Getting an iPhone 5 in Spain, please help!

TarHeelBlue said:

I'm from the states and I'm tired of my iPhone 3G.

I have read that most places in Europe won't have 4g or even 4 glte...

So if I am planning to stay here, the iPhone surely would be faster than my old 3G right?

Thanks,

I'm considering going with movistar

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it will blow you 3g away...

TarHeelBlue said:

Lol it has to be able to! I can barely snap photos or surf the web with the 3G. But that thing has been a tank for me. I'm gonna keep it as a jail broken phone...

Which leads me to my final question: by buying it from movistar, which frequency would I be buying it from and if I ever brought it back to USA

Would it work with the 4g or 4g lte ?


Thanks

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I'm currently residing in Spain for a few months as well (although I'm Dutch). I bought an iPhone 5 on launch day in an Apple Store. The iPhones sold in Spain, or in most European countries, are factory unlocked models.

Why? Because, although not advertised and important here, the Iphones 5's sold in Europe are the GSM/CDMA (International Version) versions.

Only the Verizon iPhone model sold in the states and Japan is the phone that's truly a world phone supporting all frequencies.

The European iPhone 5 (International GSM version) supports more frequencies that the AT&T model and will therefore work everywhere for calling and 3G. But for 4G/LTE, it works on the Verizon network but I'm not sure about AT&T. AT&T uses specific channels not used elsewhere..


Bottomline: iPhone 5 bought in EU/Spain will work all around the world and will have 3G everywhere. But 4G/LTE only on the Verizon network in the states (AT&T I have my doubts).

Most iPhones in Europe all sold unlocked. (purchased with or without carrier)

iDutchman said:

All iPhones in Europe all sold unlocked. (purchased with or without carrier)

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Not everywhere in europe, if you buy from a carrier in some countries they will be locked.

Goto Apple official website and check the specs and features of iPhone 5.

propalitet said:

Not everywhere in europe, if you buy from a carrier in some countries they will be locked.

Click to expand...

And that's why I can answer this question for Spain (or France, Italy, UK, Holland, Germany).

See picture.

A1428 = AT&T Model.
A1429 CDMA = Verizon Model
A1429 GSM = International Model.

Not sure what you mean by that, it's a screenshot from specs, frequencies to be exact. Nothing about lock status. Anyways, if bought from t-mobile, it will be locked to t-mobile. Same for 3 UK, and others.
But yes, A1429 CDMA and A1429 have same european LTE and GSM frequencies.

Anyways, back on topic, if you look here: http://ltemaps.org/
it seems that movistar doesn't have lte, here more : http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=467479

But, iPhone 3g supports only 3.6 Mbps HSDPA, while iPhone 5 supports 42Mbps HSPA+, which movistar seems to have : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HSPA+_networks

So yes, you should see big speed increase with iPhone 5.

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TarHeelBlue said:

Lol it has to be able to! I can barely snap photos or surf the web with the 3G. But that thing has been a tank for me. I'm gonna keep it as a jail broken phone...

Which leads me to my final question: by buying it from movistar, which frequency would I be buying it from and if I ever brought it back to USA

Would it work with the 4g or 4g lte ?


Thanks

Click to expand...

It won't work with verizon or AT&T LTE, they use different bands, european supports only 1,3,5.
Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks
But you can use it on t-mobile and AT&T, with hspa+