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Can IPhone bought from US be used in India..?

B

broshni

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 26, 2010
2
0
Dear Admin / Friends / Moderators,
I m new to this forum..
And I want to know a few facts which I don't know till now.
Actually my brother is working in US and he will be returning home in this april for some 20 days leave. So I would like him to buy me a iPhone 3G (8gb) which I explore in the apple's website and I found that it costs $99 only.
I don't know much about iPhone and I am keen to use one.
I m based in India and I have doubts that if my brother buys me an iPhone from US and I try to use the same here in India using some GSM SIM such Airtel / Vodafone, would it be eleigible to use in India.
What are the other hidden cost to be paid?
Is iPhone sold without any service provider in US so that the users can put any GSM SIM they want and according to their convenience?
Please reply in the earliest possible time.
Thanking you.
 
broshni said:
Dear Admin / Friends / Moderators,
I m new to this forum..
And I want to know a few facts which I don't know till now.
Actually my brother is working in US and he will be returning home in this april for some 20 days leave. So I would like him to buy me a iPhone 3G (8gb) which I explore in the apple's website and I found that it costs $99 only.
I don't know much about iPhone and I am keen to use one.
I m based in India and I have doubts that if my brother buys me an iPhone from US and I try to use the same here in India using some GSM SIM such Airtel / Vodafone, would it be eleigible to use in India.
What are the other hidden cost to be paid?
Is iPhone sold without any service provider in US so that the users can put any GSM SIM they want and according to their convenience?
Please reply in the earliest possible time.
Thanking you.
Click to expand...

It's $99 with a contract, and part of that contract is the iPhone is locked to a US network.

In short, no it wont work
 
Thanx for ur reply....
i still need to know whether iphone is available without any contract from any service provider like AT&T..some of frens are using iphone her ein india which are bought from US..
what are the price of iphone which are availble wothout any contract..
please clarify my doubts...
thanx
 
broshni said:
Thanx for ur reply....
i still need to know whether iphone is available without any contract from any service provider like AT&T..some of frens are using iphone her ein india which are bought from US..
what are the price of iphone which are availble wothout any contract..
please clarify my doubts...
thanx
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if you can buy them without contract in the US. in the UK you can
 
From time to time, yes you can buy the iPhone without a contract in the USA.

Right now is one of those times - the speculation is that they're trying to load excess stock of the current generation of iPhones in preparation for the next big thing.

However, even in the absence of a contract, an iPhone sold by AT&T or one of its authorized partners remains permanently locked to AT&T.

As a matter of fact, contrary to what the poster above said, the contract you sign with AT&T doesn't say anything in particular at all about phone unlocking in general -- it's simply AT&T's current policy that they will not offer unlock services for the iPhone under any circumstance, contract or not.

For some phones that aren't iPhones, they will unlock the phone upon request after an account has been active and in good standing for at least 90 days -- and doing so does not, by itself, release you from continuing to fulfil the obligations that *are* spelled out in the contract: namely, continuing to pay your monthly service fees (regardless of whether you actually use the service in your phone or not) until you either terminate the agreement by paying an ETF, or else until the contract expires naturally.
 
Any iphone purchased in the US, with or without contract, will be locked to AT&T's network. The only way to unlock it would be by jailbreaking it, because as part of the contract between Apple and AT&T, they don't offer unlocking.

Contrary to popular belief though, Apple is just as much involed in that decision as AT&T. Apple controls the unlock process (which is done through itunes), not to mention that they basically have AT&T by the balls in that relationship. If they wanted the iphone to be unlockable, they could make it happen.
goosnarrggh said:
For some phones that aren't iPhones, they will unlock the phone upon request after an account has been active and in good standing for at least 90 days
Click to expand...
Actually the only way you'll get an unlock before your contract is up is for international travel. You'll have to agree to add an international package onto your account, and then you still have to "insist" on getting the unlock
 
Do you have any friends or family living in the UK?

You can buy the iPhone without a contract and get an authorised unlock from the networks which won't get broken next time Apple updates the iPhone OS.
 
Yes, you can buy a unlocked brand new iphone without any contract and use it in India. In my case i have brought a iphone 3G -8GB for $550 in US and used it in India. Hope this helps.
 
blue99 said:
Yes, you can buy a unlocked brand new iphone without any contract and use it in India. In my case i have brought a iphone 3G -8GB for $550 in US and used it in India. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I don't know where you bought it from, but neither Apple, nor AT&T will sell you an unlocked iPhone.


Yes, in other countries, it is possible to buy an unlocked iPhone and use it in India contract free. Not in the US, and definitely not for $99.
 
It will work, however you'll have to buy it without contract. The prices are:
$499 for iphone 3g 8gb
$599 for iphone 3gs 16gb
$699 for iphone 3gs 32gb

although these are without contract prices, you'll have to get your iphone unlocked in india, which can cost you 1,000-2,000 rs.

So the total cost of your iphone will be around 25,000 rs minimum for the iphone 3g 8gb, which is the same as the airtel's price which is around 28,000 rs.

If I were you, I'd buy the iphone from airtel/vodafone as the prices are very similar and you will get the local warranty too. Also there will be no issues of unlocking and jail breaking your iphone.

Cheers
 
pukifloyd said:
It will work, however you'll have to buy it without contract. The prices are:
$499 for iphone 3g 8gb
$599 for iphone 3gs 16gb
$699 for iphone 3gs 32gb

although these are without contract prices, you'll have to get your iphone unlocked in india, which can cost you 1,000-2,000 rs.

So the total cost of your iphone will be around 25,000 rs minimum for the iphone 3g 8gb, which is the same as the airtel's price which is around 28,000 rs.

If I were you, I'd buy the iphone from airtel/vodafone as the prices are very similar and you will get the local warranty too. Also there will be no issues of unlocking and jail breaking your iphone.

Cheers
Click to expand...

I hope you're talking about buying one out of the US, because I purchased my iPhone 3G S without a contract and it is most definitely not unlocked.
 
Kyeris said:
I hope you're talking about buying one out of the US, because I purchased my iPhone 3G S without a contract and it is most definitely not unlocked.
Click to expand...

After those prices, he stated even with those prices, you'll still have to get it unlocked in India.
 
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