Advice regarding purchasing unlocked iPhone

[alexf]

Hi Everyone,

I need some advice and would be grateful to anyone who could help me out.

I live in Germany and have a friend here who would like to purchase an iPhone 4 unlocked (so that he is not bound to any contract). I will be travelling to the U.S. in a few weeks and he is considering having me purchase an unlocked iPhone for him there, as it is about 25% cheaper than here in Germany (but still not cheap - around $650).

My question is: how would that then work? Could he simply insert a German SIM card into the unlocked iPhone and voilá - it works? That sounds too easy to me. How, for instance, would that work with data (i.e. Internet, e-Mail, etc.)?

Pardon my ignorance, but I have null experience with unlocked phones...

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

[PaHtSaN]

Hi Everyone,

I need some advice and would be grateful to anyone who could help me out.

I live in Germany and have a friend here who would like to purchase an iPhone 4 unlocked (so that he is not bound to any contract). I will be travelling to the U.S. in a few weeks and he is considering having me purchase an unlocked iPhone for him there, as it is about 25% cheaper than here in Germany (but still not cheap - around $650).

My question is: how would that then work? Could he simply insert a German SIM card into the unlocked iPhone and voilá - it works? That sounds too easy to me. How, for instance, would that work with data (i.e. Internet, e-Mail, etc.)?

Pardon my ignorance, but I have null experience with unlocked phones...

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Du benötigst Version 4.0.2 oder niedriger Sorry for the broken German, you need any version below 4.1 to unlock it. Although if you're coming in a few weeks theres a chance that there will be an unlock for 4.1 also. Anyway lets say that you were coming today, you would need to buy any iphone 4 running firmware below 4.1. Then you would jailbreak it and install ultrasn0w to unlock(this is all very easy). Your friend however would need a micro sim to use in the iphone 4. He could probably just go to his provider and ask for one. Other than that youre good, itll work with internet and everything else just as if you bought it in Deutschland. Alles sehr gut mein Freund

 

[eastercat]

You can't buy an official unlocked phone at the Apple store in the US. You have to go to Canada for that. You can, however, buy a software-unlocked phone from individual users. The problem is it's too easy to lose the jailbreak/software unlock.
Your friend would have better luck going to Italy or England. They sell unlocked phones there.

 

[arnop]

did you checked prices in France or Italy for unlocked iPhones ? Aren't they cheaper (or maybe more expensive, i'm not sure) than in Germany ?

 

[PaHtSaN]

You can't buy an official unlocked phone at the Apple store in the US. You have to go to Canada for that. You can, however, buy a software-unlocked phone from individual users. The problem is it's too easy to lose the jailbreak/software unlock.
Your friend would have better luck going to Italy or England. They sell unlocked phones there.

Yes, however he would be helping the US economy by buying one here. Were in a recession.

 

[eastercat]

But we don't have what his friend wants: an official unlocked phone. If our country was more consumer friendly, I'd be the first to encourage the OP to buy an official unlocked phone from the US apple store.

Yes, however he would be helping the US economy by buying one here. Were in a recession.

 

[PaHtSaN]

But we don't have what his friend wants: an official unlocked phone. If our country was more consumer friendly, I'd be the first to encourage the OP to buy an official unlocked phone from the US apple store.

He just said unlocked phone, not officialy unlocked.

 

[Applejuiced]

Lol
Yeah, like thats going to make any difference to the US economy. Not like Apple doesnt already have Billions.
Anyway, he's looking for an unlocked iphone so he'd be better off getting one from another country unless he wants to deal with jailbreaking, unlocking, shsh blobs and other BS that comes with a software unlocked iphone.

Yes, however he would be helping the US economy by buying one here. Were in a recession.

 

[alexf]

Thanks for the advice and recommendations, everyone.

I did not realize that one could not purchase an officially unlocked iPhone in the U.S. If that is indeed the case, we would be better off simply going to France to buy the phone (although that is still very expensive, since we're still talking Euros).

I had assumed that this was an unlocked phone, but I guess not.

I think that getting an "unofficially unlocked" phone at this point would not be a good idea, as it could cause headaches down the road...

 

[LucasG]

I had assumed that this was an unlocked phone, but I guess not.

It does look like it, since it doesn't come with the contract plus it costs about three times of what it costs when you buy it with a 2 year contract.

 

[Bernard SG]

Thanks for the advice and recommendations, everyone.

I did not realize that one could not purchase an officially unlocked iPhone in the U.S. If that is indeed the case, we would be better off simply going to France to buy the phone (although that is still very expensive, since we're still talking Euros).

I had assumed that this was an unlocked phone, but I guess not.

I think that getting an "unofficially unlocked" phone at this point would not be a good idea, as it could cause headaches down the road...

Try Singapore or Hong Kong... Maybe, cause I think the unlocked are available only online through Apple Store, not in the general market.

 

[Carlanga]

...I had assumed that this was an unlocked phone, but I guess not.
...

I don't think so, since the seller has never answered the various people asking in the amazon page if the iPhone is unlocked officially or jb or anything; also Amazon is not an Official Apple Store, just a normal seller for Apple products and they themselves don't sell the iPhone, the iPhone on the page is from is an independent seller that sells from who knows where (maybe California based on the # on the seller contact page 818-344-6666) in the Amazon Marketplace. Maybe if you buy it in the UK or Canada, it could be cheaper than in Germany since those two also sell them officially unlocked?

 

[PaHtSaN]

I don't know about the UK, but I think the prices in Canada are about the same as in the US, its a difference of about $50 if I remember right, and theyre factory unlocked. You can buy them on eBay also sealed and unlocked, but then I doubt youd be saving any money.