Buying an iphone in the US and using it in another country - worth it?

[eddie2010]

I am in a bit of a complex situation, at least from buying an iphone perspective.

I am originally from Israel. In August I will be moving to the US for at least 2 years to study and until then I am working in Sweden. I really want to upgrade my phone but my plan was to buy an iphone when i move to the US. However, my old phone is kind of bad and is giving me trouble so waiting until august now seems like a long time.

Does anyone have any suggestions what to do? There's not point of me buying an iphone here in sweden since i'll be gone in 5 months.
How do the plans in the US work? I was thinking maybe of getting one in the US, already registering on a plan, then unblocking it and using it here with a swedish SIM. But i'm not sure they'll let me buy it if i'm not in the US.

any advice will be welcomed!

 

[Applejuiced]

I'd suggesting getting a factory unlocked iPhone from Europe. Not sure if the carriers in Sweden sell them locked or factory unlocked.
If you get one from the US it will be locked to AT&T and for current 3GS models there is no Jailbreak or unlock at the moment so you might be stuck for a while untill maybe a hack is released in the future.
With an officially unlocked unit you wont have to worry about hacks or updating it cause it will work with any simcard from any carrier.