iphone4s can't use China Mobile's sim card after updating to 5.01

We were very lucky, they actually held the last one for us, we had been in another shop and the girl there rang her friend working in this large shop to find out if she knew anymore and we got the last one.

Incidentally, the first shop we were in had had a couple work with the ordinary simm and some that had not but the girl advised us not to waste the money, most don't.

So China Mobile have been doing something about it, more than likely they were starting to loose quite a few customers to China Unicom.

So I hope this will help.

The end of the line as far as being able to fix our phone's software problem with update 5.0.1 9A406, the phone needs to be taken to an authorized Apple Service shop (actually authorized by Apple) not just a sign saying so. An appointment can be made by Apple support for you but an individual must bring the phone, post no good. There are no problems with having it replaced.

So anyone with the same problem, unable to update through Itunes because the file in the firmware is incompatable, must take this action. Makes it very difficult if you do not live in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong.

Of course this may change once the 4s goes on sales in mainland China.

Let's hope so!

I hope this information is of assistance, best of luck with any other issues, and a happy New Year to you all!!!!

Stranger than fiction, most of the facilities suddenly started to work on my wife's 4s yesterday, Safari, Bluetooth, being able to edit and delete contacts, emails, messenger, how bizzarre!!

Perhaps as a result of the simm card mentioned in my post 29/12 and more work by China Mobile, who knows???

She is still unable to update to 5.0.1 (9A406) but at least the phone is now functional.

I contacted Apple support, they don't understand either, everything is documented under a case number and they will replace the phone on my return to Sydney in March.

Interesting what can happen if you just keep trying, all the best, Robert.

Hello everybody,

I took back my iphone 4s I had given to the seller for the same problem which all of us have faced!

He did not change it for me, and as a matter of fact He told me it just had a software problem that we could fix it! Anyway I don't know why fixing a software problem lasts more than 3weeks, My phone already works well and without any problem! I tried to ask him about the specific problem so that I can help the others but since his English was terrible I could not understand !!!

Everything seems to be working fine with me.

I read all these post with great anxiety because my phone was already on the way before I was aware of a potential problem.

To make the story short, I got an iPhone 4s from Montreal, Canada, which was bought about a week ago. It is not locked to any carrier.

Version 5.0.1 (9A405)

I had my China Mobile sim cut to fit (I did not use their service of reprogramming the number into a new mini sim card as they offered, I thought I'd better first try with the old one because if the problem is with their new mini sim, I would have no way to go back to my old sim)

My sim card was bought maybe 4 or 5 years ago, it's a card that I have to pay as I use, have to recharge it when it's empty.

I tried it and phone calls and SMS seems to be working alright. No 3G but I already knew that.

If anything starts going wrong, I'll let you know.

Good luck and touching wood!!

I don't think you will have any problems julien stg, the 4s's brought from Canada by my 3 friends from there work. One is having a bit of trouble with signing on to the internet but everything else works. If you connect your phone to itunes or wireless connection you will find an update 9A406 which is supposed to fix quite a few small issues with all iphones.

We were told that the micro simm card we got from China Mobile which fixed all our problems was specifically for the 4s, there may be other micro simm cards from them as the size is starting to turn up on a lot of phones. Incidentally, our micro simm card will not work when put back in the old phone as you said.

This as not important to us as it fixed the phone and the girl told us every other Iphone 4s that had problems previously worked with these particular cards.

Oh by the way you can see all the things that the update fixes when it shows on the computer or your iphone screen, it seems to be a general update effecting ipads and iphones.

Cheers!!

Sorry for late update.

My iphone 4s (iOS5.0.1) works well in Hong Kong and China, after Apple HK replaced it with a new one.

Connection is stable and strong, even better than provider such as smartone and 3.

2.5G network is working well in the MTR and even as far up to New Territories area.

In China, reception is perfect. No problem whatsoever with SMS, incoming/outgoing calls.

To all, dont wait for iOS 5.0.2. Bring it to Apple Shop / Genius and demand replacement.

My observation is that the there is something wrong with the first batch of the iPhone's software.

My told 2 friends in Hong Kong about this who has similar problem like me, i.e. unable to use other countries SIM card. They book Genius and went to Apple Shop and get it replaced. All good now.

Oh, china Mobile called me soon after I got my new iPhone and they change to a New SIM card which they claim will be compatible with Phone 4s.

So far so good, worries free!!! Yoohoo!!

Thanks Ahhuat, for us the new simm card, same as you mentioned, started everything working on our phone except we can not update to the new operating system. But as everything is working now no need to rush.

We are going to Sydney in March and have been promised a replacement phone (documented and agreed by a Senior Supervisor in Australia), so new phone in March, can't be bad!

As the 4s comes on sale in China on Friday, 13th January, any people still with problems should be able to get their phone repaired under Apple guarantee at an Apple Authorised shop or repair centre. Properly authorised, check Support Centre, not just a sign saying so.

To everyone that has a genuine problem, don't give in, keep complaining, moaning, whatever to support, shop, service places and even head office USA, where ever! They will do something eventually! 😉

Hi Spielothek, I thought I was done, finished with the 4s working well on O/S 5.0.0 and the promise of a new phone in March. But I must say a special thankyou to you because last night we were able to fully update our phone using the method from your message and posting of 19th December. All these problems may have been sorted out back then had I used my brains and just gone to McDonalds, they have free WiFi (only 10 minutes walk from us) everywhere in the World, instead of waiting until coming across one.

Although the single thing that seemed to start the phone working fully for my wife was to replace her simm card with the special Micro simm card adapted for the 4s but these updates may have done the same thing.

But now we have it up and running with the latest O/S 5.0.1 (A406) thanks to you, all this seemed to be beyond Apple Support.

Once again thankyou!

Ok here is a summary of our experience for the 4s arriving in China from Australia as a Anniversary/Christmas presen for my wife 8th December,

1) Phone would not work with wife's simm card.

2) Worked with some others simms but not full services on most.

2a)Tried update to latest O/S 5.0.1 9A406, failed as firmware file incompatable.

3) Tried Apple support many times, getting nowhere, logged up about 4 hours on the phone.

4) Major problem phone not on sale in China so needed to be taken to Apple Shop either Hong Kong, Singapore or Australia for repair or replacement. Post no good had to be delivered by an individual.

5) Was able to get guarantee from Senior supervisor for replacement in Sydney on our return or either of the other if we got to them first. New phone better than repaired one you would hope!

6) One last effort 29th December, called at local China mobile shop, struck a very helpful young lady who rang a friend at a larger branch about it and was able to secure a China Mobile micro simm card especially made for the 4s for us.

7) Phone started working straight away, make and receive calls, send and receive messages, edit and delete contacts. No internet, bluetooth and a few other things but didn't matter as the 4s was at least working. We were told all 4s phones worked with these cards.

8) 4 days later everything started working, may have been as a result of more work by China Mobile. Everything working on O/S 5.0.0

10)Tried updating to to latest O/S 5.0.1 (9A406) this was a notification when connected to Itunes. The update failed because the firmware file was not compatable with the update process.

11)Contacted same Senior, as phone was working fine with no update we decided to wait until return to Australia.

12)Went out to dinner 13/01, restaurant had WiFi, remembered Spielothek's message and post 19th Dec, just use Wifi, no itunes or anything else, went to settings, update this phone and bingo updated to 5.0.1 (9A405) within about 10 minutes.

13)After arriving home tried to do latest update 5.0.1 (9A406) through update on itunes just told me phone was up to date.

14)Remembered Spielothek's posting, use back up and restore, so this time i used back up and restore factory settings, some 7 hours later, yes 7 hours!!! ran the sync program, everything restored to phone. Working perfectly on O/S 5.0.1 (9A406)!!!!

So all this without any real help from Apple, They just don't seem to know. Shame we won't be able to get a new phone in March but I suppose you can't have everything!!!

So that is the way my "Not able to use my Iphone 4s with China Mobile Simm Card" was resolved.

I hope this has helped someone, all the best and have a wonderful 2012. Robert.

OK, guys, try this and see what is the outcome.

Today I went to CM and requested a new SIM (stupid thing to do because I didn't have any problem before, otherwise I would've discover this discussion sooner).

Cut the card, placed it in my 4S. Surprisingly, the signal was good to start then became No Service after awhile (I didn't pay attention). After reboot, signal came back and after awhile (again didn't pay attention) became No Servoce again. Take it out, replaced it with China Unicom, no problems.

Put it in Airplane mode, put the China Mobile SIM back in again. It is working and still working after 3 hours and I am writing this post.

There are two versions of 5.01, 9A405 and 9A406 and see if we can nail down which one works and which one doesn't or doesn't make any difference.

Again, I have not try to turn on and off of Siri and see if that makes a difference. Also there is no control on turning on or off 3G network not like the 4.

I will let you guys know if it still works till tomorrow. I would suggest everyone post their 4S model number and iOS.

Mine: Model MD257X

Ver: 5.01 (9A405)

Modem: 1.0.13

Hi jychan28, I thought this discussion would had ended by now as the 4s is now on sale in China and China Mobile have a sim card especially for the it.

I set out step by step in my last post details of how to resolve the problems; unfortunately the spacing seems to have gone all peculiar perhaps making it a little difficult to read and understand. It sounds like you may have an early model phone which had a few problems.

The best thing you can do is go to a large China Mobile Shop and get the micro sim card especially for the 4s. They do have them. They should all know about the problem. Your phone will work properly with one of them. They all work for all O/S 5.0.0 and 5.0.1. The cost is the same, I think rmb15/16.

If you use the cut sim, some work, the majority don't particularly the latest batch of blue ones.

Yes there are basically two 5.0.1 operating systems although Apple will tell you there is only one.

9A406 is the latest. If you plug your phone into Itunes on 9A405 and try to do update it will probably say your phone is up to date.

Incidentally, you must make sure you have the latest version of intunes so it would be prudent to do an update on that before trying to update the phone.

What you need to do to get O/S 9A406 on your phone is use the back up and restore factory settings section. This will bring your phone completely up to date.

Oh just one more thing, it is an idea to leave the backup and restore going overnight or when you have plenty of time. It can take between 2 and 7 hours to complete, but your phone's battery will be recharging while connected to the computer so why not.

If you follow these steps it will sort out the problems with the China Mobile sim card.

Cheers, Robert.

Hi sykes1st. Thanks for your comment. I am usinging a $710 Samsung dual 1.4G pad for this reply but it is just a piece of junk and I will contine later when I can get back to my Apple gears.

I was using a Samsung 6800 Tab trying to reply. It was really difficult (bad text editor for one thing) to use for useful works.

Back to the subject. Thanks again for your comment. The forum posted messages were in reverse order. The newest should be on the first page instead of the last page that I would not have missed your comments before I posted mine.

Anyway, my cut down China Mobile SIM turns out OK. No problem with my 4S. I will let it run for couple more days before I decide whether to get a new China Mobile specific 4S compatible SIM.

BTW, for people using the "new" specific 4S compatible China Mobile SIM, does it also work in Android phones or non-smart phones?

Your last message about the phone working fine on your cut sim card, I would suggest that you stick with that card. You should still be able to do the update that I mentioned in the same way.

If your cut card works on Android systems or you need to put it in a phone that takes the standard size sim cards then you have no problems.

I am not sure about the 4s micro card from China mobile working in other phones or with other O/S, I didn't really try it in anything else other than putting it in my 3 year old Nokia 53 series and it wouldn't work. But I didn't have a sleeve/adaptor to locate it properly so it may very well work if done the right way. It pops out of a card the same size as a standard credit card so for the phones that require the larger standard size sim card you would need a sleeve or adaptor.

Not something I was bothered about. I'll cross that bridge when and if I need to.