GPRS/EDGE on iPhone in Beijing,China
Today I have successfully connected to internet via GPRS in my iphone. I can confirm that this time it’s GPRS because:
Before i changed APN(originally ‘DISABLED’) to cmnet(leave both username and pasword blank and power off iphone and then reboot), iphone will pop up a failed dialog box saying ‘EDGE can’t be activated’. After i did, Safari can load and display the home page of Google Mobile successfully.
Actually I’ve also been testing the connection on the subway Line 13 from office to home. As long as the mobile signal is fine, the testing would be succeeded.
The only thing that still confuses me is that iphone still can be able to browse the web in EDGE(much faster speed than today’s GPRS testing) only when i’m at home while APN is ‘DISABLED’ :-S
And i think I may need to upgrade my current GPRS packgae from 10M/mon to 50M/mon later.
Update(Jan.21,2008): if your SIM card is prepaid type, that is, either Shenzhouxing or M-Zone, then you cannot connect on the iphone, ‘coz iphone doesn’t support WAP while prepaid mobile numbers are only allowed to use cmwap to access WAP-based pages by china mobile. Fortunately mine is GoTone, the postpaid type, so i can use cmnet to visit normal http webpages. check Wangjianshuo’s findings for more details(btw, he’s in Shanghai).
December 1st, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Hi,
I just got back form HK with a shiny new iPhone and have spent all day trying to get it to work with EDGE. I have signed up for a GPRS package from China Mobile and they took 15RMB from my credit so i assume it is activated. I get the E at the top of the iPhone but never have any luck surfing anywhere.
Can you help?
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December 3rd, 2007 at 10:16 am
Jon, check your email, please.
I’ve talked with some other friends on this kinda issue on iphone. And still no clean and clear conclusion yet.
All we’ve got is it all depends on your specific situations, like your iphone’s ff version, APN settings, even where you are in beijing.
So let’s talk offline by email. If we can get something, then I’ll share it in a new post.
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January 17th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Hi Cui -
I am having the same issue with trying to get my iphone on GPRS – I had it on my dopod so I know my account works but am not sure what to do with iphone-
I have changed my edge settings to China mobiles GPRS settings but nothing happens
If you could help it would be great -
I am using version 1.0.2 (1c28) – modem firmware is 04.01.13_G and usually in Chaoyang district Beijing
REally appreciate any advice you can give me
Regards
Garrett
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January 21st, 2008 at 10:21 am
Garrett, what do you mean by ’same issue’? If you mean you still cannot use safari to browse normal webpages, please try the following steps:
1.Change APN to cmnet(lower case,please) and leave both username and password as blank;
2.Power off iphone by sliding the red button. Just to make sure the APN settings has been saved.
3.Power on iphone, again. Go to Settings and Disable wifi.
4.Make sure the mobile signal strength is fine. i.e, you can call out and in.
5.Open safari and see if you can do some surfing.
Tell me what happends if safari still fails.
good luck.
Cui
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November 2nd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Cui,
I am using a 2G iphone with the latest 2.1 firmware. I am China Mobile prepaid customer and signed up for the 5 Yuan/10 M per month package. I am using the cmwap APN but I cant connect to the internet thru that. I get a “E” edge icon sometimes and sometimes I get a “O” kind of an icon at the same place. Anything I can do to make it work. I have setup the proxy also as suggested by some other sites to point to 10.0.0.172:80 proxy ip but still in vain.
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November 4th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Srikanth, for now i can’t provide any constructive suggestions to you ‘coz i never tried to figure out how to use cmwap to connect to the net in a CM prepaid situation.
I googled some, and i find the proxy.pac trick as well. But i’m not a prepaid CM user, so in the near future, i may not get a chance to test it. Sorry.
You may have your reason to use prepay service, but if you wanna use iphone to do some network stuff, i think switch to postpay service would be the best bet. Anyway, up to you.
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January 7th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Cui,
I can access EDGE in Beijing by APN= CMCC or CMNET. However, when i am away from Beijing, the EDGE seems not working. Any solution.
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January 7th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I myself has tried EDGE/GPRS outside beijing as well, in several cities of Yunnan, Hebei. and fortunately all work fine.
As i said I’m a China Mobile GoTone subscriber and use cmnet to connect. I’m not sure about any other service, like EasyGo and MZone, or other APN like cmwap.
I suggest you call 10086 to find out. Basically that’s not supposed to happen. Good luck.
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March 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 am
so has anyone been able to use data when using a pay-as-you-go (shenZhouXing) on China Mobile? if so, what settings?
Also, is there a way to set the proxy on the 1st gen iPhone? I have heard on some phones it is necessary to set the proxy to 10.0.0.172 with port 80 or 9201 to use data
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March 2nd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Abe, after some googling, here’s what i’ve got for you.
i myself use china mobile and don get a chance to try the following tricks myself,sorry for that. so be warned and take care.
1. use UCWeb as the primary borwser
‘coz the ucweb admin says(in Chinese) ucweb could be able to use its own APN(cmwap if wanted) to browse the web. i suggest you take a try.
if you don know where to get it, please see my previous post on ucweb here.
2. proxy option, as you mentioned.
here’s a post talking about this. the basic steps is : reset network settings->modify preference.plist(add the pink color words) and update(BACKUP FIRST)->set APN to cmwap. again, i never try this hack so far, so please be careful.
besides, i’ve also found someone say this trick work while someone not. that may be because of different data poliy for different ciy by the regarding china mobile local company.
anyway, good luck.
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March 9th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Cui,
I just found your website today and tried your solution to activate my iphone’s edge with china mobile. It is working with cmnet as the apn. Hope this will help some people with iphone problem
my status is prepaid with china mobile with data service activated. my iphone is first generation iphone not the second one.
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March 10th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Thanks, GT, for the confirmation sharing. If you wanna visit those WAP-based websites from iphone, you may give a try to an alternative browser: UCWeb, if you can read Chinese. They haven’t got a en version until now, sorry for that.
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October 15th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Changing APN to cmnet worked for me in Shanghai. Strangely, though, cmwap worked fine in Beijing.
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October 21st, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I got instruction from CM to use cmwap for my APN (mine is a prepaid card) and it didn’t work. I googled and found this site and cmnet works for me. I am in SH.
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October 30th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Hi, I’m still struggling with the whole thing.
But actually I’m having trouble getting the data plan. As far as I know you can send all sorts of text codes to 10086 in order to activate a data plan. But there’s no list to be found online that tells me which plans exist and what code to send to activate a data plan.
Maybe someone can point me in the right direction? I’ve just tried sending KTSJLL20 in order to get a 20yuan/month GPRS plan, but there was no reply from the China Mobile server.
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Cui Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:45 am
@Maik, just called 10086 and got the same code as yours – KTSJLL20 – for 20yuan package. Keep in mind here I’m a CM Beijing GoTone service subscriber . Not sure if the code is same when you use other CM service like EasyGo and MZone or you are in other cities like Shanghai or Guangzhou. More verification is necessary if so.
For the full list of optional GPRS plans, I searched in the CM site and got the list here(Chinese, let me know if you can’t read it well).
Call 10086 for more details if your sent code got no reply.
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Maik Reply:
November 5th, 2009 at 9:22 am
@Cui, thanks heaps for the link!
I have checked back and forth with China Mobile and we finally found the reason why I can’t get a connection – I don’t have the correct SIM card. (Mine is the cheapest line. The one with the green logo, I think it’s called “Shenzhouxing” if I’m not mistaken)
They actually let you subscribe to a GPRS service via SMS even if you have the wrong card and won’t tell you about it. You do need a GoTone or M-Zone SIM card indeed in order for it to work.
Fortunately, they said if you still have the original credit card – sized plastic framing from which you broke out that little SIM card when you bought it, then you can transfer your phone number. (The bigger card has all the necessary authorization codes on the back)
So I will grab that and my passport (they need to register the owner for some reason even though it stays a prepaid contract) and steer towards the next CM store on the weekend. So here’s to hoping that after that it just works.
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Maik Reply:
November 7th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
@Cui, I had some encounters with the China Mobile store and posted a little about it and about how to choose the right SIM card at http://www.17eleven.com/china/2009/11/07/how-to-china-mobile-internet/
In short: only M-Zone and GoTone can have www and you need to wait a month for the activation of any GPRS volume plan you may want to book.
The same waiting period applies when wanting to change from a Shenzhouxing/EasyGo to one of the other two service plans.
I will have to check and see beginning of December now to know whether it worked or not. Well, I’m counting down the days!
November 8th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
You finally figured it out, Maik, good work!
And thanks for the sharing, for the updated comments here in this blog and the nice post on yours.
Glad to know you and wish you a best life in BJ
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March 2nd, 2010 at 8:29 pm
So I recently puchased a 32GB Chinese iPhone from China. I am trying to set up the internet, but I do not know which GPRS or GSM Data to select. These are my Choices:
1.FET
2.CHT
3. TWN
4. TAT
5. China Mobile
6. Mobitai GRPS
7. KGT MMS
8. Airtel GPRS
I live in the malaysia. plz help me.. ^_^
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March 4th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
It depends on from which carrier you bought the phone’s SIM card. In China, it’s one of the three: China Mobile, China Unicom or China Telcom. I have no idea of what they are in Malaysia. Not mention their regarding specific APN settings.
Besides, I’m not sure what you mean by Chinese iPhone. The fake one(Shanzhai phone, MTK-powered) or else? As a result, I don know how to config the phone to connect to the internet step by step. Sorry.
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