Imported iPhone 5 problematic in SA

ban iphoneAccording to a post by Mybroadband, South Africans who have imported the new iPhone 5 from overseas where the phone has become available, have been experiencing problems with getting the phone to actually work in the country, that involve issues such as unsupported frequency bands and carrier specific software settings.

The software in the phones purchased from overseas have carrier specific settings built in which make it difficult, if not impossible, to use on our local networks.

However, the site does offer some pointers that may be helpful to consumers wanting to buy a new iPhone 5 before it’s launched in South Africa, predicted to be sometime in early October:

  • The A1428 model does not support the frequency bands to be used in SA.
  • The A1429 (CDMA model) does support the frequency bands to be used in SA but is actually intended for the USA market with the intention of also supporting CDMA related frequency bands.
  • The A1429 (GSM model) is the model actually intended for markets such as SA.
 The A1429 (GSM) is available from markets like Hong Kong, which is often used by early adopters in South Africa. The A1429 (CDMA model) is meant for US CDMA-based networks like Verizon, but also contains the necessary hardware to connect to GSM networks. It has been found that the A1429 (CDMA) model does actually include unlocked GSM access, so it should theoretically work with SA-based SIM cards.

The issue is that right now the A1429 GSM model has some trouble maintaining a Vodacom 3G connection – there can be many reasons for this, but it is important to realize that Vodacom is still testing this phone in SA (despite them having Nano SIMs available already), and they have not updated the iPhone Carrier configuration file for Vodacom. MTN users are luckier – users who have been cutting their SIM cards to the new Nano size have decent network abilities.

via www.bandwidthblog.com

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