where to get a 3G iPhone (apart from O2)

thehomeofDob

Dades wrote: »

100+ texts a day?! I'd be less worried about my tariff and more concerned about finding the best texting handset!

True that. But there's lots of apeal from the iPhone that other better equipped (for text input) devices lack. I'd be willing to sacrifce that for what it offers, or go with the equally expensive HTC Touch Pro.

cdebru

Cyrus wrote: »

so you are telling me that its possible to lock a phone to a number of operators from one country?

It was possible for the first gen iphone and as the 3G iphone shares the same firmware it would seem highly likely that apple will repeat this trick of complying with French law in that the phone is available for use on any network in France but not completely unlocked outside of france.

That leaves you needing an unlock to make use of the phone outside of France.
As the 3G iphone has a completely new bootloader the unlock is starting from scratch the last time Apple changed the bootloader back in November it took nearly 6 months before the soft unlock was discovered it could be done quicker this time but it could take longer as well Apple are learning from their mistakes as they go as well.

It should also be remembered that the 1st iphone was freely available in the US so the impetus for an unlock was greater than for the more locked down system of procuring an iphone now. There will be far fewer "illegitimate" iphones in the short term at the very least.

Bottom line is that I would hold my fire and see how things develope before flying to France to shell out on a few non contract 3G iphones

Johnny Bitte

Hi all,
Now before you start I ve seen the thread above regarding iPhones but reading through 110 pages hoping the answers to my questions are there doesn't appeal to me.

The situation is simple, I m with O2 but do not want to buy the iPhone from them and pay the ridicules prices.

I have been looking at buying one from ebay and wanted to ask what features/functions/services would be lost by doing this?

As I m with O2 buying one locked to the network wouldn't be an issue but if I was to get an unlocked one would it cause any issue's?

Also would buying it from another country have an regional issues with it?

I ve heard that when Apple release updates it can cause issues with phones not bought legit, any advice there?

Thanks for any help.

CivilEx

The_Goose135 wrote: »

Hi all,
Now before you start I ve seen the thread above regarding iPhones but reading through 110 pages hoping the answers to my questions are there doesn't appeal to me.

The situation is simple, I m with O2 but do not want to buy the iPhone from them and pay the ridicules prices.

I have been looking at buying one from ebay and wanted to ask what features/functions/services would be lost by doing this?

As I m with O2 buying one locked to the network wouldn't be an issue but if I was to get an unlocked one would it cause any issue's?

Also would buying it from another country have an regional issues with it?

I ve heard that when Apple release updates it can cause issues with phones not bought legit, any advice there?

Thanks for any help.

If you are going to stay with O2 and you buy a legally unlocked phone from say Italy...I'm struggling to think of any features you would loose. If you are buying off EBay, you need to be sure that the phone is not regionally locked i.e. unlocked for all French networks but locked only to those networks in France

Apple release updates seem to counteract certain "not bought legit" iPhones so you might be ok as long as you never connect to iTunes again or risk bricking it...overall I'd say hold off for another few weeks and see does O2 launch the PAYG iPhone if you don't want to get locked into a contract...

The iPhone seems to fall in a different category of the traditional "rules of engagement" between customers & O2 so buyer beware of phones bought overseas which you plan to use on O2 Ireland

Hope this helps

drunkmonkey

This thread might help you..

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055335311&highlight=iphone+france

culabula

I bought my iPhone last week from Italy (PAYG on TIM). I had it in Belfast within 3 days.

It worked out of the box. So far I have used the following SIMs in it:

3UK X-Series
3IRL 10GB DATA
Bouygues telecom
Vodafone Espana
O2 UK PAYG

and so on. I have no issues whatsoever. Everything worked immediately, with no issues. NO APN needed to be input. All I seem to be missing is visual voicemail (big fizz, I answer my phone).

andrewh5

culabula wrote: »

I bought my iPhone last week from Italy (PAYG on TIM). I had it in Belfast within 3 days.

It worked out of the box. So far I have used the following SIMs in it:

3UK X-Series
3IRL 10GB DATA
Bouygues telecom
Vodafone Espana
O2 UK PAYG

and so on. I have no issues whatsoever. Everything worked immediately, with no issues. NO APN needed to be input. All I seem to be missing is visual voicemail (big fizz, I answer my phone).

Even O2 haven't got visual voice mail yet. Only AT&T has it so far.

culabula

andrewh5 wrote: »

Even O2 haven't got visual voice mail yet. Only AT&T has it so far.

O2 IRL may not have but O2 UK do (and are making a point of it NOT being available on their brand-new PAYG offering (since yesterday)).

Now using my brand-new YOIGO SIM in it in Santiago de Compostela....again, not a bother.......

Ernie Ball

culabula wrote: »

I bought my iPhone last week from Italy (PAYG on TIM). I had it in Belfast within 3 days.

It worked out of the box. So far I have used the following SIMs in it:

3UK X-Series
3IRL 10GB DATA
Bouygues telecom
Vodafone Espana
O2 UK PAYG

and so on. I have no issues whatsoever. Everything worked immediately, with no issues. NO APN needed to be input. All I seem to be missing is visual voicemail (big fizz, I answer my phone).

What's TIM? Where'd you order it from?

culabula

Ernie Ball wrote: »

What's TIM? Where'd you order it from?

True Italian Merda

Ah-Watch

culabula wrote: »

True Italian Merda

02 UK is £349 which works out around €445
Vodafone Italy is €499 by its website

CivilEx

I may be wrong here but I understand the O2UK phone is locked to them, while the Italian phone is fully unlocked and can be used on any network? If that is the case, the Italian phone is better value for money even though more expensive IMO

culabula

Ah-Watch wrote: »

02 UK is £349 which works out around €445
Vodafone Italy is €499 by its website

Not quite sure what your point is here? O2 UK is 349 (8GB) AND 399 for the 16GB.

Both Voodoo Italia and TIM charge 499 AND 569 for the iPhone 8GB and 16GB respectively. The latter is what I bought.

The O2 version is locked. The Italian versions are not.

Fully. Unlocked.

The British PAYG version is attractive only for the fact that 1 whole years worth of data traffic and wifi access is included in the price -but to enjoy this you would have to submit to the (dubious) pleasure of living in the UK. No grazie.

A friend picked mine up in Sicily after a major iPhone drought, two weeks ago and posted it immediately.It works, out of the box, with any SIM I choose -no faffing about, no jailbreaking, no relocking, no avoiding updates.

Hai capito?

Our man in Havana

So a trip to Scilly is in order.

Ah-Watch

culabula wrote: »

Not quite sure what your point is here? O2 UK is 349 (8GB) AND 399 for the 16GB.

Both Voodoo Italia and TIM charge 499 AND 569 for the iPhone 8GB and 16GB respectively. The latter is what I bought.

The O2 version is locked. The Italian versions are not.

Fully. Unlocked.

The British PAYG version is attractive only for the fact that 1 whole years worth of data traffic and wifi access is included in the price -but to enjoy this you would have to submit to the (dubious) pleasure of living in the UK. No grazie.

A friend picked mine up in Sicily after a major iPhone drought, two weeks ago and posted it immediately.It works, out of the box, with any SIM I choose -no faffing about, no jailbreaking, no relocking, no avoiding updates.

Hai capito?

Oh I know all that but was just saying that they were the prices, I'd love one but I ain't got the moola for one just yet:( I'll get mine in Italy when I do get the money

culabula

Bond-007 wrote: »

So a trip to Scilly is in order.

Not really, silly, those islands not being in Italy! :-)

Our man in Havana

Indeed, I meant Sicily. Or perhaps Sardinia.

culabula

Bond-007 wrote: »

Indeed, I meant Sicily. Or perhaps Sardinia.

A sardonic riposte!

randomer

I just got my 3g Iphone from Italy. I ordered it on Ebay. It has been sitting in the fedex warehouse since last Tuesday because they had an issue with the address.

It wasn't cheap (over 700 euro on ebay), but I popped my three sim in and it worked straight away. Just updating the software and syncing my contacts now.

culabula

randomer wrote: »

I just got my 3g Iphone from Italy. I ordered it on Ebay. It has been sitting in the fedex warehouse since last Tuesday because they had an issue with the address.

It wasn't cheap (over 700 euro on ebay), but I popped my three sim in and it worked straight away. Just updating the software and syncing my contacts now.

Hope at least that it was the 16GB version! :-)

Dades

randomer wrote: »

It wasn't cheap (over 700 euro on ebay)

700 clams?!

That's only about 300 less that an O2 handset, including 18 months service paid up. What are you paying per month with 3 and what do you get for it?!

randomer

It is the 16gb one.

I switched from O2 to three about three years ago, and my phone bill is now normally less around 80 euro. When I was with O2 my bill was in excess of 300euro. The main reason for this is that I have a lot of friends and colleagues who are on three, so I get these calls for free, and it saves me a fortune.

Dades

Fair nuff.

I think I know one person on Three.

culabula

randomer wrote: »

It is the 16gb one.

I switched from O2 to three about three years ago, and my phone bill is now normally less around 80 euro. When I was with O2 my bill was in excess of 300euro. The main reason for this is that I have a lot of friends and colleagues who are on three, so I get these calls for free, and it saves me a fortune.

An iPhone with 3 is an ultra-desirable thing. And if you travel in a non-3 environment you can, as I have just done put in the YOIGO SIM in Spain followed by Bouygtel with "web'n'mail" next month in France.

drunkmonkey

Dades wrote: »

Fair nuff.

I think I know one person on Three.

Know you know 2:D

Have to say in the last few months my free calls are finally starting to match my non free calls, hopefully this month i'll make more free calls than charged ones....

randomer

culabula wrote: »

An iPhone with 3 is an ultra-desirable thing. And if you travel in a non-3 environment you can, as I have just done put in the YOIGO SIM in Spain followed by Bouygtel with "web'n'mail" next month in France.

That is a great idea. I hadnt even thought about that. I am off to Floriday next week. I will pick up a sim card locally. Anyone got any recommendations for service providers?

Our man in Havana

T-Mobile USA is good. I am using them now.

culabula

randomer wrote: »

That is a great idea. I hadnt even thought about that. I am off to Floriday next week. I will pick up a sim card locally. Anyone got any recommendations for service providers?

Er, run that by me again? You shelled out mega-bucks for an unlocked iPhone but hadn't thought about the advantages of it being unlocked? *scratches mystified head* :-)

CivilEx

Bond-007 wrote: »

T-Mobile USA is good. I am using them now.

Heading to Chicago for Halloween, any idea of what's T-Mobile coverage like there?

mobius42

CivilEx wrote: »

Heading to Chicago for Halloween, any idea of what's T-Mobile coverage like there?

http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx