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IPhone 4 Preorder - Do I have to be in the US to activate it?

M

malbright

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 10, 2008
62
0
Hi folks,
I'm pre-ordering and having the device shipped to my house in LA. I'll be in London for the next few weeks. Once it arrives at the house I'm hoping to have someone ship the device from my home to London.

Question is ... can I activate it from here in London, or will I need the iPhone to be able to pick up a US ATT signal?

Next question. Let's say I DO need a US ATT signal. Can I have the device brought to the store, have someone there activate it, then ship it to London and at that point do an iTunes synch?

Bottom line is ... I'm trying to get a working device shipped over to me here in London before I come home in late July. If anybody might know how I can accomplish this, I'd be super appreciative.

Thanks.
 
My guess is if it's not possible, it's because they are doing an IP lookup to see that you're trying to activate it from outside of the country.

Find a US-based proxy (or your company's VPN or your own VPN), connect, and activate. Should be win? Watch out for international roaming minutes/data charges...
 
Thanks Monksealpup ... really appreciate the advice.

That's news to me. What should I Google to find a US-based proxy? I'm clueless about this.

Anybody else? Any ideas??
 
You shouldn't need a proxy at all. I activated an English 3GS in France locked on vodafone UK. Apple told me that the activation checks that the sim and the phone are from the same network, not which country it is being activated in.
 
Thanks for the replies.

As I understand it, the proxy would potentially help the online activation bit. I don't think the online part will be the problem. My concern is that the phone will need to pick up a US-based ATT signal for final activation.

Hmmmm.
 
Thanks for the fast reply and your advice, Monksealpup!

I only ask because when I spoke to Apple about this, they said that yes, the phone needs that darn US signal to be finally activated, otherwise it will only work over WiFi until I'm back on the country.
 
I think it is a try it and see situation. Like I said I spoke to apple less than a month ago because my UK bought phone was stuck on the activation screen. I now live in France. They advised me that if I put a UK sim in it it would activate fine regardless which country I was in. It worked and activated and had a signal. Obviously it was roaming and would have cost a fortune to actually use! Unless apple have changed the way the iPhone 4 activates I would not see you having a problem with this.
 
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