Ive had my iphone stolen, it wasnt insured, im sad and now im looking for advice!

[rachelmlgeary]

Ok so here's the basics, im completely useless with anything technical. Ive tried to read other posts and forums but the advice seems to be either old or conflicting. If anyone can give me an honest answer i would really appreciate it. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I have my iphone 3g on an 18 month 02, uk contract with a 3g sim. My phone was stolen within two months ( i hate thieves boooo) and i was stupidly not insured because i couldnt afford it (what a plank). Ive cancelled the sim and i have received a replacement from o2 which currently sits in a vile n95. To buy a new one from 02 it will cost at least £350.00, i can get one from the US for £200.00 but i need to know if it will work if i put my O2 chip inside and i cant afford another disaster. Will there be problems with software? will i have problems with O2 if i need help with anything? Do i need to register the new phone with them?

Im really sorry to ask all of these age old questions but im struggling. Thanks again any help would be appreciated.

 

[-Ryan-]

I'm sorry to hear you've had your iPhone stolen. I've never had anything stolen myself, but I can imagine how horrible it feels..

But as for your questions;

1. You'll need to jailbreak+unlock an imported iPhone to work on o2.
2. No other problems with software aside from needing to jailbreak in order to unlock.
3. o2 won't help you with anything, but your local Apple Store might. I say might, because you might get an ass of a Genius who won't help you because it's unlocked, but I've never heard of someone being rejected for service because of this yet. Nor have I heard of someone being rejected service because it's imported.
4. You don't need to register your phone with anyone other than the optional registration with Apple when you first connect to iTunes.

As another option, have you looked into claiming for it on your home contents insurance?

 

[venasque]

Are you sure it's not covered? I can't speak for how insurance works in the UK, but here in Canada it would be covered under your personal belongings. The kicker of course is the deductable which is usually around $500 making it not worth it to claim (insurance is designed for "big things" like fires).

Sometimes you can insure something above and beyond your basic contents. You pay separate insurance for the item (which is added to your overall premium). You pay a little more but it also means you have a lower or no deductable. People usually do this with jewellery items to ensure there is proper coverage, but it isn't limited that them.

 

[Colonel Badger]

Here's the deal

iPhones are sold per country locked to the in country authorized provider (in your case O2). If you purchased an iPhone from another country (say the USA) you'd need to unlock it to support effectively an unsupported SIM.

Once unlocked you can use the iPhone with ANY SIM, HOWEVER if you upgrade the firmware e.g. Apple just released 3.0.1 to fix a security issue and will be releasing 3.1 some time in Sept, then you will need to redo this unlock each time. You also need to be aware that the ability to unlock goes hand-in-hand with the version of firmware I.E. in general you'll need the 3.0 unlock program to unlock the 3.0 firmware and you'll need to wait for a future unlock program once 3.1 is released.

Unlocking IS NOT supported by Apple, although I'm unsure how they would treat someone who returned an unlocked iPhone or required service.

One other option is to purchase an iPhone from a country that requires ALL iphones to be unlocked by default. I believe Italy is one such country. Since these are bonafied unlocked iPhones they will receive undates with no problem and you shouldn't have any future issues.

Hope this helps.

mark.

 

[rachelmlgeary]

thanks

With regards to the insurance ive looked into it and in the long run it would be more costly to run the claim through the house insurance.

May i please say thank you to everyone who has helped me out with an answer, i think to be safe il probably just start saving to buy the phone again in the uk and make sure im covered. Im a believer in karma so hopefully the thief gets whatever come to them. Thanks again everyone