MTN E220 with Vodacom Sim Card?

[Mike_De_Lange]

My question is aimed at those with the E220 and MTN_D_D ofcourse

I would just like to know if I would be able to use a Vodacom simcard in the MTN version (Black One) of the Huawei E220?
I know you can use a MTN simcard in the Vodacom version just not a 64K sim as stated in the sticky.

And my second question is do the firmwares for the E220's differ? Are there some releases of the E220 that are network locked and some that aren't? Because I phoned every retail shop I can think of and they ALL say both MTN and VODA versions are network locked.

Is this just the lack of educated sales people or has there been a balls up somewhere?

Thanks in advance

Mike De Lange - DBN

 

[acidrain]

My question is aimed at those with the E220 and MTN_D_D ofcourse

I would just like to know if I would be able to use a Vodacom simcard in the MTN version (Black One) of the Huawei E220?
I know you can use a MTN simcard in the Vodacom version just not a 64K sim as stated in the sticky.

And my second question is do the firmwares for the E220's differ? Are there some releases of the E220 that are network locked and some that aren't? Because I phoned every retail shop I can think of and they ALL say both MTN and VODA versions are network locked.

Is this just the lack of educated sales people or has there been a balls up somewhere?

Thanks in advance

Mike De Lange - DBN

I know you specify the E220 but i swopped over aswell with an mtn e620 card and works fine, no network lock nothing. Only problem was i had to force 3G connection in order to get it on the vc network

Dash and firmware should work aswell on the vc network

 

[Dr_Data]

Hi
The MTN Data cards are not network locked. To confirm this you can go to the service centre in Dbn at the pavillion and ask them to test this for you. You can put your VC sim into one of the cards they have there and you can confirm this.

Regards
DD

 

[Mike_De_Lange]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your input I'll definitely check it out...And lastly does anyone know if there are any performance differences between the MTN and Vodafone versions since the Vodem uses its own branded software and is there anyway to flash the E220 with the default Huawei firmware?

Thanks

 

[acidrain]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your input I'll definitely check it out...And lastly does anyone know if there are any performance differences between the MTN and Vodafone versions since the Vodem uses its own branded software and is there anyway to flash the E220 with the default Huawei firmware?

Thanks

Not sure how to flash, will have to ask Dr Data but with regards to performance differences between mtn and vc's firmware, i dont think one will find any. Its almost like asking if there is a performance difference between a vc nokia and an mtn nokia.

 

[Mike_De_Lange]

Its almost like asking if there is a performance difference between a vc nokia and an mtn nokia.

I dont think so acidrain. Because in the case of say the motorola v360's the standerd non vodafone branded v360's out perform the branded version. The firmware causes the phone to lag/sluggish and crash at times. There have been indepth testing and reviews on modding sites like motomodders.net that proove the above. I think its ridiculas that they flash phones with custom firmwares that most of the time decrease performance and worse than that they dont provide an option to role back to the standerd firmware. Its as bad as network locking the phones. And there "happy red" theme's, intro's, lame videos etc.. are forced on you aswell.

Anyhow im going off topic but believe for a alot of handsets there are proven performance differences for the vodafone branded and default firmwares. Hopefully that does not carry over to the USB modem's...If it does they should provide at least the factory default firmware and option to flash it back...

 

[Dr_Data]

Hi
with regards to the device I would say no, it depends on the network that supplies the speed i.e. if you using a VC/CellC/MTN sim.
Regards
DD

 

[vodacom3g]

Dr_Data will obviously know the correct answer, but I'd be careful to flash the modem with new firmware before checking. According to Huawei, they run a custom version for MTN and you might loose something going to generic firmware.

I suspect that you'll be OK with a MTN 32K sim, but might kill the modem if you use a 64K sim.

From Huawei:

According to the 3GPP protocol 31.102, USIM card should have the EFECC File.

But the lack of this file in MTN USIM card causes the conflict issue with
the normal E220 modem. So all of the E220 modems sold to MTN are special
Firmware and will not check the EFECC file. The Vodacom version is the
normal version and can be used with all the normal USIM cards.

The modem must check the EFECC file first, but MTN 64k USIM card has not the file. It seems like the Sim Lock. But the reason is that MTN 64k USIM cards have not EFECC file.

The real question is why flash in the first place? If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

 

[Mike_De_Lange]

Thanks for the info,

V3G guess im just worried about spending R2500 and then its network locked. I will prolly get the Vodafone version cos I like the white one But as long as I can use any network I want then im happy

Regards

 

[Skeptik]

I suspect that you'll be OK with a MTN 32K sim, but might kill the modem if you use a 64K sim.

I thought the main reason everyone had to swap their Virgin SIM to a 64K one was to get them to work with data cards!

 

[SecretCode]

m_d_l, I bought a Huawei plain brand E220 at Autopage for R2500. No Voda or MTN logo anywhere. I've only used it on MTN so far but it'll work on Voda too.

 

[ginggs]

I thought the main reason everyone had to swap their Virgin SIM to a 64K one was to get them to work with data cards!

There was a problem with the original Virgin 32K SIMs in the Huawei E620 card, Virgin replaced the 32K SIMs with 64K SIMs from a different supplier. There also seems to be a problem with the MTN 64K SIMs in the Huawei E220 card; either change your SIM or flash the E220 with the MTN firmware, which works around the problem.