*** UPDATED ***
I bought a new smart phone yesterday, the Samsung Galaxy S i9000. Orange sell this model in Israel but it’s only the 8 GB version and costs almost twice as much as the 16 GB version bought in an independent mobile phone shop. (Try http://zap.co.il/ for the best deals.)
*** UPDATE ***
Orange now do the 16 GB version.
I no longer recommend buying over the Internet due to nightmare experience. See below.
I also bought a 16GB MicroSD card. I would have liked the 32GB but it's way too expensive at the moment but as soon as a 64Gb version becomes available, I'm sure the price of the 32GB will drop.
The trick is to get it working fully on the Orange network. Here's how to do it.
You should check before purchase that you are getting a phone which already has Hebrew support and Android 2.2 (probably within a few months of writing this, you should insist that it comes with Android 2.3).
Some Internet sites have Hebrew support as an option for extra money. You should ignore this and make sure that the supplier is sending you a model from an Israeli supplier.
The model that I received was destined for Pelephone so it came with all the stickers plus wallpaper and widget setups for that phone company. Just pressing for a few seconds on the widgets brings up an erase option and I removed them from the wallpaper menus. Note that you have not deleted the applications as they still exist inside the Menus.
The setup:
1. Pop in the SIM card and then phone up Orange
2. The most important thing to do once you’ve popped in your Orange SIM card is to phone Orange on *054 or if you are phoning on a landline phone, 1-800-074-074.
Tell them that you have just bought this phone and ask them to check that the System recognises the phone.
If you fail to do this then the phone might well work for a few hours but eventually you will receive the worrying message:
Conditional Call Forwarding Active -- Call Ended
You won’t be able call anyone or receive any calls.
I wasted a good few hours scouring the Internet for solutions and going through every single setting in the phone to no avail. I lost a night’s sleep trying to solve this problem. I assumed all along that it was the phone that was to blame as upon popping the SIM card back in my old phone, the old phone worked fine.
Solution:
You simply have to phone Orange and tell them that you have a new smart phone because they need to configure something at their end.
*** UPDATE ***
The phone kept getting blocked every few days. I keep phoning Orange and they'd unblock the phone and it would work another couple of days and then get blocked again. Then one morning, Orange phoned and said that the reason why the device kept getting blocked was because Pelephone had marked my device as stolen! Orange told me that they could not unblock it anymore and asked me the details of where I'd bought the phone and how I'd paid. I told them everything, after all, I had nothing to hide. I contacted the phone shop where I'd purchased the machine and then began a week of arguments. Eventually I returned the phone by registered mail after they had agreed to give me a full credit card refund. However, as of this date (4/5/2011) they have yet to return my money and refuse to return my calls.
I loved the Galaxy S so much that I went to Orange and bought one there with a full package. The device works perfectly and of course now I get full support and insurance from Orange.
3. The next thing you need to do is configure the Orange Internet 3G network.
Click on Settings and go to Wifi and Network settings.
Scroll down and click on Mobile networks settings.
Click on Access point Names
Click on the Menu button and click on New APN.
Enter the following Orange configurations:
Name: | 3G PORTAL |
APN: | uwap.orange.co.il |
Proxy: | 192.118.11.56 |
Port: | 8080 |
User name: | orange |
Password: | mobile54 |
Server: | (leave unset) |
MMSC: | http:/192.168.220.15/servlets/mms |
MMS proxy: | 192.118.11.56 |
MMS port: | 8080 |
MCC: | 425 |
MNC: | 01 |
Authen Type: | (leave unset) |
APN type: | internet + mms |
Save these settings.
4.Set up a Fake APN
Orange Internet connection is on by default if you are out of range of any recognised Wifi network. Unless you have paid for unlimited GPRS Internet access, this is going to be very expensive. Once you go over your allotted monthly MB download limit, Orange will start charging you muchas muchas buckeroonies!
I searched and searched but could not find a way to shut the Orange Internet Service off. I found a work around though by defining another APN called “Fake APN” and setting the IP addresses to 0.0.0.0. Then, when you wish to shut the Orange Internet service down you simply go into APN settings and switch to your “Fake APN”.
If you've followed these instructions, you should have a fully working Smart Phone running on the Orange network.
