how long have offical unlock iphones been sold in uk?

[sagnier]

im trying to buy a 16gb 3gs on ebay in the uk. many sellers mention an unlock, or sim free phone, but they dont state whether its official. (and either they dont understand the distinction, or are being cagey). my question is, if someone is selling a 16gb 3gs, what is the most recent point at which it could have been officially unlocked (or sold sim-free)?

what i dont want is a phone thats jailbreaked. i had one before. annoying...

i know the current phones are sold sim-free, but i thought that with the older 16gb phones someone will have had to have owned it for at least 12months (payg) before the official unlock became available.

thanks

 

[Calymene]

New iPhone 4

I ordered a new iPhone 4 32 Gb from the Apple web site in the UK three weeks ago and it arrived on Friday 13th August. This is the official unlocked version. I went into my local Vodafone store Saturday morning and they have provided me with a SIM card. All I have to do now is wait for the number to be ported from VirginMobile across to my new account at Vodaphone. In the meantime the new device is working just great on my wifi network.

I am a very happy bunny.

 

[steviem]

The vast majority of them will be unlocked using ultrasn0w. What kind of price difference are you seeing between apple sourced 3gs' and ebay ones?

 

[Badfoot]

"i know the current phones are sold sim-free, but i thought that with the older 16gb phones someone will have had to have owned it for at least 12months (payg) before the official unlock became available."

That was the official position, but in practice O2 unlocked many payg phones on request, sometimes taking a £15 fee but often not. Mine was bought July 09 and unlocked by O2 in Jan this year shortly after they offered the service. They did not take their fee.