Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone Launched in the UK on O2 Network

iPhone unlocking and back to the fold

Is this possible.

I import a US iPhone and unlock it and put my UK O2 SIM card in the thing for the time being.

When O2 release the service for live in the UK I sign up to their tariff and get the visual voicemail etc.

Will they question where I got the phone from. Do I have to purchase another one ?
 
dog299 said:
any news if the regent st branch has them yet? i went there on Thursday last wk and the guy just laughed and said next month!? :mad::confused:
Click to expand...

I'd assume so - if Birmingham are getting them then Regent Street must have some. Give them a call! They should be open now :)

-Leemo
 
Not impressed

For £35 a month I expect more than 200 minutes/text and on an 18 months contract... this is ridiculous. I’m on Vodafone and with £35 a month you get 750 minutes/ 250 text and with things like stop the clock and free weekends this works out great but on this O2 £35 a month I bet you will get huge bills. Might get an unlocked one or just stick with my 8800 ☺
 
I was SUPER interested in the Touch till I realised it was a buggy, lazy, crippled, rushed-out-the-door, badly manufactured piece of c***. :(
 
owen-b said:
Over here? Eh? You're in Birmingham US or UK?
Click to expand...

I'm in Birmingham UK.

owen-b said:
And in the UK you can very easily walk out the store with a handset without signing up to a contract. It's called Having Willpower and Telling The Salesperson NO THANKS, JUST THE PHONE PLEASE.
Click to expand...

That may be the case with the iPhone but with the average phone in the UK, unless you pay the sim free price, you have NO CHOICE but to sign up for a contract in store. The price you pay for the handset is linked to which tariff you take.

Or am I missing something?? :-s
 
Project said:
I've just been looking on eBay and the prices are quite astronomical at the moment.
Click to expand...

I just (as in two hours ago) bought one off eBay from a good seller for £275 shipped express mail. That's only £6 more than retail and a lot earlier than November. It is new in sealed box. The one's that are "unlocked" are selling for ridiculous amounts, thus don't buy those since you can do it yourself for free.
 
sananda said:
just guessing because i've read so many comments from US posters saying that wifi was so prevalent.
Click to expand...

San Francisco is OK, otherwise it's really spotty.

Even in New York, you're better off going to Starbucks and using a T-Mobile hotspot than trying to find a free network.

And I've seen folks with iPhones see 3 or 4 free networks, but can't connect to any successfully when they attempt it.

Maybe things are better than in the UK, but that still doesn't mean they're *good* :)
 
bruk201ib said:
I frankly don't understand all these people pissed at apple and at their partnership with O2 about the iPhone. NOBODY is putting a gun to their head and telling them to buy one.

I personally tested the iPhone of my roommate when i was living in the states, and i tried it either on EDGE and on wi-fi with incredible results in both scenarios. i have used 3G here with my Nokia N73 with O2 and it takes forever to surf the web.

If apple had to listen to all the whining people of this forum it would be bankrupt in a matter of weeks!
Click to expand...

No kidding! I have used 3G in the US (YES!!! We actually have it, can you believe it??) and it is nothing to write home about. EDGE is slower than Wi-Fi but far from being unusable and certainly better than dial-up.

Wi-Fi blows 3G out of the room. Certainly Apple is not going to sell to many of the people here who wanted a 3G phone with a 10p charge per month and a free phone to boot and a one week plan. But, the rest of the folks who want the most incredible hand-held device that is also a great phone, will buy one. After you have used this thing for a few weeks, you just don't want to use a "normal" phone.

The only thing missing to make it the best PDA as well- native 3rd party apps and we all know that is only a short time away.

btw, where are some of these Euros getting off on the idea that Europe has the BEST phone system in the world? In terms of coverage from country to country, widespread geographic coverage, it is far from perfect.
 
Philsy said:
Would you not have to sign up for a contract with the US provider, though?
Click to expand...

Not exactly. When you buy the iPhone, it's like buying an iPod. Once you get the iPhone you can now unlock it for use on other GSM networks... but, I was curious about Apple/American/Foreign products in general.
 
Unspeaked said:
San Francisco is OK, otherwise it's really spotty.

Even in New York, you're better off going to Starbucks and using a T-Mobile hotspot than trying to find a free network.

And I've seen folks with iPhones see 3 or 4 free networks, but can't connect to any successfully when they attempt it.

Maybe things are better than in the UK, but that still doesn't mean they're *good* :)
Click to expand...

it was probably proud iphone owners talking up their purchases :D

i've just been looking at the cloud hotspots in london. if you buy an iphone and live or work in the city of london you'll be laughing because the whole of the city is one big wifi zone. a large proportion of the other hotspots seem to be phone boxes. nice to see them getting some use after being virtually abandoned since most people have a mobile. anyway, when i see iphone users huddling around a phone box, i'll know why :D
 
nomad01 said:
I guess people are just confused cos over here, you won't get out of a shop with a handset without signing for a contract and giving them your bank details first.
Click to expand...

That is how may be in the states as well. However, you can buy a full price phone at any store without signing a contract and they don't ask for that information. You only need to give that info if you are purchasing a phone at the contract price. The iPhone doesn't have a contract discount, so when you buy the phone either at the Apple or ATT Wireless store, you just pay and go home to activate it for use on ATT's network via iTunes (or unlock it if you want to use T-Mobile USA).
 
felixkunze said:
From my limited knowledge, you can import your personal effects tax-free if you are moving to another country and they have been used for more than 6 months. Anything over that and you end up paying taxes. But in reality if you were moving from one country to another, and you have needed visas etc, you don't end up paying for stuff you take with you, as long as its for personal use and is yours. But then again it tends to be a grey area as there is a limit on how much new stuff you can bring in through customs. If you are buying a computer in the US, technically you have to pay taxes if you are taking it permanently into the UK. If you take it out again however you can refund those. Its all a bit confusing so I would say that really you should pay taxes when you buy something there and get it sent over, and Fedex most likely will bill you for taxes on the item.
Click to expand...

Ah, got it, thanks.
 
CJD2112 said:
Not exactly. When you buy the iPhone, it's like buying an iPod. Once you get the iPhone you can now unlock it for use on other GSM networks... but, I was curious about Apple/American/Foreign products in general.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I wasn't aware you could buy one like that. Is it going to be the same in the UK?
 
Philsy said:
Thanks, I wasn't aware you could buy one like that. Is it going to be the same in the UK?
Click to expand...

In the UK the shops probably won't do it - they get too much commission from flogging contracts, but there will be internet sellers who will do you a sim free version. Wouldn't count on it being £269 though.
 
elgruga said:
The iPhone works rather well on EDGE
Click to expand...

I'm sure it does. Only problem is that EDGE doesn't work very well in the UK. nearly 3/4s of O2's coverage will NOT have EDGE at iPhone launch.

Sadly for me - no PAYG..no iPhone. I don't need a full contract - it takes me 6 months to spend £35 on my current PAYG phone with Orange and I'm not paying £900 for the privilege of free minutes etc. that I don't need.

Doug
 
Philsy said:
Thanks, I wasn't aware you could buy one like that. Is it going to be the same in the UK?
Click to expand...

Yup, only one price, full price, no contract agreement discount.

djellison said:
I'm sure it does. Only problem is that EDGE doesn't work very well in the UK. nearly 3/4s of O2's coverage will NOT have EDGE at iPhone launch.

Sadly for me - no PAYG..no iPhone. I don't need a full contract - it takes me 6 months to spend £35 on my current PAYG phone with Orange and I'm not paying £900 for the privilege of free minutes etc. that I don't need.

Doug
Click to expand...

I'm curious, what exactly IS EDGE? I thought EDGE was just WiFi over mobile access. Is it specific to just ATT Wireless network? I know 3G is HSDPA, I thought EDGE was just 2G, something every network already has as it's older technology...
 
The iphone is great and all, but why would you get a iphone so close to macworld? November is 2months away from macWorld!!!
Wait and see what comes at MacWorld, trust me i got a feeling 02 will be trying to giving these phones away free come january.
 
For me it's not lack of 3G that sours things. It's the lack of EDGE.

Edge is not in place right now. By the time the iPhone is released in the UK, O2 will have only upgraded 30% of the 2G network.

Which means that the majority of the country will be relying on WiFi hotspots and GPRS. (Generally Poor & Rather Slow)

So yes O2 will be busily upgrading their 2G network - but the real question is: By the time they upgrade my neighbourhood to Edge, perhaps in six months time, will there be a 3G iPhone with GPS and a camera on the front?

C
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back