am getting unlocked iPhone from Apple. Will it work with Fido?

[mbrier]

Hi there,

A bit frustrating.  I've had a long-time account with Fido; $25/m. for no data, but that's o.k.  I just can't bring myself to pay for a data plan. So yes, I have to watch my dollars.

Which is why I'm thinking of getting an unlocked iPhone 4S or 5 from the apple.ca store.

It's a ton of money, but if I keep the phone for years, as I intend to, it's much cheaper than locking into a data plan, unless I'm completely mistaken.

But when I phoned Fido to see if I could get a new SIM card (my 'old' one is in my old iPhone 3G, which I've temporarily misplaced) from Fido, and put it in an officially unlocked iPhone, the guy said yes I could... the only thing is, Fido can't guarantee that the phone will work properly.

He said that if I were to get an iPhone from Fido (on a monthly plan) then the iPhone is 'fine-tuned' to work with the Fido network.  An unlocked iPhone from Apple might not work as well.

Is this just the party line at Fido, so people will get their phones from Fido?

Thanks for any help,

mbrierwood

***Edited to add labels***

[nick67 · Accepted solution]

I would like to confirm that the iPhone functions fine without a data plan. All you simply have to do is turn off Cellular Data in the Settings on the iPhone. It shuts off all data connections to the phone and restricts internet only to WIFI, if it's turned on. Using the iPhone with no data plan used to be an issue with iOS 4 and below. There was buggy issues within the Messages app and such. But ever since iOS 5 everything has worked fine. I am currently running iOS 6.1 with no issues.

Granted my iPhone is Fido-branded, but you should be able to simply ask a Customer Service Rep for the current voicemail retrieval number, directory assistance number, APN settings, etc to get those "fine tune" settings for Fido. The iPhone is already compatible on the Fido network so it shouldn't be an issue really.