And of course the actual ad (how iPhone is super mega amazing) 🤷🏼‍♂️ but nice to see how they did it. And neat to see how tech evolved since my first iPhone 3G. What they fail to mention is the insane time it takes to film all that, and the post production editing... ;)

(Source)

If tethering is unavailable on ones iPhone, and you have to helpdesk him/her out of it, go to:

Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network

And set “Cellular data” to:

APN: web.be
username: web
password: web

And reboot the device… Tethering should/will be available.

Apple’s patent to block recordings is reality and in operation. At some event such as Pukkelpop. During a crisis.

No one, as the infrared is beaming light into every smartphone, telling it to shut down the camera, is able to record or take pictures of what’s going on. Countless of proof is lost (or never made). Nothing on Twitpic, nothing on Youtube. No proof of how severe the storm/crisis actually was. No usable data for journalists and researchers to reuse afterwards. Unable to see whether the roof/screen/pillar/sound system/… fell before or after the whole tent actually collapsed…

Yes, think about that… “Free” world.

It was a bit hard to find software that would still allow me to jailbreak this 2G.

Soooow, I mirrored all I used.

Bootloader: 3.9 or 4.6

PwnageTool: 3.1.5

Be aware: you will need iTunes 9 (or 8, I guess) – iTunes 10 gives an error: “iPhone could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (1600).”

Follow basic instructions on the PwnageTool (export mode > you need to select the default IPSW) and you’ll get there.

As IPSW you can use the default IPSW iTunes downloads upon restoring. You’ll find the IPSW in ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates/ (iTunes 10).

I still had iTunes 9 on my old PowerBook, but I guess you can find the installer on the net somewhere and use a virtual machine or something.

When booting the iPhone in DFU mode, iTunes will find the iPhone in recovery mode. Left click + ALT on the restore button and browse to the custom IPSW.

And, yes, this iPhone 2G is for sale :) Contact me if interested ;)

Raw file. Used Pete Warden’s app. Oh and if you missed the buzz, read this.

lol!

Pieter’s:

- html

Yeri’s:

- pdf - slideshare - html - Keynote

All information here and here.

Be sure to come and help around ! Fun guaranteed! ;)

I’ll be discussing general things about iRail (history, future, vision), and Pieter will discuss everything related to our API.

Presentations will be put online tomorrow evening.

Also, biggest issue (station bug) seems to have been fixed in the API (mobile site soon!). Thanks Pieter Colpaert.

First of all, big thanks for all the code and help from Pieter Colpaert.

Updates:

• API (extreme beta), thanks Pieter (wiki),
• Code clean up, improvements,
• Station bug has not been solved, yet -- working on it, (edit: fixed)
• iRail mailing list, for easy communication (wiki / archive).

And again, Git repo located here. Feel free to participate. :)

You can very easily fork my Git repository, all working improvements will be merged to the main stream.

To access the iRail source code;

Be aware you need to be added as contributor before being able to commit changes.

1. get Git
2. [browse to some folder] mkdir git
3. cd git
4. git clone git@github.com:Tuinslak/iRail.git
5. cd iRail
6. git fetch

To edit & commit changes:

1. git add [file]
2. git commit -m 'edited [file], added this and that'
3. git push

To update repo

1. git fetch
2. git merge origin/master

To check log

1. git log

Info here and here, oh and here.

Nightly built accessible here. Git gets updated every night around 4h00. (see the index.php; set $dev to 1)

Feel free to commit [working and useful] updates. Decent updates will make the iRail.be website. Contact me if you have any questions or remarks. Most important bug is the station issue and my todo list can be found here.

I’m fairly new to all this Git-stuff, so I might have done some stuff wrong, or not optimised, or whatever. Contact me if so.

The U.S. government on Monday announced new rules that make it officially legal for iPhone owners to "jailbreak" their device and run unauthorized third-party applications. In addition, it is now acceptable to unlock any cell phone for use on multiple carriers.

According to The Associated Press, the government approved a handful of new exemptions to a federal law that prevents the circumvention of technical measure that prevent users from accessing and modifying copyrighted works. The report noted that every three years, the Library of Congress' Copyright Office authorizes exemptions to ensure existing law does not prevent non-infringing use of copyrighted material.

In addition, another exemption was approved that would allow all cell phone users to unlock their device for use on an unapproved carrier. Currently, Apple's iPhone is available exclusively through AT&T, but unlocking it can allow for voice calls and EDGE data speeds on rival carrier T-Mobile.

Purely awesome.

• Aalst,
• Asse,
• Brugge,
• Mechelen

Issue: All those stations give an additional intermediate page with the question to confirm your station choice.

Old solution: could be by-passed by adding “[B]” to the end of every station name but this has recently changed and is no longer working.

Current solution: none yet. Working with cURL to check the POST data.

Report additional broken stations to bugs@irail.be please.

Edit: Fixed – Thanks Pieter !

The copy of the letter to the NMBS/SNCB can be viewed here.

Minor modifications have been made to make it work correctly again with the new route planner of the NMBS/SNCB (changelog); and I’ll keep working on it to optimise it (next on the todo list is a better results page). Also, feedback is always welcome… But mail me; not the NMBS/SNCB. ;)

Also, dear NMBS/SNCB, please provide us with an API. Clearly, I’m not the only one interested in open data and APIs. This would make small projects like this quite a bit easier and would greatly increase the end quality. Data scraping just doesn’t fit web2.0.

I’d like to gratefully thank everyone for the amazing support, and special thanks go to Ywein Van den Brande, Sébastien Boelpaep and Vincent Van Quickenborne.

Have a nice day,

Yeri Tiete iRail.be

Edit: Due to a bug in the querying, not all station information is displayed correctly and an error page is shown. Working to get it solved.

Geachte,

NMBS heeft onlangs vernomen dat u de uitbater bent van de website www.irail.be.

Uw website is, zoals u het zelf vermeldt, een route planner waarbij alle gegevens en informatie van NMBS website komt (“all data and info is retrieved from the B-Rail website”).

uw website maakt hergebruik van de data van NMBS. Hierdoor schendt u haar intellectuele rechten, zoals haar auteursrecht en databankrecht. Tevens maakt u zich daardoor schuldig aan het strafrechtelijk misdrijf van namaak.

De verklaring inzake het auteursrecht op de website van NMBS (http://www.b-rail.be) bepaalt:

“De site en zijn samenstellende elementen (teksten, lay-out, tekeningen, foto’s, films, grafische voorstellingen en andere elementen die op de site voorkomen) zijn beschermd door intellectuele rechten, net als de logo’s, merken en commerciële benamingen die door de NMBS gebruikt worden.

Daarom verbiedt de NMBS elke bezoeker van haar website om zonder haar voorafgaande expliciete schriftelijke toelating, de teksten, lay-out, tekeningen, foto’s, films, grafische voorstellingen, logo’s, merken, commerciële benamingen, en andere elementen die op de site voorkomen, gedeeltelijk of in een via een elektronische, mechanische of andere procédé bewerkte vorm, te gebruiken, reproduceren, afficheren, publiek te maken, wijzigen, wissen, aan te passen…

Elk inbreuk op wat voorafgaat, leidt tot rechterlijke vervolging, burgerlijke of strafrechtelijke, zonder afbreuk te doen van het recht op schadevergoeding voor de NMBS”.

Wij stellen u hierbij formeel in gebreke voor deze inbreuken en manen wij u aan om die onmiddelijk te staken. Bij gebrek aan staking zal de NMBS zonder verder bericht de nodige juridische stappen ondernemen.

Het voorgaande wordt u gericht onder alle voorbehoud en zonder enige nadelige erkenning.

Hoogachtend,

Xavier Ansseau Eerste adviseur - afdelingschef

Original can be read here and here. Yes, my scanner was on holiday, had to use a camera.

My mail to the NMBS on October 6th 2008. They never replied to that e-mail. Until now, when they got their own mobile website, that is.

Thank you for using iRail all this time.

This website was created during my spare time (and mainly for myself). It is also maintained during my spare time. NMBS/SNCB never helped to create or maintain this website (nor did it show any interest to do so).

I never got paid (or earned any kind of money) for this website. The website is free to access from any device (but it’s built to be used on an iPhone or iPad).

All problems related with this website should be directed to ME and NOT the NMBS/SNCB.

All data and info is retrieved from the B-Rail website. Every request on the iRail website is translated into a request on the B-Rail website. iRail just shows you what the B-Rail route planner would show you without the regular layout (most of the css/html is stripped off). Only the icons have a local backup on the iRail website (technically easier to make sure icons are showed correctly).

I am not responsible for incorrect time tables (and I don’t think B-Rail is either). I am sure there are glitches in the iRail website that might give you false/bugged information (please, report, to me) and some stations might not be working (please, report, to me, as well). In some cases I might be able to fix these issues.

For the REAL NMBS/SNCB Mobile website please visit THIS website.

Again, iRail was only created due to a lack of alternatives (and is still online because some visitors, including myself, seem to prefer my version over the official one), as a hobby and for personal experience.

Please, don’t force me to kill this website.

Edit: read more.

Click below.

MP3.

Due to this change, iRail was no longer able to provide any scheduling information which included Brussels-Midi.

I’ve made a quick and dirty work around (by including “+ Eurostar” in the drop down menu), solving this bug.

However, please, NMBS/SNCB, please please please provide an API or report such changes to web developers.

As it is now, if you manually fill in Brussels-Midi and do not add the Eurostar text, the iRail website will not be able to to look up the requested information.

Thanks to Stéphane for the bug report.

Anyway, fixed!

Syncing smart playlists, with “live updating” checked, bugged the playlists on the iPhone (there were songs in the playlist that didn’t belong there). Hoping this bug would be fixed ASAP I tried to ignore it as long as possible… However, it so far hasn’t been fixed.

As I was pretty fed up with unchecking “live updating” for 6 playlists eachtime I synced my iPhone, I tried to play around and find a fix.

Apparently, adding the following rule, solves the issue (don’t ask me why though):

“Playlist - is - Music.”

Add this to all your smart playlists, resync, and your issue should be solved. Don’t forget to check on “live updating” again. ;)

Media kind is music didn’t affect the issue, however, this was an old rule that was already added to avoid getting podcasts into my smart playlists.

Also, if anyone can tell me how to reduce the memory usage of iTunes 9 (using 900+ Mb, coverflow enabled). The only useful work around is either disable cover flow or to put iTunes into Mini Player (shift+Apple+M)…

Too big to be mobile, missing too many key features to be useful.

Actually, I guess Gizmodo said it all.

And besides that, no iPhone OS 4? No working iTunes? Anything truly useful?

To enable tethering on the iPhone + Windows; just pair the bluetooth devices (I actually haven’t tried with USB yet, and don’t really plan on doing that), Windows will start to QQ about it being unable to find a suitable driver for the iPhone… I even installed iTunes to see if the message would go away, but apparently it won’t. I’ll have to do some more Googling later on.

Anyway, to tether, just go to “Control Panel” > “View devices and printers” (under “Hardware and Sound”) > Devices > $iPhone_Name (it has a fancy yellow warning sign next to it…).

Right click, “Connect using” > “Access point”.

Simple enough. Pick “Public network”, just to be sure (though, your ISP should already block most direct connections between devices, and your iPhone won’t forward any ports I guess/hope).

And don’t forget to disable WiFi or unplug your network cable if you want to test it at home.

Oh, right, and I probably should give you a bunch of warnings about data consumption and that AT&T might brutally murder you and your family if you dare using tethering (as far as they can actually check you’re tethering, and if they can, I’m pretty sure they’ll be violating a couple of privacy laws). As for the customers of the 95% other decent providers who allow tethering and aren’t living in the middle ages, have fun using it. Finally work can be done on the train/while waiting/… ;)

#!/bin/bash
KEY=YourApiKey
HOST=zero.rootspirit.com
ping -c 1 $HOST   &>/dev/null
if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then
curl -k -s "https://prowl.weks.net/publicapi/add?apikey=$KEY&application=Server%20Connectivity%20Failure&event=&description=$HOST&priority=2"
fi

Of course, change KEY to your API key, HOST to the IP or DNS of the server it should ping. Also, make sure, that when pinging on your host where you’ll run the bash script on, a non-existing domain actually returns:

ping: unknown host ezfzigjagaqg.reg

instead of

PING ezfzigjagaqg.reg.rootspirit.com (85.12.6.130) 56(84) bytes of data.

(Should depend on the search line in /etc/resolv.conf) As I’m pinging about 6 servers I created the file “checkServers.sh” with this content:

#!/bin/bash

`/home/yeri/prowl/zero.rootspirit.com.sh &>/dev/null`
`/home/yeri/prowl/one.rootspirit.com.sh &>/dev/null`
`/home/yeri/prowl/two.rootspirit.com.sh &>/dev/null`
`/home/yeri/prowl/four.rootspirit.com.sh &>/dev/null`
`/home/yeri/prowl/vm0.rootspirit.com.sh &>/dev/null`
`/home/yeri/prowl/vm1.rootspirit.com.sh &>/dev/null`

Make sure to chmod +x *.sh, to make it executable, and edit crontab and add something like that:

*/10	*	*	*	*	/home/yeri/prowl/checkServers.sh &>/dev/null

Don’t forget to test it whether it works or not (try non-existing domain(s), and run the script again).

For my iPhone 3G this came, out of the box, right after the update to 3.0. I could clearly see the 100% next to my battery icon.

But yes, I did have my iPhone jailbroken before I upgraded.

Now, appearantly, this feature is only available for iPhone 3GS, and not iPhone 3G and iPhone 2G, though, it is possible using e.g. Bossprefs. Lame from Apple !

Anyhow, after some Googling, I came to the conclusion:

• iPhones that used to be jailbroken will have the % displayed next to the battery icon.
• Regular iPhone 2G and 3G will not have the switch in "Settings > General > Usage", whereas 3GS will.

I found a cool workaround right here, although it requires you to jailbreak your iPhone.

Don’t forget to install “openssh”  and “wget” or “lynx” (makes it a lot easier) using the Cydia package manager.

I’ve hosted the plist file right here, just in case it would go offline.

Basicly, you have to add these 2 lines to the .plist:

   <key>gas-gauge-battery</key>
   <true/>

This works with the current iPhone version (3.0).

I’ve copy pasted the howto, just in case. All credits go to the original poster.

1. First you need to Jailbreak your iPhone, use PwnageTool or Redsnow check the dev team blog. -> and install openSSH, wget, lynx, and restart your iPhone to be sure.
2. Download the M68AP.plist file from the link: http://www.4shared.com/file/113188452/9434236e/M68AP.html or from the link I've posted above. This is optional, see #5
3. SSH into your iPhone. (Or use iPhoneBrowser 'look it up in google its right there!) -> if this is first time you SSH to your iPhone it might take hell of a long time and even time out a few times. Due to the keys being generated. Use PuTTY or Terminal to ssh; command: ssh -l root <iPhone IP>. The default password is "alpine" (don't forget to change that with "passwd").
4. Go to /System/Library/CoreServices/Springboard.app/
5. Replace the M68AP.plist in the directory with the one you downloaded -> you might aswell "mv M68AP.plist M68AP.plist.backup && wget https://static.yeri.be/2009/07/M68AP.plist
6. Restart you iphone.
7. Now go to the application Settings -> General -> Usage and there will be a Battery Percentage toggle and you can use it to enable battery percentage next to battery icon in top-right corner.

And that works !

This resulted in a constant error; “The pin code was not accepted by the mobile device”.

I of course removed the SIM card each time, and inserted it back in my iPhone, and unlocked it by inserting my code. I didn’t want to lock my SIM card, and made sure I had at least 2 good tries left each time.

As you can let the application remember the pin code, I was 100% sure it were wrong settings. The worst part, was that the application quits after prompting  that message. I reinstalled, searching in the config files, removed all vodafone files, tried in Windows, changed my pin code a couple of times (the default 0000 one too), updated the HAUWEI firmware, updated the Mobile Connect client software, rebooted, and when I was about to give up, it hit me like a truck. I’m from the bloody “hotswap generation”. And Vodafone sucks. Seriously. Wasted 2 hours on that. Such a waste of time, such a simple solution.

When inserting the SIM card into the device. UNPLUG THE USB MODEM. INSERT SIM. THEN, NOT BEFORE, INSERT IT IN THE DAMN PC. Start the application. Enjoy. No more dodgy error messages, the application works, and you can connect to the bloody internet.

GG Vodafone. GG hotswap.

They mention iRail.be on Tijd.be and on L’Echo.be.

Fun !

If, for some reason, the buttons have two different sizes or you see some weird stuff, try to refresh the page. You should get the new & updated .css file.

There also were a little over 1000 visitors yesterday (Thursday) on the website. Not bad! :)

As for the *@irail.be e-mail addresses, they seem to be down due to bad DNS/MX records. It’s being solved as we speak, but might take a few hours to update.

Please use tuinslak [at] gmail [dot] com if you have anything to e-mail me.

• MYiPhone.be
• iPhon.fr
• iPhoneclub
• Belgium-iPhone (forum)
• iPhonic

Special thanks to these website, they have greatly improved the number of visitors so far.

Now, when submitting the same information through the iRail website, the same link was added to the results. Yet, these links were broken/unavailable, because the session with the NMBS/SNCB site was no longer valid.

I have now replaced these links with Google Maps links. They are not only displaying the station’s location, but also the directions (by car, that is. I guess Google won’t be adding “train directions” anywhere soon) to eachother.

This will open the native Maps app on the iPhone.

Special thanks to alastair for helping out on this one.

Thanks

• small link (top, left corner) to refresh/go to the main page
• fixed an issue where the dropdown menus would display HH:MM when it should be HH+1:MM - e.g. if the time was 17h55, it would display 17h00 instead of 18h00
• added a return/back button to the results page
• changed (shortened) the Dutch text of "noresults/" page, to fit the text on one line (on the iPhone)
• changed the settings icon to something more... "settings" and less "info"
• Removed the link from iRail.be to m.iRail.be. iRail.be will now be the main site
• added "arrival" and "departure" options, to specify whether you want to arrive or depart at that time
• created a bugs and feedback email address - bugs[@]irail[.]be and feedback[@]irail[.]be
• the touch-icon should be here soon

And expect some more updates by the end of the week. :)

You can change the language options on the settings page.

When starting to type in a station name (starting at the 3rd char), it will suggest station names, and you can just tab them to select. 

I made a txt file with all station names I found on the NMBS website. I hope it’s up to date, and if there are any stations missing, please report. :)

The station names depend on their location within Belgium. Flemish stations are Dutch only, Walloon stations French only. Everything inbetween (e.g. Brussels) is in both languages.

Nothing worse if you’re typing in a foreign language. I’m often typing SMS and e-mails in 3 different language, and well, auto-correction tends to fuck up.

Thanks to Helene.

• changed color to dark blue
• added a seperate settings page (you can only change the results page language at the moment (the content downloaded from the NMBS website))
• language settings is saved in a cookie
• station info is saved in a cookie too, instead of a session
• changed date and time to use a dropdown menu and the menu should be updated to "now"
• and many more small changes

Website is accessible through this link: https://yeri.be

Thanks to Anner for the great feedback.

Basicly, this is what you can do:

• fill in departure station
• fill in arrival station
• fill in time and date (of departure)

At this stage of the project, only the basic train details are shown (departure time, arrival time) and up to 3 or 4 different possibilities (depending what the NMBS website replies).

There is no option (and I’m unsure whether there will be in the future) to see details about a selected trip (like stops and station changes).

The site is made in English, but you can choose in what language you want the results, the only problem I’ve seen so far is that for DE and EN all train station names are in French (Antwerp becomes Anvers), but this “bug” lies out of my hands, as all train information is received from the NMBS websites, including station names.

Basicly this is what it does: it opens a HTTP socket to the NMBS site, filling in your details (like date and stations), and gets the reply back (if the NMBS site replies in time, I’ve seen a few time outs).

All unrequired information is cut off, and you remain with just the trip details. Which should just fit your iPhone in landscape mode.

When filling in your station details, please use existing stations names (language shouldn’t matter), including Central, North, South, etc if needed. Requesting the station “Brussels” won’t work and will just display an empty page for now.

Things I’ll be working on:

• layout and design of the trip detail page
• I've seen that my Sessions do some weird stuff from time to time (refresh the main page 2x and all sessions are destroyed); but that's something I'll have to look in
• Well, I guess most users want more information, so I'll have to try to get trip details
• and better data handling. Still too much unrequired information.
• Error handling, if e.g. the station doesn't exist or the date/time is incorrect

Please leave your feedback/bug reports in a comment or per e-mail.

Also, if visiting the website with Firefox, IE or even Chrome… Yes, it’s not compatible to any of them. My website looks dodgy in those browsers; I’ve only focussed on the iPhone browser.

The time table and train managing software seems made in Germany. The NMBS “look up” site gives you the software and version it is using ("Software versie/dataversie: HAFAS 5.21.B-RAIL.4.7f/5.21.B-RAIL.4.7k - 14/09/08").

Googling for Hafas returns some cool websites.

Using this one, you can download a pdf with all train (including hours) info between two stations. Not quite the same as an API-key, but at least you have something you can save and use lateron.

This seems to be giving all stops a train will have (or all trains) between two stations. Though the “stoptrains” aren’t in the list, and the IR-train does stop at Mechelen-Nekkerspoel too, which isn’t on the list either. This PDF seems more accurate, and seems to be including all trains.

But still, the DB seem to be ahead of us (well, what country isn’t?). Here is one of the functionalities of HAFAS, which I haven’t seen on the NMBS site yet. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this seems something different. And… Windows-fucking-mobile-only.

Pretty much same problem with Thalys. They even made thalys.mobi, yet, when accessing it with the iPhone (as I lack other PDA-ish devices to test it at the moment) it doesn’t scale/resize/fit my screen, and is displaying the same window I have when browsing it with Firefox.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we had some open (xml?) API, where we could submit departure station, arrival station, and some time, and get a reply with one or multiple results?

I guess I would’ve hoped for more in these “mobile” days.

Edit: my attempt to make something.

This should help several people who aren't yet privy to this information. Your iPhone or iPod Touch's iTunes backup process (the thing that some people tend to skip) dumps your device's crash logs to a folder in your home directory. Here's how to get to those logs.

DEPENDING ON YOUR OS:

• Mac OS X: <your-home-directory>/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/<device-name>/<brightkite-crash-log>

• Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<user-name>\Application Data\Apple computer\Logs\CrashReporter\<device-name>\<brightkite-crash-log>

• Windows Vista: C:\Users\<user-name>\AppData\Roaming\Applecomputer\Logs\CrashReporter\MobileDevice\<device-name>\<brightkite-crash-log>

If you can't find either of those, the logs should be on your device anyway. If it's jailbroken, your logs can be found under:

• /var/mobile/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/<brightkite-crash-log>

This is actually also meant for me, as a reminder, for when I update the plugin. ;)

(Howto make a screenshot on the iPhone)

Mobistar also said the warranty is two years. No matter what Apple says.

On the phone, the Mobistar employee guaranteed me the repair will take no longer than 5 work days.

In the Mobistar shop: “This is wrong, it will take <at least> 10 work days”.

In the meanwhile, I’ll just bang my head against the wall some more.

As I still have not received the receipt, and no one is able to tell me where it is, or when it arrives (“you’ll have it by next week”, “max 3 days”, “it takes at least 2 to 3 weeks before you’ll have it”), and they told me I could get my iPhone repaired with my MasterCard payment proof (uhhhh…).

Anyway, now that I’ve recieved that payment proof (mailed once per month) I went to the Mobistar shop, saying “Repair nowz plx!” & they already backed off, saying “Well, if for Dynafix this is not enough proof, it’s possible you’ll have to pay for the repair… And once the iPhone is sent, and they think it’s not enough proof, this cannot be stopped”.

I mean… What the fuck.

1. In what country, do they repair stuff for you, before you even agree to the repair cost?!

2. WTF is Mobistar doing in all this. They told me it’s proof, so what on earth has Dynafix have to say.

3. Sheesh, check the freaking serial/imei number, yes, check my address & name, yes, figure out… THINK FOR JUST ONCE. I. have. bought. it. legally. online. on. the. fucking. mobistar.be. site.

4. AAAARGH no one, but really NO ONE has any clue about this whole iPhone. It’s an unorganised last minute “hey pick me, pick me Apple, yes, we r so pr0, we have 40% 3G coverage, pewpew & are customer mindeth”. Not a single person knows, for 100% sure, what to do. “You might try X… But…” or “You have to wait for the receipts, that will arrive in less than a month”. YES!! I’ve got time, with one freaking year of warranty, when it should be two.

The iPhone cannot be used with iTunes because the information required for activation could not be obtained from the iPhone. Check that the SIM card is inserted in your iPhone and that it is not PIN-locked.

1. The lack of "openness" towards customers. I'm talking about last moment notices, quick fixes, delayed press cons, and so forth. Even Apple wasn't sure about the release date in Belgium, which adds quite a bit confusion and anger to potential iPhone customers. Not only were they hoping to have it by 11 July (and luckily we did, afterall, somehow), but they were deceived by (semi?) unofficial and contradicted messages.
2. The price, though it's understandable due to the (semi) unlocked version. But, yes, it will still be locked to Belgian operators (and what about future/new operators? Even Mobistar didn't know for sure).
3. When released, I heard all iPhones had been preordered, and they gave priority to existing Mobistar customers. Seems like quite a discrimination, and gets closed to "locked iPhone" for me. I was 70th on the iPhone list at my local Mobistar shop.
4. Eventhough they promised "enough iPhones", every Mobistar Center only had like 3-4, plus they only received 3-4 per day for the coming period.
5. Some Premium Apple shops did sell the iPhone, but all "smaller" and perhaps less commercial shops I contacted, did have no information about the iPhone, wether or not they'll sell it. Another lack of openness, and one shop told me it was not Apple, but Mobistar that took care of distribution of the iPhones in Belgium (at the moment?).
6. Vagueness about deliveries. Not a single shop could tell me, approximately when you'll have my ordered iPhone. "At least a month, but likely more" or "Can't tell, depends on the deliveries we do not manage" and so forth. When ordering, I'd like to know when I'll have it.
7. The "hidden" lack of (Black) iPhone 16Gb. If you wanted one, like me, you were added to the "reservation" list(s). What they did not tell you, is that the iPhone 16 Gb (Black) wasn't being delivered for at least the first 2-3 weeks. Kindly taking your order, eventhough it increased your chance to wait even longer.
8. The last minute iPhone Mobistar site. With pretty much no useful information on it.
9. It has been over 3 weeks I ordered the iPhone in several (4) Mobistar shops and one Apple shop (Switch). None of them has ever recontacted me to tell me they had an iPhone for me. None...
10. The ability to go order iPhones online. I did receive an e-mail "iPhones are now in stock, hurry to the site, order now!!" and when I clicked the link... "All iPhones have been sold out." Yes, great stock indeed.
11. The support... After finally receiving my iPhone today (managed to get on online at the Mobistar shop), and being unable to get it to work (won't read ANY sim card) I decided to call Mobistar. As non-Mobistar customer, the only number you can call is a paying number. Actually... It's a cell phone number. 0495/95.95.00. Guess how cheap that is if you're in the queue for 20 mins. Anyway, "Welcome to the Mobistar blablabla, click 2 for Dutch, blablabla, click 1 for prepaid information, click 2 for subscription information. THAT'S IT. I have *neither*. I am a Proximus customer. I do not WANT to be Mobistar. Anyway, after clicking 2, for subscription, and than 5, for iPhone "technical support"... "Welcome to the iPhone technical helpdesk". Before even finishing to explain my problem, and the error I received in iTunes, that friendly helpdesker interrupted me, telling me to call Apple Support. They take care of iPhone support. Calling Apple, clicking 4 or 5 for iPhone support, I hear an automatic voice saying "Please contact your local operator for any iPhone inquiries". Great ! Recalling Apple, taking 1 for iPod support, started explaining my problem. Finally someone wanted to help. Though he didn't quite know what to do. Trying the standard "fixes". The usual reset and so forth. Nothing helped. Anyway, he opened a tech. case for me, mailed all information, but told me to call Mobistar again... He also said Mobistar was doing *all* the iPhone support; they have to. They have a contract and even Apple personel to take care of the iPhone support. Back at Mobistar... I reexplained my problems. Told him I tried the iPhone with 4 different sim cards (two cards we bought quite recently and one Mobistar card at our local Mobistar shop - though she did not know the problem and told me to call). He told me to go to Proximus, and let my sim card be replaced. I explained to him "this won't fix it. I tried with 2 new ones, heck, I even tried at the MOBISTAR SHOP - I do guess you use good and recent sim cards - and it did NOT work". His reply; "sim cards get old very quickly, try to replace it nevertheless. Having my sim card replaced, it went active after about an hour... I retried. Guess what? Didn't work. Recalled, and he told me to hand in the iPhone at a Mobistar shop, and Apple will replace/fix the iPhone WITHIN 5 days. Let's hope.
12. But... Here comes my last fail. As I ordered the iPhone online, I will receive the bill/order info "during the following days". Yes, I CANNOT get my iPhone fixed as long as I do not have my receipt. There is NO WAY on earth to see I bought that iPhone, that it was delivered today... NO. IMPOSSIBLE. So now I'll have to wait (as if I didn't do that enough already), and wait, and wait till I have all papers, hand it in, wait for it to get fixed, and wait wait wait and maybe I'll get a working iPhone... Eventually.

Joy!

Submitting the required (and correct!) info, using my MasterCard, I received this helpful error page (roughly translated): “Order failed. Seller cannot sell item” and at the bottom, error code: 30001100.

I tried to execute the payments multiple times (you have no idea’s how many times I checked and rechecked my credit card number), reordered the item, other browser, and so forth. Nothing helped.

Googleing (Googling?) the error code, returned this.

Search for the error code, and you end up at this line:

When filling in the order, I was unable to choose where I lived, as it was set (uneditable) to Belgium (though I do live in Belgium… Most of the time).

As, at the time of the order, I was in The Netherlands, I quickly understood there was some ip to country check, and Mobistar only wanted Belgium buyers.

Though my MasterCard is hand out by a Belgian bank, and I guess you can’t have a credit card as non resisdential, it would seem logic to accept the payment anyway… But hey, can’t have it all!

Or perhaps use this error code:

Anyway, to solve this problem, you simply need to get a “belgian ip”.

Don’t bother to search for free anonymous Belgian proxies, it will likely fail (don’t even think about Tor) as no one is willing to share in this country… I had to set up Hamachi on a PC there (yes, because it won’t run on os x.5), remote desktop to a PC home, and make the payment/order again.

And guess what? Worked like a charm.

Talk about convient online shopping .. !

This so does remind me about ING and its useful error codes for the most stupid thing, which forced the customer to call the helpdesk, and get annoyed by commercial junk.

By the way, Google for Mobistar, and check out the “Mobistar iPhone is wrong/fail” sites so high in the search results… Haha, really something a company would like to see.