Shaw’s Freedom Mobile issued their first carrier update yesterday for iPhone users, as 31.1 was released for iPhone X and other models.
We’re told the update means users no longer need to set APNs manually. Also, under Cellular Data Options in Settings on your iPhone, you should now see two options: Enable LTE and Data Roaming. The carrier update should also bring network improvements for your device as well.
How to install this carrier update? On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > About and the carrier update pop up message should appear.
Freedom Mobile launched iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and more for $0 on contract two weeks ago, putting pressure on Rogers, Telus and Bell with its aggressive hardware subsidies. Click here to see all Band 4 and Band 66 LTE cities supported by Freedom.
Let us know if this Freedom Mobile 31.1 iPhone carrier update has changed anything with your day to day use on the network.
Thanks Cody, XJ
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There was also a carrier update for Public mobile released recently. Not sure how long it’s been out for but I just updated this morning.
Sitting at a Starbucks in Burlington(Appleby and Dundas) read the above article and proceeded to activate the software update. Then powered off and and restarted theiphone8+. Confirmed on the Cellular setting is was 31.1 and made sure my Carrier settings were also LTE enabled…well still sitting at 3G
I have had this phone now since the middle of Nov and I have yet to get LTE in Burlington…so much for the update !!
Their network upgrades in Hamilton and Burlington will be done end of day on Dec 8th. Confirmed by Freedom Tech Support
still waiting for wifi calling support and visual voicemail
LTE calling too… it’ll be a while I think. There’s backend work to do, especially VVM. Plus after they are done they have to do a lot of testing.
I’m expecting a “Summer of 2018” type of announcement sometime early next year for the two calling features.
Yeah VoLTE coming it’s been in testing since early summer 2017. So it might deployed earlier than summer 2018 (I work for the parent company and have some buddies that just took over the western portion for the NOC side of things).
My biggie is Wi-Fi calling for use in the Okanagan ( I’m there a lot and it’s currently an away area) and visual voicemail since I have had it since IPhone came to Canada losing it will suck when I port next week
Confirmed with Freedom reps is Wi-Fi calling willbe available to iPhones purchased from Freedom only, they clam on its because their phones have a modified operation system, which I call Bullocks. They are just filtering their carrier settings to two types. Outside phones get a stripped down carrier setting that as mentioned in the article and phones with IMEI’s scanned into their system get a different carrier setting that adds wifi calling.
The only reason I’m switching is the no money down iPhone X and to save $40/month from Rogers.
I expect Freedom will get better over time but if not by end of the two year I’m switching back.
Yes, the only modifications a carrier can make are in the carrier settings which are pushed over the air. I think the response is just the out of the box response that they were given, which may be from an Android perspective.
I was also thinking that it was related to band 66, and it’s simpler to say that way, but they sell non-66 iPhones
Ugh, I wasn’t thinking and downloaded it only my phone directly. If anyone hasn’t gotten it yet, plug the phone into itunes instead and download it that way, then it’ll save a backup….
Then you can post it here for me… 😉 I’m a curious person.
Nobody tried to use iTunes for it I guess? 🙁 its neat to look at because it can give insight into what types of settings are being activated, or not. Maybe even band priorities too.
I still have love you Rogers iPhone here so when I port my number and pickup my X I can try and grab this carrier files
Do you happen to know where they are stored using a Mac?
So, it used be to at ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Carrier Support if you’re on a Mac… Windows would be similar, in like Program Files maybe?
I can’t check because I have none on my computer so the folder doesn’t exist. It’s a .ipcc file; which by the way is simply a .zip file.
If you wanted to peak at it, you would copy it, change the extension to .zip and unzip it using whatever you use for unzipping (built into most OS’s).
Oh, the files inside are plist files, you need a property list editor/viewer. I use the one built into Xcode.
Got it I see my Rogers one. I’ll do my best to try and get my iPhone 6S plus one and one from my X.
Does it mess with the iMessage (with phone#)? It took weeks to get that working for me.
Just to confirm, it doesn’t mess with iMessage. (Phew!)
It sure messed with mine but not my wife’s I still haven’t got my phone number active with iMessage (2days). Checked with Freedom and Apple no one can help
It sure is a great pain!
I know it will sound ridiculous but wait for 8-10 days. Also in the meanwhile, call Apple, get them to escalate your call two levels up (engineer) and they do some trick.
That’s what worked for me.
It’s mind boggling how freedom treats Apple users as aliens!
Good luck!
Ultimately just reset my network settings with iMessage and FaceTime disabled and then reenabled and it activated about an hour later
Oh that’s awesome!
When Freedom mobile bring name and #display. new iPhone compatible with their own network ???not compatible????
Freedom mobile call them self 4th National carrier I don’t know that Network support name and number display
This is true, to be an iPhone carrier, there are a few requirements (secret ones). But we do know that there’s a high minimum preorder amount (which explains their loss-leader promo), and I’m pretty sure LTE is also a requirement, which explains why they could only sell iPhones this month.
The other features I would be surprised if they agreed to release the features within 1 year of release.
Just confirmed iphones purchased through Freedom get wifi calling, ones ported over from another carrier or purchased directly from Apple will not. I suspect Freedom is using two different carrier settings:
1: is stripped down and is mentioned in this article
A second one is sent if the IMEI is scanned into Freedoms system and features wifi calling.
I get my iPhones direct from Freedom Monday I’ll try and update you all then
Do the iPhones sold by Apple Stores have similar restrictions on other Carriers, like Wi-Fi Calling not available?
I cannot imagine that Apple would tolerate its iPhones to have two classes of customers, and that the carriers would get an “advantage” over iPhones bought at the Apple stores.
And, I can’t imagine that Freedom and Shaw don’t want to take advantage of Shaw’s already installed Wi-Fi Hotspots throughout western Canada, and have as many phones as reasonably possible able to use it, particularly in areas where Freedom doesn’t own Licensed Frequencies but already has those Hotspots.
What I can imagine is that they have Wi-Fi Calling for iPhones working, but not yet at a scale or reliably enough for full roll-out at this point, so they are probably working on improving the reliability and also increasing their capacity. And I can also imagine that they are continuing working to increase the integration between the Freedom and Shaw networks as part of building up their capacity.
But this is only conjecture on my part…
I agree no iPhone is allowed to be modified by the carrier other than carrier settings. My iPhone X purchased from Wind still after 3 days can not activate my phone number to iMessage and wifi calling is not showing on my X or my wife’s 8 so I have to chop this up to a lot of mos information by the reps and probably not even their fault as they may not have been trained properly for this launch.
I’ll be emailing the team that said thor iPhones support it and saying no they don’t. And calling them to reprovision my sim because my wife’s imessage works fine
Performed the update on my iPhone 6s+ last night. This morning I’m now connected on the refarmed spectrum and showing LTE. Downloads are better, but still not as fast as advertised on their band 66 spectrum.
soon i updated my carrier settings both my iphones data stopped working. Also all imessages are being sent as text. Freedom tech support said there have been lots of issues with the new update.
Hi, I experienced this as well, how did they manage to fix it?
As per a director at work
VoLTE, Wi-Fi calling and visual voicemail are all on the list of things that will be added for iPhone in due time.
And, I imagine in that order, too.
VoLTE, while not a requirement for Wi-Fi Calling, does make the “seamless” handover easier – and Apple (and Freedom, too) would prefer a seamless hand-off as much as practical because: QoE.
And many people could really use Wi-Fi calling because Cell Signals don’t always penetrate into buildings & basements, but there’s often a decent Wi-Fi signal in these places. Also, Shaw’s Wi-Fi Hotspots. 😉
I expect VoLTE to become enabled once all of the current LTE is finished rolling out. And Wi-Fi-Calling for iPhones almost immediately afterwards.
Visual Voicemail is a nice-to-have, and I don’t imagine that it is a deal-breaker for people on its own. That’s why I expect that this is lower on the priority list.
However, I expect that it is a must-have feature for FM to have only in order to compete with the “Big Boys” toe-to-toe.
Article keeps saying “on contract.” Freedom doesn’t have contracts; it has “plans.” When you’re on a plan, you can pay what you owe and walk anytime. No contract to break, no penalty to pay.
Is the carrier update compatible with ios 10.3.2 ? Because thats what im running on my iPhone 6 and the carrier update isn’t popping up when i go to the about section.