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French iPhones unlocked??

B

bubble27

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 27, 2007
130
0
Dear all

I was wondering if you purchase an unlocked iphone from France, can you use it on all networks??? (UK)
I read somewhere that iPhones from France are unlocked already

That true???

Did anyone try get an unlocked iPhone from France??

Also, do hacked iphones have to be unlocked constantly?.....hassle to keep unlocking it every update :/
 
bubble27 said:
Dear all

I was wondering if you purchase an unlocked iphone from France, can you use it on all networks??? (UK)
I read somewhere that iPhones from France are unlocked already

That true???

Did anyone try get an unlocked iPhone from France??

Also, do hacked iphones have to be unlocked constantly?.....hassle to keep unlocking it every update :/
Click to expand...
Isn't France one of the countries that does not allow non-subsidized price?
 
It comes in a contract with Orange at a lower price and a much higher price(500-600 euro) for an unlocked version.
 
I heard some where that even the Unlocked phones are only unlocked for that country? so only for French carriers and wouldnt work in the UK or anywhere else? This true?
 
Nipz said:
I heard some where that even the Unlocked phones are only unlocked for that country? so only for French carriers and wouldnt work in the UK or anywhere else? This true?
Click to expand...
I have been told by the Local carrier of iPhone that iPhones Unlocked in Australia are fully unlocked to work on any network world wide.
 
someguy7014 said:
I have been told by the Local carrier of iPhone that iPhones Unlocked in Australia are fully unlocked to work on any network world wide.
Click to expand...

Im currently in aus and leave on the 13th and the unlocked iPhone is released in about 3 weeks!!! AHHH its unfair. My brother has brought and activated a iPhone 3G in the UK but would still like an unlocked for when i go abroad etc...
 
Nipz said:
I heard some where that even the Unlocked phones are only unlocked for that country? so only for French carriers and wouldnt work in the UK or anywhere else? This true?
Click to expand...

There was a bug in the firmware that was originally shipped with the first unlocked French iPhones - it wouldn't recognize the different dialing prefixes used in other countries. Subsequent firmware revisions have fixed that bug.

All officially unlocked iPhones are usable in any country, using any company's SIM, so long as there is a service provider operating in that country which uses a compatible technology and frequency.
 
I have an unlocked 3G iPhone from Australia (Telstra) and it works in the US with AT&T and T-Mobile out of the box. No problems activating and updating it to 2.0.1 - it is still unlocked and rocks! I also have one from Hong Kong that is unlocked and works in the US with no problems.
 
ubersalad said:
Isn't France one of the countries that does not allow non-subsidized price?
Click to expand...

France has a law going against phones being restricted to networks due to competition and price wars between firms, in this case networks.

Its unlocked in France, just not sure if it will work in UK.


Inukami said:
It comes in a contract with Orange at a lower price and a much higher price(500-600 euro) for an unlocked version.
Click to expand...

Im with Orange network in UK. So you saying that i can buy it from Fance and use it on Orange in UK???

Doesnt matter if its more expensive for the unlocked version....does anyone know if you can purchase an unlocked iPhone from France and will work in world wide???
 
Hi, I'm in the UK and thinking of buying a 3G handset from New Zealand as I know someone there.

So your saying if I buy the non contract handset from New Zealand it will work with any UK sim card? - It won't be restricted to NZ numbers or something?

An answer to this would be great thanks - Cause this is the way I will go if it works globally :)
 
ishopukisfake said:
Hi, I'm in the UK and thinking of buying a 3G handset from New Zealand as I know someone there.

So your saying if I buy the non contract handset from New Zealand it will work with any UK sim card? - It won't be restricted to NZ numbers or something?

An answer to this would be great thanks - Cause this is the way I will go if it works globally :)
Click to expand...

Hey man other than these few people talking about NZ i must say ive only read about France having unlocked phones, but i havent really checked into NZ.
 
I've been hearing quite a bit of this stuff to do with French and Italian iPhones. I would actually quite happily do a Eurostar run from the UK to grab a couple if I could use them SIM free with no warranty implications. The big question I can't seem to answer though is the in store process. Obvioulsy the old iPhone was easy because you purchased it in store but did all the activation at home which meant we all did our jailbreaking there. From what I understand (in the UK) now, all activations are done in store, so even though you could still unlock it (in one way or another) when you get home, you will be tied in to the contract because all of that will have been done in store. Does anyone know the French process - if you have to sign up in store then it's pointless, but if you don't then you're golden!!!
 
in italy it is free and not subsided

16 giga is 569 euros
8 giga is 499 euros

you can unbox and activate it at home. only few vendors want to activate in stores.. but only few!
 
BBAdmin said:
I've been hearing quite a bit of this stuff to do with French and Italian iPhones. I would actually quite happily do a Eurostar run from the UK to grab a couple if I could use them SIM free with no warranty implications. The big question I can't seem to answer though is the in store process. Obvioulsy the old iPhone was easy because you purchased it in store but did all the activation at home which meant we all did our jailbreaking there. From what I understand (in the UK) now, all activations are done in store, so even though you could still unlock it (in one way or another) when you get home, you will be tied in to the contract because all of that will have been done in store. Does anyone know the French process - if you have to sign up in store then it's pointless, but if you don't then you're golden!!!
Click to expand...

Wow! Never knew that....interesting point.
Surely there must be a way around it....would rather order online though.
Seems like not many know about this since ive been asking loads of people and no1 has an answear :/


TreRep said:
in italy it is free and not subsided

16 giga is 569 euros
8 giga is 499 euros

you can unbox and activate it at home. only few vendors want to activate in stores.. but only few!
Click to expand...

Can you purchase online??
Are you sure about this?
 
Really, do you trust the French? Even after we owned them in 400m team relay?

"WE WILL CRUSH THE AMERICANS." Hahaha biggest chokers in the history of Olympic sports.
 
So guys! found out today that you can get unlocked iphones that will work in the UK from Italy and France!
 
Interesting, do you know what happens if you put a standard uk pay as you go sim card in, will it allow all the phone functionality, such as data transfer and web browsing?
 
ishopukisfake said:
Hi, I'm in the UK and thinking of buying a 3G handset from New Zealand as I know someone there.

So your saying if I buy the non contract handset from New Zealand it will work with any UK sim card? - It won't be restricted to NZ numbers or something?

An answer to this would be great thanks - Cause this is the way I will go if it works globally :)
Click to expand...

You'll be able to use it as a phone, but I believe you'll need to change the APN (using something like UnlockIt) to access the Internet with it. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong :)
 
Belgian Iphones are unlocked and operate on all carriers. If you want just give me a pm and then I can give you more details, or translate the Mobistar website for you as I currently live in Belgium.
 
well cant you use the iphone in a supported country just by putting in the supported carrier i heard with a bit of hacking you can use it without unlocking am i wrong or right? Because i just got the iphone 3g and its awesome but i want to use it in europe on christmas and i want it unlocked damn you at&t :(
 
polishmacuser said:
well cant you use the iphone in a supported country just by putting in the supported carrier i heard with a bit of hacking you can use it without unlocking am i wrong or right? Because i just got the iphone 3g and its awesome but i want to use it in europe on christmas and i want it unlocked damn you at&t :(
Click to expand...

If you bought an iPhone from AT&T, then that iPhone will only accept AT&T-branded SIM cards. If you want to circumvent that and use a SIM card from a different carrier, you'd need to unlock it. AT&T will not help you do this, and if you go through a 3rd party to do it, you'll lose your warranty. I honestly don't know for sure (I've read conflicting reports about it) whether or not any 3rd party actually knows how to unlock the 3G iPhone yet.

The very first officially unlocked phones in France were crippled by a bug in firmware version 1.1.2. That bug was fixed in 1.1.3, and they now work internationally.

I'd expect that if you purchase a contract-free (prepaid, Pay As You Go, or whatever other trademark your carrier uses for the concept) iPhone from a carrier that offers an unlocked option, then you'd stand the best chance of having a hassle-free in-store experience with no long-standing contract issues once you get back home. You should expect to pay significantly extra up-front for the hardware if you go down that route, though.

Also, keep in mind that in France, at least for the first generation iPhone, the act of unlocking the iPhone was separate and not dependent upon the act of getting it without a contract. The contract-free iPhone had a certain price premium attached to it, but it was still locked in to only accept SIM cards from Orange's network.

Then, regardless of whether you opted for the contract version or the no-contract version, after six months from the date of purchase, you could request to have the SIM lock removed for free. If you wanted to remove the SIM lock earlier than that, you had to pay another extra fee.
 
damn that sucks :( why doesnt america have these laws damn it i want to use the phone in poland but now do to these phones cant be unlocked just blows im ticked. Its just better to buy a unlocked phone from france and pay a price then hack around and kill yourself slowly i see :p
 
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