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Buy Iphone 4 without contract without being American

S

seb.nkl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 13, 2009
13
0
Hi,
A friend of mine is going to the states this week and I asked him if if he could get an iPhone 4 for me.However he is not american; is it possible to get the ' no commitment ' (600$) iPhone without giving a US address/social security number?If yes how many iPhones can one buy at one time?

Thank you
 
I think the problem is not having address/social security number part. I do think you need those as the iPhone 4 in the US is meant be used with AT&T. Also I believe there is 2-per-person rule.

BTW, you don't have to be an "American" to buy one, though. I'm a foreign national legally living in the US.
 
I'm in the same situation. Waiting for someone to bring one to me, but no one know if FID and adress is required...

I guess entering an apple store and asking for a full price iphone 4 will work, even with no fid/adress...

=]
 
Why bother buying a US iphone for a different country? They are all locked to AT&T and currently theres no way to JB or unlock it.
Just get one factory unlocked from many other locations that sell them unlocked so you can actually use it as a phone.
 
Applejuiced said:
Why bother buying a US iphone for a different country? They are all locked to AT&T and currently theres no way to JB or unlock it.
Just get one factory unlocked from many other locations that sell them unlocked so you can actually use it as a phone.
Click to expand...
this is what I was about to say =)

although on the other hand, if this is one of those: I don't know any one that might visit US in the near future again, buying 4 and wait for software unlock is not such a bad idea.
 
I think all they ask for is that you have an AT&T account. So that would most likely be your issue.

Applejuiced said:
Why bother buying a US iphone for a different country? They are all locked to AT&T and currently theres no way to JB or unlock it.
Just get one factory unlocked from many other locations that sell them unlocked so you can actually use it as a phone.
Click to expand...

+1
 
you will face 3 issues.

1. even the no contract phone is still locked to ATT. Therefore, since the only people wanting one "should" be ATT customers, you MUST provide info on an active att account to purchase the phone. (nothing is done to the account as far as extending contracts or adding anything. They just verify you have one before giving it to you)

2. As stated in the first problem, it is still locked and at the moment can not be unlocked to be used when you bring it back to your country.

3. IF for some reason you get a defective phone. You will not be able to do anything about it since it is not supposed to be in your country anyway. So, if it has a yellow screen, bad prox sensor or any other array of defects that have been found, you will not be able to exchange it or get a warranty replacement.

Why not just wait a bit and get it officially in your country, or at least a country closer to yours.
 
Guys we all know the phone is locked to AT&T but at least in my case, I don't know any one living or visiting France, UK, Hong Kong...

AND, do you guys have any idea of how much taxes I'm going to pay If I buy ne on Ebay and ship it to Brazil?? 200%

Also do you guys have any idea on how much does it cost here??? $1800

So I rather have one locked and wait for JB...

Certainly you are not looking at dev-team tweets, they are almost there, even if they took 3 months, my friend will visit US for christmas...

Stop saying we should not buy in US, I need one from US, just need to know how to buy...
 
you just need to increase your circle of friends to those that will be traveling to one of the countries that sell the phone factory unlocked. :)
After buying a 3GS factory unlocked and being able to install any updates that Apple pumps out, I would never consider the hassle of owning a jailbroken iphone.
 
That's because you never jailbroken one, it is a total different phone, much more possibilities..

And seriously?? More friends??? It is hard enought to find someone to bring you a candy, how about a expensive gadget that costs $500 .. In case you don't know, there's a limit in things you can bring in a travel, above the limit there's always taxes, remember we are talking about Brazil...

Guys please, accept this, it MUST BE from US... come on!!
 
muringa182 said:
Guys we all know the phone is locked to AT&T but at least in my case, I don't know any one living or visiting France, UK, Hong Kong...

AND, do you guys have any idea of how much taxes I'm going to pay If I buy ne on Ebay and ship it to Brazil?? 200%

Also do you guys have any idea on how much does it cost here??? $1800

So I rather have one locked and wait for JB...

Certainly you are not looking at dev-team tweets, they are almost there, even if they took 3 months, my friend will visit US for christmas...

Stop saying we should not buy in US, I need one from US, just need to know how to buy...
Click to expand...

If you buy a factory unlocked iphone either thru ebay or many other websites that sell them online it will still be alot cheaper after taxes than the $1800 it costs in Brazil.
 
muringa182 said:
That's because you never jailbroken one, it is a total different phone, much more possibilities..

And seriously?? More friends??? It is hard enought to find someone to bring you a candy, how about a expensive gadget that costs $500 .. In case you don't know, there's a limit in things you can bring in a travel, above the limit there's always taxes, remember we are talking about Brazil...

Guys please, accept this, it MUST BE from US... come on!!
Click to expand...

We don't have to accept anything! Last I checked YOU were the one in another county trying to buy a US iPhone, not us.

We have no obligation to help you, we're all trying to point out the cons to the plan. Obviously if people are asking how to buy one they might not know all the facts as far as being locked or unlocked. In the rest of the world if you buy no contract it comes unlocked. We thought maybe you people may have assumed that was true here as well. you don't have to get all testy.

So, you sit down there in brazil with no phone and we will sit up here and keep our mouths shut and play with our shiny new iPhone 4's.

Good luck..
 
Daveoc64 said:
Last time I checked the person you replied to wasn't the OP.
Click to expand...

I know, but he piggy backed onto the op's thread wanting the same info as him and started acting like we were morons for pointing put a no contract iPhone is still locked to AT&T. His post just seemed very entitled to me. Like the faster we understand he wants one from the US the faster we can figure out a way for him to get it. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.
 
jfyrfytr25 sorry man, I did not mean to piss you, but put yourself in my position.

Every single thread I go at any Iphone forum is the same thing, "you can't buy full price", "you can't, AT&T only", "you're stupid it does not worth it", "go to ebay", "pick one from France"... Always the same answers, but I already saw a guy who bought his at apple store full price and no commitment so it is possible, and people insist saying it is **************...

I'm not silly at all I've been looking for this a while here, I just don't want to give a lot of work to my friend, he'll be visiting US, I'm not asking you as well to send me one, I'm figuring out a way myself, but as far as I can go online I don't know if I can enter a Apple store and buy one full priced without FID, and I'm not jealous at all, I'll have mine in the right time, enjoy yours, Brazil still wins US on a lot of aspects.

I just think no one needs to be pissed off...

By the way on ebay it will be the same price as the brazilian one, expensive...
 
so yes you can by one without a contract for $600 in the US, but it will be locked to AT&T, and remember there is no jailbreak or unlock for the iphone4! so how are you even going to use it for anything more than an ipod touch with a camera? unless you are going to put an AT&T sim in it and pay stupid international rates to call your friends in your own country?
 
androiphone said:
so yes you can by one without a contract for $600 in the US, but it will be locked to AT&T, and remember there is no jailbreak or unlock for the iphone4! so how are you even going to use it for anything more than an ipod touch with a camera? unless you are going to put an AT&T sim in it and pay stupid international rates to call your friends in your own country?
Click to expand...


there is a jailbreak and unlock for the iPhone 4, it's just not released to public yet, we will probably see it in the next weeks.
 
nexsta said:
there is a jailbreak and unlock for the iPhone 4, it's just not released to public yet, we will probably see it in the next weeks.
Click to expand...

true but as you said it isnt released yet so is useless at the moment, and all it takes is an inadvertent update to break the unlock and end in a useless device until an update to the unlock is released, if it ever is.
 
Applejuiced said:
Thats false.
Maybe there will be an unlock in the future.
All they have now is a crash that they are working on and the same with the JB.
There is NOTHING yet.
Click to expand...

WRONG there are working jailbreaks which you would know if you where remotely up-to-date. They just wait for the right moment which is probably after the next update. If there was nothing it would mean that they haven't even attempt working on a JB which is completely false so please stop spreading your lies here -.-
 
muringa182 said:
jfyrfytr25 sorry man, I did not mean to piss you, but put yourself in my position.

Every single thread I go at any Iphone forum is the same thing, "you can't buy full price", "you can't, AT&T only", "you're stupid it does not worth it", "go to ebay", "pick one from France"... Always the same answers, but I already saw a guy who bought his at apple store full price and no commitment so it is possible, and people insist saying it is **************...

I'm not silly at all I've been looking for this a while here, I just don't want to give a lot of work to my friend, he'll be visiting US, I'm not asking you as well to send me one, I'm figuring out a way myself, but as far as I can go online I don't know if I can enter a Apple store and buy one full priced without FID, and I'm not jealous at all, I'll have mine in the right time, enjoy yours, Brazil still wins US on a lot of aspects.


I just think no one needs to be pissed off...

By the way on ebay it will be the same price as the brazilian one, expensive...
Click to expand...

Again, it is possible but they will ask for an active AT&T account info. Why is that so hard to understand? Go to the US apple site and look at the questions, it states exactly this. Whoever bought here in th us must have had a friend with an AT&T account that allowed them to buy it.
 
RealSkyDiver said:
WRONG there are working jailbreaks which you would know if you where remotely up-to-date. They just wait for the right moment which is probably after the next update. If there was nothing it would mean that they haven't even attempt working on a JB which is completely false so please stop spreading your lies here -.-
Click to expand...

Wrong, there are exploits available that haven't been even released maybe not even packaged to a working jb tool yet.
I'm alot more up to date than you and I don't spread lies or false assumptions like you.
 
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