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sladeski

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 28, 2014
9
0
Hey guys,

For Christmas, my family and I are planning on buying my girlfriend a new phone. We're debating between the 5s/5c (and now 6-at first I thought she didn't like the size).. but the problem is that we're unsure about how to go about buying it.

My first instinct was to simply buy unlocked through the Canadian apple site, and give it to her like that. But, I realized that the model numbers are different for France iPhones (she lives in France right now). How can I go about buying the France model from Canada?

Thanks
 
Last edited:

sviato

macrumors 68020
Oct 27, 2010
2,427
378
HR 9038 A
For sure get her the iPhone 6 :D


Also, unlocked phones in Canada should work worldwide on GSM networks. Check whether her carrier uses GSM.
 

Bobby Corwen

macrumors 68030
Jul 16, 2010
2,723
474
If I gave my gf a 5C right now she would probably break up with me just due to feeling insulted.
 

myscrnnm

macrumors 68000
Sep 16, 2014
1,941
1,646
Seattle, WA
The Canadian version should work fine in France, right? It actually has more LTE bands, and the only one the Canadian version doesn't have over the French version is band 7.
 

sladeski

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 28, 2014
9
0
She likes the colours, it's not because we're cheap I swear ahah.

But fine, point taken on the 5C.

The carrier is Orange. I'll look into trying to find the band they use, I didn't know that so many of the LTE bands overlapped on the Canadian model.
 

Batman89

macrumors 6502
Jul 7, 2010
382
302
Get her a gold iPhone 6.

She'll see people with bigger screen phones, using Apple Pay, using Apple Watch, etc. and she won't be able to do any of that.
 

myscrnnm

macrumors 68000
Sep 16, 2014
1,941
1,646
Seattle, WA
She likes the colours, it's not because we're cheap I swear ahah.

But fine, point taken on the 5C.

The carrier is Orange. I'll look into trying to find the band they use, I didn't know that so many of the LTE bands overlapped on the Canadian model.
Whoops. So it turns out band 7 might actually be important in France. Bouygues, Free, Orange, and SFR all use it. But most of them are also on 20.
 

sillywabbit

macrumors 6502a
Nov 10, 2012
592
4
Get her a 6, wait until she tells her friends that you got her a 5c or 5s, while her friends upgraded to a 6 and tell her how much better a 6 is.

Don't put yourself in the situation where her friends will think you are cheap.
 

myscrnnm

macrumors 68000
Sep 16, 2014
1,941
1,646
Seattle, WA
Get her a 6, wait until she tells her friends that you got her a 5c or 5s, while her friends upgraded to a 6 and tell her how much better a 6 is.

Don't put yourself in the situation where her friends will think you are cheap.
^This. For the most part, people love it when they ask for something, and you get them something even better.

This is of course assuming that the increased cost of the 6 is not a problem for you. No sense in getting something you can't afford just so one can keep up with the Joneses.
 

sladeski

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 28, 2014
9
0
I thought she thought they were too big, but after another conversation with her apparently the 6 is okay, but the 6+ is definitely too big.
 

nateo200

macrumors 68030
Feb 4, 2009
2,906
42
Upstate NY
Any unlocked iPhone will work excellent on all French carriers. While the Canadian and US unlocked models might not have TD-LTE European carriers for the most part aren't using TD-LTE.
 

deviant

macrumors 65816
Oct 27, 2007
1,187
275
i got 6 plus 64gb for mine. cause, you know, the dinners are nice and i want them to continue to be so.
 

sladeski

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 28, 2014
9
0
Any unlocked iPhone will work excellent on all French carriers. While the Canadian and US unlocked models might not have TD-LTE European carriers for the most part aren't using TD-LTE.

You're 100% on this?

Thanks a lot for looking into it, exactly what I wanted to know. I guess we'll buy unlocked through the Canadian Store.
 

flyinmac

macrumors 68040
Sep 2, 2006
3,579
2,465
United States
Why not try and work with someone in France to facilitate the purchase for you?

If she's working there, she probably has friends. See if you can get one of them to work with you to buy one there if you supply the money.

Other ideas would be to purchase a prepaid card / gift card from one of the carriers there in France, and load it with enough funds to purchase the phone.

There has to be some way to obtain the phone in France, especially since she is established there.

You could tell her you're working on a surprise for her, and ask her if she could give you the name and number of one of her friends to help you.

Alternatively, you could call her employer, and speak to someone in the same department she works in, and see if you can get their help to purchase the gift. Odds are, if they work together, that they are probably somewhat close, and a coworker would likely be happy to help put together a surprise for someone they like working with.
 
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