IPhone EDGE Problems on Meteor
Today I got my hands on an IPhone and predictably it has already taken over my life.
Jailbreaking was easy enough but trying to get EDGE – which is basically GPRS working with Meteor was a nightmare.
A quick search on Google revieled that loads of you are having the same problem and not getting anywhere with Meteors support team, the problem is that Meteor does not turn the GPRS option on by default with customer accounts - this is unlike o2, I put a brand new SIM card into my iphone and guess what EDGE worked perfectly straight away.
Here are the steps I followed to get EDGE working with Meteor:
1. Call Meteor support on 1905
2. Tell them that you want ISP and GPRS turned on for your account, do tell them you have an iphone, their first response will be that they don’t support the iphone – this is ok, tell them it does NOT matter because all you need is ISP activated for your account. Telling them that you have an IPhone will your support rep talk to their technical team who in my case where smart enough to know what I was looking for and will help you reach your goal faster.
3. They will turn on WAP and tell you that “GPRS is now on” or “the internet bar on your account has been lifted” – DON’T BE FOOLED! This is NOT what you want, tell them to look for an option that says ISP on their control panel and that this is what you want turned on – nothing else will work.
4. Now ask them to tell someone in their technical team to allow this request happen – my experiance was that a support rep would enable ISP but it was getting blocked from going live by their technical guys who it seems have to approve these requests manually.
5. You do NOT need to restart your iphone, go to Settings -> General -> Network -> EDGE and enter these settings APN: isp.mymeteor.ie Username: my Password: meteor (loads of posts telling that the password is: isp – this is wrong and did not work for me)
6. Be Patient, I have to wait almost 2 hours for the EDGE order to process through Meteors systems and become live. If nothing is working after 3 hours though call them back to check it the order got stopped.
The support team in Meteor don’t seem to know about the ISP setting only WAP which they think is the internet or ISP – you will have to handhold them a little through the process and tell them what exactly they need to do.
If anyone has any problems PM me and I’ll try and sort it out.
February 19, 2008 at 10:42 am
Firstly, thanks for the detailed instructions, the customer services rep at Meteor yesterday evening was very helpful and seemed to understand my request. I *think* it’s been enabled. However …
Prior to this call, when I was outside a wifi hotspot (or had wifi disabled), the edge icon (”E”) used to appear on the top bar, and I would get the “EDGE is not enabled” popup before the Safari “can’t find the server” popup. Since shortly after this call, the E icon no longer appears, and I no longer get the second message. Nothing else changed: I didn’t change the EDGE settings (I had already set them up per your instructions above), all I did was switch off and back on the phone. Same location (Raheen, Limerick), same everything. I don’t think the issue is EDGE coverage.
Any ideas?!! I’ve since tried resetting the network settings, to no avail. I saw a similar question on boards.ie, but no solution. Anyone else seen this problem, solved it, or have any ideas?!!
Thanks!
February 19, 2008 at 10:44 am
Oops, I mean I no longer get the first message about EDGE not being enabled – just the second message about Safari not finding the server.
February 19, 2008 at 11:22 am
Hi,
If the “E” / EDGE icon no longer appears then ISP for your account is not turned on.
You will need to call them and ask to turn this on, no “E” icon = no internet on your phone. Ask them to reqest ISP is turned on by someone in their technical team or it probobly won’t happen.
Their is no need to re-start phone because they are not sending any settings to your phone.
Enter the settings I gave before and it should work.
If you have any more problems just let me know.
February 19, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Hi, thanks for the response. In summary, I’m being told now that my SIM card may be too old (it’s a few years old and is a 16K card, I’m told I need at least a 32K card). Does this sound plausible? I’ve googled some and seen suggestions that you do need 32K cards to support some services, although I can’t say I understand why …
Regardless of the end result (no EDGE yet!), I have to say I’m impressed with the level of service. (Yes, you read that right, I’m impressed with Meteor’s customer service!) Tonight, the CS rep confirmed that (a) ISP (EDGE/GPRS) is enabled, not just WAP; and (b) she spoke to a technician, told him I had an iPhone, and he confirmed that everything should be ok. She told me coverage should be good around Limerick. The amazing part was, she called me back 10 minutes after my call to tell me that she had reviewed my account details and the only thing she could see that might be a problem was the SIM card, so she’s going to send me one! Colour me impressed. I’ll keep you posted.
February 22, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Just to let you know, the new SIM card works, I now have EDGE working on my iPhone. Thanks for the info. Hopefully this post might help someone else struggling to get EDGE working too!
February 24, 2008 at 4:30 pm
hi i’m one of those people struggling to get the edge working! I phoned Meteor and requested isp turned on. I have the E icon when i’m in a wi fi area and it is showing the wi fi connected signal but when i try to access internet pop up comes up saying safari cannot find the server. I am not very good with computers any idea what is the problem. Do I have to have the 9.99 add on package with meteor before i can get on the internet? any help would be greatly received. thanks
February 28, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Been having trouble getting edge activated on iphone have rang meteor 3 times and still no luck anything else i can do
February 29, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Hey,
really great info. Thanks for posting it.
Was wondering how you are finding the cost of data usage on the iPhone on meteor. Did you take one of their data plans?
March 1, 2008 at 8:44 am
Thanks Brian.
Your posts informed me a good deal : ) Now just to buy an iphone…
March 3, 2008 at 12:29 am
Brian, I have exactly the same EDGE problem. I only switched over to Meteor 2 days ago (was on 3, so had to change for iPhone to work). Can’t understand how I could have an “old” sim card when I’ve only just joined them! So if I ring them and ask or a new 32k card they should send one out right? Great info btw. Thanks for posting the fix.
March 3, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Had the exact same problem. Rang them today and they confirmed that’s the case. New card on the way. Have to say I’m impressed with Meteor customer services! Thanks for the post lads. Would have been a while trying to figure this out on my I.
March 3, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Hey Robert,
On your phone does the E or EDGE icon show near the top left hand side of your iphone screen?
You might need to open Safari to see this.
What did Meteor say when you called them?
March 3, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Hey Trevor,
Glad to hear you got such a good response from Meteor.
Make sure you subscribe to a data bundle though, you have two options:
http://www.meteor.ie/personal/bill_pay/add_ons/data_add_ons/
250 MB for 9.99 per month
Unlimited data transfer for 30.00 per month
-You can only get this if you are on Talk 400 (60 pm) or a higher plan though
March 3, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Hey, I have my mail, youtube and safari working with my meteor sim but the only thing that won’t work is the locate me on the google maps. I rang up and requested the ISP be turned on and they said they will. So I got that turned on, set the EDGE settings but still no locate me. Do I have to be on some sort of bill pay scheme for this to work!?
March 3, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Hi Ben,
Well if your mail and safari are all working without needing WIFI they you already have ISP turned on for your account.
Locate Me works depending on where you are, I travel all over Ireland and find it works in the West and South best for some reason – even on other networks.
When your in the big smoke and outside Dublin city centre forget it….
Mobile phone masts are typically 10 miles apart on average when you look at it country-wide, so without a GPS chip the this iphone feature when working can locate you 20 miles from where you actually are – hardly useful when traveling around…..
March 3, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I’m not sure what’s wrong because the locate me works perfect with an O2 sim?!
March 3, 2008 at 10:23 pm
oh and I am connected to WIFI for my mail etc to work
March 5, 2008 at 10:50 pm
[...] I would even head over to CODEX1 who appears to have all the info on connecting the phone to [...]
March 6, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Hi lads,
Good info. I have just bought an iphone & i am awaiting on it. I am signed up to the talk300. Lads do u know if d iphone has built in gps i thought that it did and this is why goodle maps was so handy? Also if it doesnt can it look for a bluetooth gps device & work with this. Also can u use the google maps as a gps driving device i.e some chick will tell you where you are going? As i have an N95 and they want 2 u pay extra’s to do that.
thanks in advanced
Colin
March 10, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Hi guys . THANK YOU SO MUCH THAT HELPED!!!
IVe go it working . but a bit slow .
March 10, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Hi folks, sorry I didn’t check back here for a while. Here are some responses to questions above:
Sharon:
- No, you don’t need the data addon package, although if you plan on doing a lot of internet access (safari, email, google maps) outside of wifi hot spots, then you may want to consider getting it. But make sure you get Edge working first, you don’t want to be paying 9.99/mo for nothing!
- You should have the E symbol OR the wifi symbol, not both at the same time. Are you saying you can’t access the web even via wifi? Are you connected correctly (go to Settings, Wi-Fi, ensure there’s a “tick” beside the network you think you’re connected to). If you give more info, maybe I can help.
Robert: I don’t have enough info to say what’s the problem.
PJ: Re the cost, I’m not using the Edge network for data much, the odd few minutes of web browsing or google map surfing per day outside wifi hotspotes. So far I’ve downloaded a total of just 3.2MB, which seems to have cost over €17.50. 250MB for €9.99 is starting to look attractive, comparable to €45 for 1GB on O2 friom this Friday …
Ben: the LocateMe feature needs the latest baseband firmware (04.03.13_G, comes with 1.1.3 OTB) – do you have that? (I guess so, since you say this works with an O2 card …). Anyway, I think it’s possible to upgrade to this using ziphone, but I haven’t tried. What I’ve done is install the LocateMe application (via Installer, can’t remember the source – try google if you can’t find it). Once you’ve used this once, then the builtin google app also works (at least until you reboot). Don’t ask me how or why!
Later,
Brian.
March 11, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Cheers Brian for the Reply. I’ve tried everything possible to get the Locate Me working with a Meteor sim and believe it or not it seems to work when it wants to. Sometimes it works, most times it doesnt. The application works perfectly with the O2 simcard which is very frustrating but not to worry, thanks a million for the help
March 11, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Ah well. Just to be clear, it works for me (with the above workaround). It does sometimes fail to locate me, but usually a retry works.
FYI, around Limerick this locates me to within a few miles. I tried it in Wexford, and it told me I was just outside Glasgow?!!
B.
March 13, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Thanks for all the notes above, a big help on moving from 3 to Meteor given the acquisition of an iPhone.
I have one question, I live near Sligo, and I don’t know what Edge coverage there is, but I work in the centre of Sligo. I requested ISP and they assure me it’s turned on but I’ve not seen an Edge icon, I’ve only seen the GPRS blue square (no E).
Does that mean they’ve turned on WAP and not full ISP?
I’ve managed to download emails while Wifi is turned off.
March 14, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Hi guys just got an iphone the ‘E’ sign is always on my phone how ever i do not have EDGE, can i get meteor to set this up on a credit phone? Thanks
March 14, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Hi Lorna,
The ‘E’ or EDGE icon means ISP / GPRS is turned on for your account.
You just need to enter the meteor EDGE settings into your phone for it to work.
Make sure you sign up for a dataplan though!
March 14, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hi Tommy,
No ‘E’ or EDGE icon = no GPRS.
A lot of support people think ISP = WAP which is wrong, ask to speak to their IT team or have them reqest IT turn it on for your account.
It can take up to a day for GPRS to get processed and turned on for your account so hang in there once you make the request.
March 14, 2008 at 12:27 pm
How do i sign up for a dataplan?
March 14, 2008 at 12:29 pm
IPhone’s for sale
I have gotten 5 brand new IPhones instock, they have the latest 1.1.4 firmware and are full unlocked and will work with Meteor, O2 and Vodafone.
The 8GB model is €450
If anyone wants one just send me a PM
March 14, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Meteor tell me that I do have full ISP on my account but that Edge is unlikely where I live. I’ll see what hapens next time I’m up in Dubiln.
April 1, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Brian,Thanks for your reply, I have the web working on Wifi. I also have the E icon on the phone but when I try to connect to safari it keeps giving me the same message safari cant open page etc. that you were getting. I asked meteor if my sim was a 32k card and they said it was but still no joy. any suggestions?
April 6, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Have finally got it working, problem seemed to be the sim got a new one and bingo Edge is working. Can,t wait to sign up to the add on package with meteor to get use out of it. Thanks for all the posts which helped a lot.