Using sim card from non smart phone in iphone/smartphone??
 

First and foremost, I'm a complete mobile phone retard.

I need to renegotiate my contract in the next couple of days so I thought I would ask on here out of curiosity sake. The reason I ask is because I have a roommate with an iphone who told the carrier he lost his iphone and wasn't using it anymore and is now using it as a voice only phone with no data. So here is the scenario and/or question:

I currently have a voice plan that includes unlimited mobile browsing. It's the student fav 10 plus the browser add-on that telus gave me when I threatened to go to Bell.

I will be upgrading phones but I was thinking, if I renew my current contract with telus (including browsing), which they will do, can I find an unlocked iphone/smartphone and swap my current lg chocolate flip sim card into it and use it as I would a voice only phone with the added benefit of wi-fi?

Youre likely thinking, why not just get a touch if you want to wi-fi, the answer is simply for convenience. I figure the unlimited browsing is good enough and data is not necessary but it would sure be nice to have the added feature of wi-fi all in one device. I'm positive Telus won't renew a voice plan and sell an iphone/smartphone with it so there's no legit way of doing it.

Stupid question...probably. Thought I would see if anyone knows anything about this round an about way of doing things. sim cards probably arent even close to the same. Thanks in advance.

im outdated with phones.
lol.

^ Fall 2009 called! Its for you :)

all sim cards are the same (except the new iPhone4/iPad "microsims"). You can plug it in and it will work no problem, as long as the iPhone is either 1) unlocked, or 2) a Telus iPhone - no, JAILBREAKING IT does NOT MEAN unlocked, though it is one of the steps to unlocking.

I'm not sure as to what to make of the "mobile browsing". Smartphone web-browsing requires a data package, since it acts as a fully blown modem that receives web-pages in HTML - you should clarify with Telus, ask what the mobile browsing package includes/dosen't include.

Well the "mobile browsing" part is basically data without the added features of being able to download, stream, save, etc. It can be accessed using any type of phone with a screen on it, even an old flip phone. It's an html browser but it's pretty well just a viewing function. I'll maybe try to ask Telus today, but it's not really something that I should be discussing as I am essentially looking to back door them and avoid a data plan which costs much more than I'm currently paying. Thanks for the insight on the sim card though, very good to know.

maybe they are almost the same (mobile browsing and data) and its just that my device is too old to unlock it's power. I got this plan a couple years ago before 3g was what it is now.

Don't try it, give Telus a call first to see if "browsing on a smartphone will cost you anything extra". I'd hate to get an invoice at the end of the month with megabytes of usage charged kilobyte per kilobyte.

Edit: read again what you said on the mobile browsing... i am SURE if you did browsing on your iPhone through the mobile network, you will get dinged

I'm wondering almost the exact same thing, I have a super old Solo plan that includes free web browsing. The phone no longer holds a charge, so I'm about to go move it to a SIM card and then stick that in an unlocked phone. My only concern is the difference between "browsing" and "data," which I don't fully understand, as I'm able to post things online with my old phone, and download files (ringtones, images, etc) and it never cost any extra...so what's the real difference?

Also it's currently set on "pay-as-you-go" so if I accidentally do something expensive I can only be out $20 right now

According to the guy at my local Bell/Solo store, if I get swapped to a SIM and stick it in the Solo phones that take SIM cards, I'll lose the web capability. But apparently most of the Bell phones would be able to use the web browser? I forgot to ask what feature makes this doable on some phones and not others, does anyone here know?

I think I found out, according to the guy at FS, anything that's a "smartphone" will lose the web, whereas any "normal" phone that takes SIM, should be fine.