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3:33 pm
May 17, 2010
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I have some more basic technical questions.
If I take out my SIM card from my phone, my phone recognizes this right away and notifies me about it.
I can still connect to WiFi with no SIM card in the phone.
When I put the SIM card back in the phone and connect to WiFi the icons on the screen indicate two connections; a phone connection + WiFi connection.
When I connected with no SIM card in the phone the icons indicated only a WiFi connection.
First question. Why does the phone make a connection with the carrier if I am simply using WiFi?
What is the nature of this carrier connection?
Is there a way to connect to WiFi only (no connection to carrier) with the SIM card in the phone?
Last question.
Why do so many sites ask/warn (when on a WiFi connection) that there may be connection charges if you proceed further, and then don't allow you access to the material when they can't make a carrier connection?
8:55 pm
July 12, 2009
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I just answered your question on the other post -- the moderators likely deleted your "missing" post because it was pretty much a double post.
Here is what I said over on the other post:
Whether or not you can turn off the wireless network depends on the phone.
Most Blackberries have separate enable checkboxes for each of the Cell Radio, Bluetooth, and wifi (if your particular blackberry has wifi and/or Bluetooth)
I just checked a couple of Nokia phones that were within easy reach -- and neither had an easy to find way to turn off the cell radio. However those phones will boot to "Offline Mode" with no SIM card, and can be used as music players or wifi browsing devices in Offline Mode.
iPhones call it "Airplane Mode" when you turn off the cell service and use the phone as an expensive iPod.
I'm wondering why you would buy a phone, activate the cellular service and then want to turn off the phone. The phone connects to a service provider so it can be used as a phone. If you have a SO SIM with paid time on it and were able to turn off the connection to the SO service, you can't call anyone and no one can call you. It is a phone after all. The fact that the phone is communicating with the tower is how the system is able to make and receive calls. You don't pay for time you are connected to the system, you pay for time you are using either the voice, text, or browsing function over that connection.
If you want a device that only connects to the Internet using wifi, there are much better devices than most cell phones that cost less money. PDAs are available in many forms including the iPod, as are larger devices like netbooks and iPads.
To know if your phone can be used with the cell radio turned off and wifi turned on, you will need to be very specific about which make and model of phone you are using. If you bought it new, the manual that came with it might answer your questions. If the manual isn't that good, and you have the make and model of the phone, you can use Google and likely find all sorts of information about your exact phone.
Since no one here knows what phone you are using, we can only answer in very general terms.
In answer to your last question, if you can't access the page using wifi, it is likely because you have the phone set to browse using the cell service. As I said above -- it is a phone and the default settings will be to use it as a phone. The phone needs to be set up properly to access the internet whether by the cell service (if you have paid for a browsing plan) or by wifi. It can't read your mind -- you have to tell it what you want it to do in the settings. Unfortunately if you look through dozens of threads and posts in this forum you will see that the settings for browsing are not always straightforward and are extremely dependent on the exact make and model of your phone.
10:04 pm
May 17, 2010
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RonM said:
I just answered your question on the other post -- the moderators likely deleted your "missing" post because it was pretty much a double post.
Here is what I said over on the other post:
Whether or not you can turn off the wireless network depends on the phone.
Wow thanks for your reply Ron!
That was really quite comprehensive overall.
I didn't know that the mods had moved the post into this section of the site, and that's why I asked the question again in the other thread.
I have to get to bed now, but I'll have a few questions for you tomorrow.
Thanks again!
1:38 pm
May 17, 2010
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RonM said:
Whether or not you can turn off the wireless network depends on the phone.
I know I can turn off/on the wireless network. It's the phone network that I'm not sure of. There is an 'offline' option that allows one to turn on/off all 'online' activity, but I don't know if I can isolate just the phone network.
iPhones call it "Airplane Mode" when you turn off the cell service and use the phone as an expensive iPod.
I suppose that's the equivalent to my 'offline' setting, where I turn off all 'online' service.
I'm wondering why you would buy a phone, activate the cellular service and then want to turn off the phone....
I'm a one-in-a-thousand (or less) user. I just got my first cellphone about a month ago. I don't believe in being at everyone's disposal 24-7. To me a cellphone is basically like a dog leash.
I was at my Mom's place a few weeks ago and she had just bought a new cellphone.
She gave me her old one in case I wanted to use it (MotoRazr v3).
I hadn't bought my SO SIM card yet but when I turned on the Razr I noticed I got a buzz in my temples that I didn't like. This was with an expired Rogers SIM card inside the unit. I also noticed that with the unit turned off, but within reach, I could still feel some pressure in my temples. I resorted to putting it away in a drawer in another room (turned off).
Soon after that I bought a SO SIM and needed a phone to put it in (I didn't want to buy the SO Nokia phones), so I started looking for a GSM unlocked smartphone.
A smartphone I could use (for its non-phone features, camera, WiFi etc.).
I was buying the phone for emergency use (my family have been asking me for years why I haven't got one).
The number one 'feature' I looked for when starting the search for a new phone was its SAR rating. I found that the Samsung Blue Earth GT-S7550 had one of the lowest SAR ratings of any smartphone or even dumb phone.
The Blue Earth isn't sold in North America by the regular chain of distributors, so I bought one on eBay.
It has its positives/negatives, but the most important thing is that its SAR is low enough that I can actually live with it! I can leave it turned on, next to me (if I chose to do that) and not feel the pressure in my temples.
If you want a device that only connects to the Internet using wifi, there are much better devices than most cell phones that cost less money. PDAs are available in many forms including the iPod, as are larger devices like netbooks and iPads.
I have a Toshiba e830 PPC that's wonderful. It has WiFi and does what I need to do with its features.
I am now in a situation where I will be traveling soon and could use a cellphone for the travels (and after for emergency use when I return home).
Rather than buy a dumb phone and carry around the phone, camera and my PPC with me, I figured a smartphone might be the way to go for the trip.
To know if your phone can be used with the cell radio turned off and wifi turned on, you will need to be very specific about which make and model of phone you are using. If you bought it new, the manual that came with it might answer your questions. If the manual isn't that good, and you have the make and model of the phone, you can use Google and likely find all sorts of information about your exact phone.
The 'manual' has been next to useless for all the things I have wanted to know about the unit. Googling hasn't been too useful either.
In answer to your last question, if you can't access the page using wifi, it is likely because you have the phone set to browse using the cell service. As I said above -- it is a phone and the default settings will be to use it as a phone. The phone needs to be set up properly to access the internet whether by the cell service (if you have paid for a browsing plan) or by wifi. It can't read your mind -- you have to tell it what you want it to do in the settings. Unfortunately if you look through dozens of threads and posts in this forum you will see that the settings for browsing are not always straightforward and are extremely dependent on the exact make and model of your phone.
I had a 'Eureka moment' last night when I was fooling around with the phone.
I had downloaded a bunch of apps (Opera Mini, plus a bunch of others) and none of them were allowing me to run them successfully.
Just by a fluke, when I was inside the 'Games and more' menu and I pressed 'More' at the bottom, a menu came up for Protection/Details/Certificates/Connections.
I pressed 'connections' and noticed that **for these Games and more programs** my phone was set up to connect via Vodaphone Live (the default) and not my WiFi connection! Like who in their right mind would know to look here to correct the connection problems I was having??? (There is a standard Settings menu where you set your connections).
So this was an important piece of the puzzle that was solved last night (Opera now runs fine).
There are still a few remaining pieces that remain unsolved.
-Can I turn off the phone connection and just use WiFi with the SIM card inside?
(I can use WiFi with the SIM card removed/no phone connection)
-Is there any 'Skype-like' software that I can use with this phone?
Skype only works on Windows Mobile phones and a limited number of other phones.
Thanks again for your help!
1:35 am
July 12, 2009
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Actually I don't think you can download Skype for Windows Mobile any more. They decided it didn't work well enough and pulled it.
There is a native Skype client for the upper end of the Symbian/Nokia line and iPhones.
There is a Skype client available for some Verizon phones in the US -- but I have no idea if the settings are universal enough to us on other phones and/or wifi. Check out the Skype Mobile site.
Nimbuzz will let you access Skype if it will run on your phone. It isn't the best of programs but it might be your only hope.
I had Fring on a phone and it worked better than Nimbuzz until a couple of weeks ago when Skype started blocking Fring -- so it doesn't work at all now. The last I saw on the Fring site was a note saying they were trying to resolve their differences with Skype.
As to whether you can turn the cell radio off and leave the wifi on -- I'm not familiar with your phone so I can't help. If someone else in this forum has the answer, they will likely chime in.
You could also try searching and/or joining the forums at
or
or possibly (the other two are more phone specific)
.You may find that your question is already answered in those forums -- or if it isn't, there will be forums there for Samsung phones for sure, and probably your exact model.
As a suggestion for future posts on this or other forums, it might get your questions answered better if you mentioned the phone model in the thread title. Your need is specific to your phone -- your thread title seems more generic.
7:41 am
May 17, 2010
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Thanks again Ron for your help, I really appreciate it.
You are very knowledgeable about the cellphone world.
11:50 am
August 31, 2009
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SOMark: You're OK with radio waves generated by a Wi-Fi transceiver, but the GSM radio waves cause you to feel a pressure in your temples?
It makes little sense that a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi radio would emit "good" EMF, while a GSM digital voice signal in the 1.9 GHz band would emit "bad" EMF. They're both doing essentially the same thing -- sending digital packets through the air at gigahertz frequencies.
12:32 pm
October 14, 2008
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I think the "pressure in your temples" is cause by the aliens. Get out the tin foil hat Srry 🙂
8:12 pm
May 17, 2010
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James and IAD, I was just pulling your legs.
I can't really feel anything in my temples. It was all just a big joke, and the joke is on you!
(hehehe)
3:35 am
March 10, 2010
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SOMark, people come here and give their time and knowledge to help people who are having problems. They don't get paid for doing it, they do it because the are good people. STOP WASTING THEIR TIME WITH YOUR STUPID JOKES.
Definitely not cool dude.
