaining signal, the data connection was up and ready right away.

I gave the Pinpoint A-GPS and Cell tower\wifi triangulation a try and both worked flawlessly. If I was outside, with a clear overhead of sky, it would pinpoint where exactly I was located. Indoors, I would get a good triangulation estimate.


Problems:

Unfortunately, these sims still fake the IMSI, and it may cause problems in some countries.

You must jailbreak\quickpwn\pwn your phone and select "ACTIVATE PHONE" or you will have to ssh the activated lockdownd. Here are my old instructions if you didn't select activate during pwn-ing:

You can grab an activated lockdownd at: http://rapidshare.com/files/144248180/lockdownd.html (2.0) - http://rapidshare.com/files/151333747/lockdownd.html (2.1) SSH to /usr/libexec on iphone and rename the current lockdownd to lockdownd.old and move the new lockdownd over and make sure it has 755 permissions.

If you do not activate or copy over the new lockdownd, you have to either a) turn on airplane mode or b) take out your sim every time you want to sync in iTunes, otherwise you get a "Cannot recognize sim etc etc" error.

This brings me to the next point, airplane mode. If you turn on airplane mode, to regain signal, you have to turn it off and reboot the phone. Unfortunate, but not a big deal as most will never use it. I can only see this being a problem and a big waste of time for people who do not want to jailbreak their phones at all (don't ask me why they wouldn't, I have no idea).

Other users are having problems with the high speed version. It seems that the people that have problems with the high speed version are the ones with newer carrier sims. I did receive the new test samples today that were supposedly supposed to fix this problem, but I have no way in testing it since all of my sims have worked fine.

Here is what Virgin-sim had to say about the issue:

We have noticed that the high speed card is not getting signal for some T- mobile sim cards, we believe that your T-mobile card is the new sim card, possible issued after 2008 August. Is that right?If it is, then the solution has been made . We need to update our software so that Virginsim can be compatible with it. The solution is ready already, just finished our 3 days field test in China .

Be on the lookout for other reviewers that have had this problem - they will test the new sample soon enough.

Conclusion:

As of now, the high-speed Virginsim seems to be the "best" solution out in the market. It beats every other sim I've tried in speed and the Edge reliability is high. Therefore, you are less likely to have to reboot after losing signal or changing towers.

Final Results:
Virgin-sim "High-speed: (9/30/08 - fw2.1):
calls, sms, data in/out: working
GPS: working
Signal Loss: NO
Random Data (Edge\3G) Signal loss: NO
Final Verdict: PASS - Working since 09/30/08

Originally Posted by ranova

First off, thank you Virgin-Sim for providing samples to people on this forum. Not only that, but shipping it extremely fast to us and providing us even with updated ones.

Phone's tech specs:
iPhone 3G version 2.1
1.45.00 modem version
T-mobile USA located in Massachusetts
Edge using epc.tzones.com APN
Tested for One week.
Edge On, 3G off, Data Roaming On

I received the virgin sim samples a week ago and have been rigorously testing them ever since. My location is perfect since a) I had a dead zone in my bathroom where I lose signal completely and b) Have to drive to school where I lose signal due to dead zone and c) Jump to different cell towers on the drive there.

First impressions:

Virgin-sim was kind enough to send me two different samples. A high speed version and a normal speed version. Both were the low-profile new sim design a lot of the competitors are now releasing which require NO CUTTING to your sim. The IC chip is located on the other side now.

I quickly tested the normal sim, which was very similar to my Universal Sim v550 in terms of usage. Stuck it in, waiting around 10-20 seconds for it to find signal. Other users report that one upside to the virgin sims on the T-mobile USA network is that it does not lose edge - which was one of the downfalls of the Universal Sim v550, you could randomly lose edge connection (especially after losing and regaining cell signal) and would have to reboot to regain it.

I then tried their special "high speed" virgin-sim (denoted with a red line at the top), and it amazed me. I followed their instructions to power down the phone first, and then stick it in. Upon finishing booting, it had already found full T-mobile signal! Normally (with the Universal sim, normal speed virgin sim, and i-smartphone) it would have taken 10-20 seconds after booting for it to find signal.

After purposely losing signal (for at least 5 minutes) and switching cell towers multiple times, the high speed virgin-sim found signal right away right when I left the dead zone, which again, would take 10-20 seconds on a "normal" sim, and sometimes you would still have "no signal" until you reboot the "normal sims." For the past week, I have not lost edge (while still having reception) at all, even after losing and regaining signal, the data connection was up and ready right away.

I gave the Pinpoint A-GPS and Cell tower\wifi triangulation a try and both worked flawlessly. If I was outside, with a clear overhead of sky, it would pinpoint where exactly I was located. Indoors, I would get a good triangulation estimate.


Problems:

Unfortunately, these sims still fake the IMSI, and it may cause problems in some countries.

You must jailbreak\quickpwn\pwn your phone and select "ACTIVATE PHONE" or you will have to ssh the activated lockdownd. Here are my old instructions if you didn't select activate during pwn-ing:

You can grab an activated lockdownd at: http://rapidshare.com/files/144248180/lockdownd.html (2.0) - http://rapidshare.com/files/151333747/lockdownd.html (2.1) SSH to /usr/libexec on iphone and rename the current lockdownd to lockdownd.old and move the new lockdownd over and make sure it has 755 permissions.

If you do not activate or copy over the new lockdownd, you have to either a) turn on airplane mode or b) take out your sim every time you want to sync in iTunes, otherwise you get a "Cannot recognize sim etc etc" error.

This brings me to the next point, airplane mode. If you turn on airplane mode, to regain signal, you have to turn it off and reboot the phone. Unfortunate, but not a big deal as most will never use it. I can only see this being a problem and a big waste of time for people who do not want to jailbreak their phones at all (don't ask me why they wouldn't, I have no idea).

Other users are having problems with the high speed version. It seems that the people that have problems with the high speed version are the ones with newer carrier sims. I did receive the new test samples today that were supposedly supposed to fix this problem, but I have no way in testing it since all of my sims have worked fine.

Here is what Virgin-sim had to say about the issue:


Be on the lookout for other reviewers that have had this problem - they will test the new sample soon enough.

Conclusion:

As of now, the high-speed Virginsim seems to be the "best" solution out in the market. It beats every other sim I've tried in speed and the Edge reliability is high. Therefore, you are less likely to have to reboot after losing signal or changing towers.

Final Results:
Virgin-sim "High-speed: (9/30/08 - fw2.1):
calls, sms, data in/out: working
GPS: working
Signal Loss: NO
Random Data (Edge\3G) Signal loss: NO
Final Verdict: PASS - Working since 09/30/08

I do not have the same experience you have regarding dead zones. When I come out of a deadzone, it takes 5 minutes to detect the signal. If it has not detected the signal in 5 minutes, it never will, and I have to reboot the phone.

Originally Posted by SpookyET

I do not have the same experience you have regarding dead zones. When I come out of a deadzone, it takes 5 minutes to detect the signal. If it has not detected the signal in 5 minutes, it never will, and I have to reboot the phone.

You should write a full review on the samples you have received from him and provide all the necessary information (old or new carrier sim, modem firmware, iphone version, etc etc).