iPhone 5 On WIND Mobile – Is It Time?

Here in Canada, the perfect storm of phone heaven and network frugality would be having a working iPhone on one of the new entrant’s networks. Right now, WIND mobile looks like a great candidate with a roll out of a new 4G network. With the release of Apple’s iPhone 5, there is renewed hope that this may be possible. What are theoretical and real possibilities that an iPhone 5 will work? Let’s take a look at the details.

To see an iPhone 5 on WIND Mobile, there are a few things needed. Thankfully, we’re closer than we’ve ever been as customers to seeing an iPhone on WIND Mobile.

Coverage and Network Compatibility

What kind of coverage is possible on HSPA+ with WIND Mobile right now? It’s actually not bad if you live in the Toronto area, take a look at a map here. This would appear that WIND can support the iPhone 5.

Locking Removed

The bane of the entire industry, companies lock their phones to keep you from taking them to other carriers. You’ll need to get the iPhone 5 unlocked. Thankfully, this is possible directly from Apple for a hefty price premium (currently starts at $699 on the apple.ca site).

Nano SIM Card Sales

The final piece of the puzzle is the SIM card that makes your phone work. This will, unfortunately, require WIND’s active involvement by ordering and supporting this new SIM card technology. With T-Mobile in the US planning to offer nano-SIM cards to those with unlocked iPhone 5’s, the question becomes whether WIND Mobile will do the same for their customers. I don’t know of a hack that gets another nano SIM working on WIND, yet.

For WIND, supporting this phone is a win-win for them. Customers are happy using  the phone they want, and WIND gets to keep customers that may have otherwise run off to an incumbent for the support. If I were in upper-level management or marketing at WIND Mobile in Canada, I’d get on top of Nano-SIM card support and make your customers happy. I’ll update you as I continue to investigate this.

If you want to see this support happen, let WIND Mobile know everywhere they are: Online Contact – Twitter – Facebook

Awesome Update. WIND Appears to have tweeted confirmation that iPhone support is coming:

Interesting Update: Information about how the iPhone 5 will support AWS (1700/2100 frequency bands) is being released, and then removed, from Apple’s website. If indeed, there is a version of the iPhone 5 that supports AWS, WIND Mobile support will be a given.