Question is, can you insert sim card from another country?Here it is. Screen shot of my iPhone 3G using SmarTone-Vodafone.
Why is it unlocked? Because in HK you can port over your number to any carrier...your number stays with you as long as you like and with whom ever you like. So while you switch to a new carrier and you chose to keep your old number, it takes about 5-7 days for your existing contract to terminate and transfer (port) over your number to the new carrier. All is done by the new carrier. So during this time, you use your current SIM card until the date it expires, then you use the new SIM provided by the new carrier.
This is what happened to me when I signed up so I was shocked to learn it was unlocked and when you connect it to iTunes for the 1st time using the non-exclusive carrier, iTunes automatically detects the SIM and downloaded the carriers info...in my case SmarTone Vodafone. Besides, phones are not allowed to be locked to a carrier in Hong Kong even though 3HK has exclusivity on the iPhones. Anyway, I switched to 3HK today and the browsing IS faster than SmarTone-Vodafone in case anyone is interested to know and the battery life seems better?
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unlocked 3G iPhone in Hongkong for $900
- Thread starter powermac_daddy
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Not always true, I read the blog somewhere that these official unlocked phones are country locked. Hence my question.
Another incorrect understanding of the simlocking laws in HK.
HK carriers are NOT allowed to simlock their phones SOLELY for tying down their subscribers. But they are allowed to simlock their phones for getting their handset subsidies back, deterring theft/fraud, enforcement of handset rental agreement and enforcement of handset installment plans. In other words, the word "solely" has no meanings at all.
http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/tas/mobile/ta970220.html
Hong Kong gets the best pricing for the 3G iphone --- because they have 6 carriers (and most of them are owned by local billionaires who don't really care about losing short term profits).
this Hong Kong website has iPhone to offer..
http://www.digiframe.com.hk/product-list.php?caegory_id=19
http://www.digiframe.com.hk/product-list.php?caegory_id=19
can I buy the Iphone in 3 (in HK) and break the contract?
how much is it? if I break it that is.
how much is it? if I break it that is.
Number porting is permitted in many markets, even where no official unlocking service is available. In the USA, for example, the general rule is that if the old phone for any reason cannot come with you (due to a deliberate decision to upgrade handsets, or due to a carrier lock, or due to a switch between incompatible technologies), the old number is simply re-activated on a different phone.
The very first batch of officially unlocked iPhones in France had a software quirk, which indirectly imposed a "country lock" by making them incapable of placing calls in any jurisdiction which used a different dialing prefix than France.ubersalad said:
This was acknowledged as a bug, which was resolved in subsequent software revisions. The officially unlocked French iPhone, at the very least, is totally unlocked in the true sense of the word.
That appears to be true, but the TA's ruling appears to state that If the SIM lock is imposed for the purpose of securing the phone while recovering a subsidy or during an equipment rental/installment payment plan, then the provider is expected to provide the customer with a procedure for removing the lock once the subsidy has been repaid or the full cost of the equipment has been paid into the payment plan.
If the SIM lock is imposed for any reason other than securing the phone while recovering a subsidy or during the duration of an equipment rental/installment payment plan, it appears that the provider is expected to provide a free-of-charge procedure for the customer to remove the SIM lock at any time.
The TA paper was so old that it was full of European Commission this and European Commission that --- the problem is that European Commission has rejected those positions long time ago.
If it's a "equipment rental", then there is no end date you would get the unlock code. The carriers can say whatever about the subsidy amount --- it's a trade secret that Apple will never say.
Hong Kong carriers can legitimately ask the TA to review its 10+ year old paper and totally reverse it --- because there is no legal and anti-trust rationale for the position at all. Basically, governments left and right have long ago rejected those old EC recommendations.
There is no such thing as ETF in Hong Kong --- you have to pay the rest of the contract in order to get out of contract.
But the good thing is that the Hong Kong iphone contract is the cheapest in the world --- so total cost of phone and contract end up about $900.
Except, of course, that the TA paper doesn't talk about having reached the end date of the rental term, it talks about having "already paid up the total equipment cost".
[edit]That being said, if it's been provided to you as a rental, then it will never actually become your property in the first place, so you probably have no business taking it out of the country or using it on a different carrier.[/edit]
It also states that the consumer has to be clearly informed about the arrangement under which the lock is applied, as well as the dollar value of the subsidy that is expected to be paid back, whatever amount the carriers are allowed to get away with claiming it to be. But I'd expect that being "well informed of the amount of any subsidy" has a fairly narrow meaning.
These kinds of laws don't work --- you just end up with Apple selling $1200 first gen iphone in France.
The reason why Hong Kong has the best 3G iphone plans in the world --- is because there are 6 carriers in that little city (most of them owned by local billionaires who don't care about losing money in order to gain market share).
France has a lot of these idiotic simlocking laws --- but they have some of the worst iphone pricing plans in the first world --- because they only have 3 national carriers.
I dunno about HK but you can get them unlocked in Norway for about 1K. It will come locked from Netcom, but they will let you terminate your contract and open it for other sim cards for a fee.
I think u can do pretty much the same in the UK. Im surprised the same approach doesnt work in the US.
I think u can do pretty much the same in the UK. Im surprised the same approach doesnt work in the US.
But after you've owned your regularly-priced French cell phone for 6 months, you can unlock it for free. You pay a premium in this case for convenience only.
So what is the real root of the problem... Are France's prices higher because of inadequate competition (I could probably support this view), or because of idiotic simlocking laws (I only see a statistical correlation of sample size 1 here, not a cause-effect relationship)?
The root of the problem --- is that the French government didn't address the root of the problem, which is inadequate competition.
In the US, zero simlocking laws exist --- yet both American GSM carriers (AT&T and T-Mobile USA) offer unlocking codes for free after 90 days (which is even better than the idiotic French law of 6 months). The exception being the iphone that the unlocking code would be available after the contract ends.
When there are enough competition, you don't even need simlocking laws to require the carriers to give you the unlocking code --- the carriers would give it to you anyway.
That is your personal prediction, but it doesn't seem to be based on any observable facts I've encountered.
What happens to current first-generation iPhone customers who legitimately put their phones on a Go Phone month-to-month plan after taking a dive on their credit check? When such a customer chooses to terminate the service normally, has AT&T been willing to give away (or even sell) an unlocking service?
What happens to existing customers who pay the ETF to terminate their contracts amicably? Has AT&T been giving away (or even selling) unlocking codes to them?
If not, then why not?
When the first of the normal contracts reach the end of their natural term next year, I'll be very interested to see what happens. Until then, unless I see a press release or some other piece of hard evidence to support your view, it appears to be nothing more than pure speculation.
National newspaper interview with senior AT&T executives --- that's good enough for me for the unlocking issue.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070823/wirelesscover.art.htm
The European Commission and other governments have moved towards the "informing consumers is the best policy". When the original iphone was launched in the UK, O2 stated CLEARLY that (1) iphone is simlocked, (2) it is available only on 18 month contracts, (3) we'll never provide the unlocking codes to you --- thus after the contract is over, and you decide to leave O2 --- your iphone is useless. That is perfectly fine under the UK law --- clear and precise information given to the consumer.
Nobody put a gun to their head and forced them to buy a iphone, then cheat the credit check to do a Go phone thing.
And we don't need the US government for drafting useless simlocking laws just to satisfy the iphone users.
I own an unlocked Hong Kong 3G
Had it for a week now, bought it in Bangkok, shipped from Hong Kong. Put my SIM in, works fine. Paid $1250 US. Oh, I bought it because I live and work in the Middle East and travel around Asia.
Had it for a week now, bought it in Bangkok, shipped from Hong Kong. Put my SIM in, works fine. Paid $1250 US. Oh, I bought it because I live and work in the Middle East and travel around Asia.
That has not been demonstrated to be the case with the iPhone.
And I approve of a policy of clear disclosure in general. If for some reason the carrier chooses to vary from its usual procedure with a particular model of phone, even when full disclosure doesn't give me the information I wanted to hear, at least I know in no uncertain terms where I stand.
The usefulness of an unlocked phone in general has been discussed previously too many times for it to be worthwhile to rehash it here.
I disagree with the notion that the guaranteed option of being able to choose to purchase unlockable phone (even if the unlock comes at a premium for those who choose to exercise that option) would be a useless thing.
The vast majority of official unlocks for the iPhone have been provided internationally in locations where such unlocks are mandated by law or regulation. That speaks volumes to me about the benefit delivered by those laws and regulations.
Firstly, the iPhone will be unlocked when you get it, you don't need to pay off the contract. And secondly, why would you want to pay a fortune for an unlocked phone and then use it on O2?