The iPhone 3G is finally in Saudi Arabia and is provided by Mobily. Here’s what you need to know:
The Bundles
Mobily first announced these 4 bundles and two of those “prepaid” plans did not make any sense! A few days later they provided 6 more “postpaid” bundles. However they omitted one small requirement for these bundles is that you need to be a Mobily VIP customer!
The Employees
The Mobily employees were clueless on the first day and clueless now! One of them even said, in response to the VIP bundles: “نØÙ† لا نريد أن ÙŠØصل كل من هب Ùˆ دب على آيÙون†which means “we do not want just anyone to have an iPhone!â€. There are even weirder Mobily stories on the first few days where some of the employees claim that the iPhone 3G in Saudi Arabia is LOCKED to the Mobily SIM card.
Locked Device?
The Saudi Arabia iPhone 3G was tested with different SIM cards and it is unlocked! It is confirmed by Apple so when a Mobily employee claims that the iPhone 3G is locked then they are lying and you should ask for his manager.
Arabic Support
Mobily claims an Arabic update from Apple is coming “soon”. They claim 3 months which is TOO LONG! You can jailbreak and buy iPhoneislam’s Arabtaller.
Related posts:
I heard about the prices, and i wouldn’t buy it even in my worst dreams .. if i buy it online from apple store, can i use it here with my 3G mobily SIM?
You cannot buy it from the Apple store , except in hong kong
Hey Mac People,
Is anyone using an unlocked 3G iphone on the Al Jawal network AND connecting to the internet? I have an unlocked, which is running fine, but just cannot get it to connect. Says I am not subscribed, but I am.
Anyone with the same problem and solved it?
Please reveal all.
Thanks,
You need to configure data. Go to Settings, General, Network, Cellular Data Network, in APN write as i remember jawalnet.net.sa or whatever STC is using.
That’s it, you have data!
Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, I have been doing that for the last two days and it hasnt worked.
It says I am not subscribed to a network service.
Oh well, if you hear anything else let me know
Thanks again,
Mobily really needs to educate their representatives regarding the iPhone features.
Khaled,
Set jawalnet.com.sa on APN and turn-on 3G.
Good luck.
I have iphone with EDGE not 3g, am using al jawal sim & i was trying to get connect to internet but it shows an erron
Could not activate cellular data network: You are not subscribec to a cellular data service), but i have active internet connection in my sim i use it in N95, can anyone help in this matter. even i added settings as jawalnet.net.sa for APN settings
EDGE iPhone (first generation) is very slow. I am sorry but you need to buy an iPhone 3G (Second generation).
And yes, those are the settings
thank i just read ur instructions ryt now, with same problem on the above. now its working… Thank you
I can access internet already. yahoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My dear Khaled. You are great. I am trying to access internet services on iphone 3g using iphone with aljawal sim cards. i have followed your mail yes it is working. all my thanks to you
Thanks
1. I went to setting -> general -> network
2. Enable 3G
3.I went through cellular data network -> APN
4. I wrote jawalnet.com.sa
I am accessing the net now
How do you get sms for the IPhone 3G to work on the STC network?
SMS should work without configuration.
when i enable 3G and in APN i write jawalnet.com.sa my single of stc lost.what is the reason.
you are probably not in a 3G area. Also try restarting the iPhone.
Hi Khaled,
I have an unlocked iphone bought outside of Saudi Arabia.. after arriving here yest i bought an STC sim card, but im not able to use it.. i dont kno y i cannot activate it.. is there anythin u can tell me,, i m here for the next 2 months after which i ll be leaving.. but while here is it possible for me to use a sim n what do i gotta do.. plz help me out…
from which country ?
i got it from china,, brand new,, unlocked it,, jailbroke it… runnin firmware 2.2
then it is not officially unlocked
upgrade it to 3.0 using Red snow and unlock with Ultra snow tool. you’ll get the new software and it will work great. Your having prob. bec. its not properly jail broke. It happens if you firmware was chanchanged from 2.2.8 when upgrading to 2.2 software.
i’m able to connect to the wi-fi here n everythin,, but the sim wont get activated.. i put the sim in a different fone n it got activated, but when i put it back on my iphone i couldnt activate it… basically it says sim is locked, n when i enter the pin to unlock it, then it gets unlocked, but while i try to call 1500 to activate the sim tats when i m not able to even dial the number… it says call failed…
not sure, sorry
Hi,
If I purchase an iPhone in Saudi Arabia, will I be able to easily use it in another country? (the iPhone is supported by a different carrier)
Would the phone need to be unlocked as well as the new sim card?
Thanks for your help in advance
The iPhone sold by Mobily (not just in Saudi Arabia, unfortunately gray market iPhone is still popular here) is sold unlocked, this is proof:
http://www.saudimac.com/2009/03/01/official-from-apple-iphone-3g-in-saudi-arabia-is-unlocked/
alrite khaled,, i asked u a week or so bak about the iphone i got from outside KSA n i wasnt able to activate my sim… well i got it cleared…. here it is,
i got a new STC sim, n i was able to unlock the sim but wasnt able to activate it.. well here is wat u have to do,,, after u unlock the sim, jus reset the phone (hold the power n home button for 10 secs)… n turn the phone bak on after a min,, n there u go sim is fully activated…
So turning it off and on again did fix it
?
may I know the cellular Data network settings for mobily? I tried connecting to the internet last week and its working fine. Yesterday, it started giving this error message: Could not activate cellular data network: You are not subscribed to a cellular data service.
Please advice, thank you.
the APN is “web1″, no username and no password.
find out more iPhone in Saudi info at
http://www.saudimac.com/ :p
thank you khaled, my current APN is web1 and mms apn set to mms1, unfortunately Im still not available to connect to the internet. Do I need to setup additional configuration in order for the internet to work. Thank you once again.
no, those are the settings that I am aware of.
Try restarting the iPhone 3G.
Thank you once again. I tried restarting my iPhone, but still cant connect. The problem appeared after a friend of my friend opened the line in order for me to use other mobile providers.
Last thing to try: re-enter the settings
Hi bob if your using prepaid sim try to set APN to web2 and mms apn set to mms2, (for postpaid APN web1 and APN mms1
MMS SETTING
APN: mms1
Username: blank
Password: blank
MMSC : http://10.3.3.133:9090/was
MMS Proxy: 010.003.002.133:8080
smile
Thank you, Mikko.
Would you mind if I reposted this on SaudiMac.com?
Your welcome Khaled.
Yes you can post it.
posted: http://www.saudimac.com/2009/08/11/mobily-prepaid-postpaid-iphone-3g-data-mms-settings/
Thank you!
Hi, I’m planning to buy an iPhone. I have the following questions:
Do I need to buy those Mobily bundles?
What are these bundles for anyway?
The bundles are listed on mobily’s site and yes they are the only way of buying them from mobily
Hi khaled. Im using my iphone 3GS on AlJawal on a postpaid line. I bought it from AT&T in the US and jailbroke and unlocked it using ultrasn0w (im on 3.0 firmware). I put in the APN settings, and internet is working fine except for one problem, an unreliable data connection.
I frequently lose connection when trying to access safari, mail, maps (or anything that uses the internet). it happens randomly, but quite often. The 3G or edge graphic disapears, the signal bar drops down to one, and then i get the message “your are not subscribed..etc”. After a few seconds sometimes longer, everything goes back to normal, and i am able to surf the internet and make calls normally until the same thing happens again a while later (randomly). I also had this same issue last time i was in saudi, except i was using an iphone 3G at the time (running 2.2 firmware). Is anyone else experiencing this? When I used these phones in both London and Egypt as recently as last week, i did not experience this issue whatsoever.
Now my question is is this a normal thing to happen to people using iPhones on the STC network, or is there a problem with my sim card or something else? Am I the only one experiencing this issue??? I dont believe so because last time in saudi my friend had a similar issue, however, when i tried to google this problem, I cant seem to find any related info.
I like to think that I am quite knowledgeable about the iPhone, but in this particular case, i cant figure it out, and I only experience it with AlJawal. If you or anyone else can help shed some light on this, i would very much appreciate it as this issue is quite annoying. Thanks in advance.
This is actually STC’s fault. I have noticed that STC and mobily had bad signals in Jeddah.
Hi .. I bought an unblocked iphone 3GS and setting for mms is not working can you help plz
Thx
I need aljawal (STC) setting …
thx
I posted the settings on http://www.saudimac.com/
Hi I have a question.
I live in the UK. I have O2 plan and iphone. I am going to Saudi Arabia for six months. Can I use my iPhone with Mobily sim card. I understand they sell iphone.
I bought my mine from o2 Shop so I guess it is locked, but will I be able to use it with mobily sim card who are also iphone sellers.
Many Thanks
YassUK
you need an unlocked iPhone and you can use any SIM card, STC/Mobily or Zain
Thank you so much. It is very helpful.
Hi again, thanks for your previous response.
Do you know whether iPhone 3GS is out in Saudi Arabia yet? And if so, any idea about the price difference from iPhone 3G?
Nothing until now and it appears Mobily will release the iPhone 3GS in October!
No word on pricing.
Khaled i cant send send sms on the iphone with Stc ! help !
thanks
SMS should work without configurations, try restarting your phone
Khalid,
I can’t send SMS! I’m using an unlocked iPhone 3GS (firmware 3.0). I saw your earlier replies to other people who have similar problems. You told them no configuration is needed and they only need to reboot the device. It doesn’t work! I think I need to setup the message center somehow.
Also, what does the capital letter E at the top left corner (next to “STC” in the home screen) stand for?
Many thanks!
I just solved the problem!
I typed the following on the phone keypad
*5005*7672*+966505031999#
It sets up the Service Center Address.
nice! this is very useful!
E is for “Edge” (2.5G data)
You need to enable 3G and set the APN to enable 3G data
@ BUSHRA,
Hi Bushra , I have seen 3GS in th ZAIN showroom in Rashid Mall , Al Khobar. Price for 16GB was .hmmmm..3,600/- to 4,000/- I don’t remember exactly but it was near to above mentioned price.
how can Zain sell the iPhone? is it a Zain store or something else?
I have an Iphone 3G, i bought it from canada, and recently moved to Khobar, i upgraded it to 3.0.1 but it got locked ? is there anyway i can fix this, and one more thing, when it used to work, internet did not work on a mobily network, Appreciate it
looks like a locked iPhone so you need to jailbreak it
http://blog.iphone-dev.org/
Dear Khalid,
Last month I have visited to Rashid Mall to buy some acceceris for my IPHONE and while visiting ZAIN showroom one of their representative introduce me with 3GS , that time I was actually not interested so didn’t g in detail but it was there.
interesting, can you take a picture ? :p
Dear All (Specially Mr.Khaled),
Yesterday I have visited in ELECTRO Store in Riyadh on Al Kharaj Road and I have found 3GS 32Gb for 4,700/- SAR. So shall I go to take a pic for you or you want to go directly and seeby your eyes
, There website is under construction but you can call to confirm about it. Thanks
http://www.electrostores.com/
no problem, what I wanted to confirm was Zain as an operator selling an iPhone
Electro and others are like Axiom
check this
http://www.saudimac.com/2009/10/08/axiom-iphone-3gs-deceiving-the-consumer-mobily-apple/
Help!
I think I screwed everything up big time!
I have a jailbroken and unlocked 32 MB iPhone 3GS with firmware version 3.0. I’ve been using it with STC SIM for a while. It had problems with SMS and the screen freezing during calls. I was told that upgrading to firmware 3.1.2 would solve the issues. I downloaded the firmware and installed it. Now my iPhone only shows a screen requiring a valid SIM card (obviously that means AT&T card) and the lock slider reads “slide for emergency” or something like that.
Even after jailbreaking I can’t do anything since unlocking requires me to get into Cydia to use ultrasn0w. I can’t move past the initial screen that only offers emergency calls!
Any ideas? Please help! My iPhone is nothing but a very expensive paperweight at the moment!
By the way, I tried downgrading back to firmware 3.0 but itunes keeps telling me my iphone is not eligible for it.
I can see that no one here has an answer…
sorry, I have no idea,
try the new blackrain jailbreak
hello all ,
i am from pakistan and i m using unlocked iphone 3g v3.0 for all networks if i come to saudia with my iphone , will it be work fine and which network will be supported
and one more thing which company’s sim should i buy
mobily,stc or zain ?
thans
welcome to Saudi Arabia in advance, I had no problems using STC or Mobily with my iPhone, as for the settings, here they are:
http://www.saudimac.com/2009/04/20/stc-data-iphone-3g/
http://www.saudimac.com/2009/08/11/mobily-prepaid-postpaid-iphone-3g-data-mms-settings/
Hello mr khaled ,
thanks for your help , one more thing please tell me when I came to Saudia if I choose Mobily so can I avail unlimited Internet bundle on it . Should I tell my requirements at the time of buying from Mobily office or should I call to customer service from my Mobily number after buying ?
what you need is something called “Mobily Connect”, as I remember you can get “unlimited” for 350SR a month.
thanks , one thing more please tell me , if a person visit saidia usually he can prchase a mobily sim which has 3 months validity , can i buy a sim which dont goes expire , wherever i visit saudia i would be able to se it please help which package i should buy ?
dear can u tell me how to configure MMS iphone 3.0 for zain saudi arabia
regards
How can I configure MMS settings. I brought the iphone from mobily but I’m using it with STC sim card.
Help please
Hey Macc pepole,I have active 1gb internet.and some time showing error message.and automaticly disconnect from web pages.also i want to check my balance Mb/kb/gb.how could i check.my comments is may be you have to improve the jawalnet 3g configuration.above advise required. thanks.
I think if you called 902 you can check your bandwidth usage.
Hello
I wanted to know wether iphone 3GS is unlocked as well or is it only the iphone 3G?
Thanks
hai
i have an iphone 3g 16gb and i upgrade it to 3.1.2 software and its working fine with al jawal sim, and i used in india with bsnl sim tooooo, i got problem recently when i try to install the utorrent through cydia app ,i lost cydia app from my iphone completely, how can i get it back,
plz i appreciate,
Just wanted to say thank u it work for me the sec I did I got do many pictures Texts Ty
Dear Khaled,
I have IPHONE 3GS jailbreak a nd unlock with version 3.0. I want to upgrade so can you give me step by step detail to upgrade without any problem ?
is the iphone 3gs sold by mobily jail broken i know its only unlocked officially, please comment.
Mr.khalid iam using iphone 3g last 3 months, tray to connect jawal net as your advising way but until now icant accsess jawalnet, wifi is working pls adivise
Hello Kingdom People,
My granny is going to Riyadh and she needs a Saudi Arabia’s sim card to stay in touch with us we make research and we think mobily sim card is not a bad idea. Can someone faithful be a blessing to us here? May the peace of Ahala be with you all. We need your people please. My Yahoo ID is stevo4us2001 at yahoo . co . uk thank you
Steven Jacob
Hello Kingdom People,
My granny is going to Riyadh and she needs a Saudi Arabia’s sim card to stay in touch with us we make research and we think mobily sim card is not a bad idea. Can someone faithful be a blessing to us here? May the peace of Ahala be with you all. We need your people please. My Yahoo ID is stevo4us2001 at yahoo . co . uk thank you
Steven Jacob
[...] thanks to Mikko who posted the settings here. Image from Bandar Raffah’s [...]