Moving to UK with US iPad, iPhone

[Splendid Chap]

Hello everyone, thanks for this great site and help.

I'm planning on moving to the UK in the spring. I have an ATT LTE iPhone 5 and iPad Air. I intend, by the way, to upgrade to the iPhone 6 however, but let's just deal with the iPhone 5.

Is there a way to transfer the use of my iOS devices to O2, Vodaphone, EE, etc?
I mean, that to sign up with one of these carriers and not have to buy UK versions. Also, if any of you Brits would be kind to give me rough idea of bundled iPad and iPhone package per month. Preferably LTE and say 3-4 GB shared data usage.
Thanks very much!

 

[Lloydbm41]

Hello everyone, thanks for this great site and help.

I'm planning on moving to the UK in the spring. I have an ATT LTE iPhone 5 and iPad Air. I intend, by the way, to upgrade to the iPhone 6 however, but let's just deal with the iPhone 5.

Is there a way to transfer the use of my iOS devices to O2, Vodaphone, EE, etc?
I mean, that to sign up with one of these carriers and not have to buy UK versions. Also, if any of you Brits would be kind to give me rough idea of bundled iPad and iPhone package per month. Preferably LTE and say 3-4 GB shared data usage.
Thanks very much!

Depends on where you are going to live on who has the best service. I lived in the East Midlands (Cambridge
Area) and had O2. Worked great.
As for the iPhone, I believe the phone has the proper LTE bands for the UK?

 

[Splendid Chap]

Thanks for yor reply. Southern England is my destination. I did ask an apple store employee about the bandwidth, but read on forums it's not that simple. Did you bring your iPhone from the US? I'm not asking about UK purchased phone.

 

[johnparjr]

Your LTE will work once you set up your account with the local provider

 

[Lloydbm41]

Thanks for yor reply. Southern England is my destination. I did ask an apple store employee about the bandwidth, but read on forums it's not that simple. Did you bring your iPhone from the US? I'm not asking about UK purchased phone.

I bought a US version iPhone 3GS (GSM version) back when they came out and was able to use it on O2. But there was no LTE in 2009 to worry about that.

 

[blevins321]

Make sure to have AT&T unlock your phone. They won't do it unless you have the phone paid off, pay the ETF, and submit the request.

https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/

The iPads come unlocked, so no worries there.

 

[Arran]

Make sure to have AT&T unlock your phone. They won't do it unless you have the phone paid off, pay the ETF, and submit the request.

https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/

The iPads come unlocked, so no worries there.

That's the most important thing right there: Get At&T to unlock your 5s before you leave the US.

 

[Azzin]

If you want LTE/4G, then you'll have to go with 3 or EE as they're the only two that the iPhone 5 is compatible with.

Both great networks IMO.

EE launched their 4G a year ahead of the others in the UK, so check both out, as 3 may have better coverage where you'll be.

 

[Gav2k]

Go with three

Get a 30day rolling sim on the one plan for your iPhone which gives you free tethering. I think they limit the tethering side to 2gb but the phone side is unlimited. I am on the older version of this contract and I get unlimited for tethering too.

 

[Azzin]

Go with three

Get a 30day rolling sim on the one plan for your iPhone which gives you free tethering. I think they limit the tethering side to 2gb but the phone side is unlimited. I am on the older version of this contract and I get unlimited for tethering too.

You can't just say "Go with 'X' network".

The OP should get an EE & 3 PAYG SIM and test them to see which performs better in the area(s) he will be using the phone in.

EE & 3 may be great, but they also may have lousy coverage in the specific area(s) he'll be in.

 

[Gav2k]

You can't just say "Go with 'X' network".

The OP should get an EE & 3 PAYG SIM and test them to see which performs better in the area(s) he will be using the phone in.

EE & 3 may be great, but they also may have lousy coverage in the specific area(s) he'll be in.

I'm sure the op can figure that part out himself so my recommendation still stands with three.

Ps its 4gb for tethering op

 

[Azzin]

I'm sure the op can figure that part out himself so my recommendation still stands with three.

Ps its 4gb for tethering op

I'm with 3 too.

Have been for a few years now, I locked in to the One Plan (unlimited handset data & tethering) for £15, just before they changed the price & the Ts & Cs.

I can't ever see me moving off of that to be honest, £15 for unlimited 4G data, and tethering, 2000 minutes, 5000 3 to 3 minutes and several thousand texts, for £15 is unbeatable IMO.

[Edit] - Just to add, OP- if you're after more than 4GB of data per month, EE may not be ideal, as I think the most they offer on the SIM Only tariffs is 4GB (more options on the contracts with handsets).

 

[Arran]

Talk about timing! My AT&T US iP4 with a Vodafone UK SIM card in it was nagging me to update my carrier settings via iTunes this morning. It pointed me to this very informative page that shows which features are supported by UK carriers:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1937