iPhone 3GS, keep, sell, or gift to family/friend?

[silvarios]

sekker wrote:
[quote=davester]
That probably means that it isn't unlocked (or it isn't a GSM phone)...easy enough to remedy (the locked part....nothing can be done if its CDMA)..

Agreed. I've used my AT&T unlocked iPhone 3GS in India, the Bahamas, and Europe.
I expected better of you sekker, when did Apple ship a CDMA 3GS? Nor is Europe or the Bahamas in SE Asia and if I had meant India, I would have posted India. I am willing to concede operator error, but 3G data likely does not work without the proper frequencies.

[silvarios]

davester wrote:
[quote=silvarios]
[quote=sekker]
It's the last iPhone to use a normal-sized SIM. I keep mine for international travel.

The phone was purchased for international travel and didn't work in the couple countries it was used. SE Asia I believe. While I understand the sentiment, it isn't perfect as a travel phone.
That probably means that it isn't unlocked (or it isn't a GSM phone)...easy enough to remedy (the locked part....nothing can be done if its CDMA)..
There isn't a CDMA iPhone 3GS and I already popped a non AT&T SIM into it to test. That SIM worked fine. Maybe it was simply the 3G wasn't working? The countries use 900/1800 and I don't think the 3GS works on both frequencies. Edit: I think 900 and 2100 is used for 3GS, so maybe some carrier 3G works, but not in any spots that require 900 MHz.

EDGE probably worked, so I'm willing to concede operator error. Like I said, I got it from a friend, I never tested it myself in the countries visited.

[bwicklander]

I bought a used iPhone 3g on ebay for $40 to use as an iPod in a dock. Works great. Some one would buy it

[sekker]

Sorry, let me explain what I mean by 'worked!'

My institution provides flip phones for international travel. Most of the time, it's T-mobile.

So what I do is pop the SIM card from the Samsung dumb phone into my unlocked 3GS.

It gets texts and phone calls via the SIM, and I have my iPhone for wifi browsing and all of my contacts and smartphone features.

I have not kept track of the places where the data is 3g; that would require far too much $$ than I have!

I do usually bring my modern iPhone, so that if I really DO need to use cellular data in a meaningful way, I can use my 'world phone' iP5s.

This works for me and for my institution.

EDIT: there was an issue with T-mobile in the Bahamas, so check before you go.

[silvarios]

bwicklander wrote:
I bought a used iPhone 3g on ebay for $40 to use as an iPod in a dock. Works great. Some one would buy it

Okay, I'll check with the poster on the for sale forum. Maybe that's the easiest method of product transfer.