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i-phone from the usa
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jamie1
26-03-2008
hi im goin to the states in a few weeks and was wondering if it was worth buying an i phone there as there a lot cheaper can i use my existing o2 sim card on contract what else would i have to do to get it working cheers in advance
Sananda Maitreya
26-03-2008
when comparing prices don't forget that the american prices do not include the sales tax whereas our prices include VAT.

you will need to jailbreak and unlock the phone which will void your warranty. ziphone seems to be the most popular method. you'll then need to enter the 02 settings for browsing. i don't know if ziphone allows you to do this. if not you will need to either put some code on the phone to allow editing APN settings onscreen or put in an 02 preferences list.
bumsex
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by Sananda Maitreya:
“when comparing prices don't forget that the american prices do not include the sales tax whereas our prices include VAT.

you will need to jailbreak and unlock the phone which will void your warranty. ziphone seems to be the most popular method. you'll then need to enter the 02 settings for browsing. i don't know if ziphone allows you to do this. if not you will need to either put some code on the phone to allow editing APN settings onscreen or put in an 02 preferences list.”

Also, just ensure it is a GSM phone you are buying....a lot of phones in the USA are CDMA which are not compatible. A CDMA phone will not have the space for a sim card as that kind of device doesn't use them.
chocolate_boy
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by Sananda Maitreya:
“when comparing prices don't forget that the american prices do not include the sales tax whereas our prices include VAT.

you will need to jailbreak and unlock the phone which will void your warranty. ziphone seems to be the most popular method. you'll then need to enter the 02 settings for browsing. i don't know if ziphone allows you to do this. if not you will need to either put some code on the phone to allow editing APN settings onscreen or put in an 02 preferences list.”

Just to clear up this fallacy, Jailbreaking and unlocking your iphone does NOT void the warranty, this myth comes from the very first few weeks of the iphone, when it was hacked using hardware or unreversable software unlocks.

Sure if you hardware unlock and take a soldering iron to it, you void the warranty. However, u can now get SIMM unlocks for the iphone, u pop ur sim card in a holder and insert that into the iphone, viola unlocked, u want it back to normal, take it out.

Also ZiPhone has a very handy "restore" button which puts the phone back to factory settings and removes all traces of the unlock, u can also acheive this by restoring or updating the firmware, the unlocks will vanish and Apple will be non-the wiser.

just thought I'd clear it up as I read it a lot, and its simply not true anymore.

Plus you no longer need to enter any settings for browsing generally with the newer firmwares after 1.1.1, I unlocked mine and it worked fine with Edge on Orange without entering any settings. I'm back to my O2 sim now, but it does work fine.

ZiPhone is literally as simple as point and click, plug ur iphone into your mac/pc with the usb cable, open ziphone, there are 3 tick boxes "Unlock & Activate Phone" "Jailbreak Phone" (putts the application installer on so u can install thousands of free 3rd party apps), and "Do Both". You click the tick boxes, then click "Go" and it does it for u in two minutes, so easy!

For those considering buying from the States, it can save you money, but remember to get it send as a "gift" as you will have to pay customs on it, plus you may get unlucky as they do random checks, if they find it, they'll slap VAT & Import tax on it.

I see you're going over yourself, in which case yeah, buy one there and just pop it in ur pocket when u come home, it'll look like its just ur normal phone, unlock it when you get back!
prking
27-03-2008
@chocolate_boy. There seems to be a flaw in your warranty logic. If you claim under warranty that you haven't activated the iPhone; how would you explain the registering of the phones IMEI on a network. Additionally, say you take it back after a few months and they ask you what's wrong, you can't simultaneously claim you haven't activated it and that its faulty.

On the customs point, marking something as a gift only applies to items under £36.
Romain
27-03-2008
I'm going to the US next week and was thinking of getting one too, but I have a question: once unlocked i will use my current Orange sim card, but as i don't want to spend hundreds of £ on data, is it possible to only allow wifi for the internet and email?
TheSoulBrother
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by Romain:
“I'm going to the US next week and was thinking of getting one too, but I have a question: once unlocked i will use my current Orange sim card, but as i don't want to spend hundreds of £ on data, is it possible to only allow wifi for the internet and email?”

Set Mail not to check for new messages automatically.

Only use Safari when connected via WiFi.
_amanda_
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by TheSoulBrother:
“Set Mail not to check for new messages automatically.

Only use Safari when connected via WiFi.”

If you use wifi and the signal drops the phone will automatically go back to edge/gprs etc. So you may still incur charges.

There is a setting on the handset to stop data roaming

Settings > General > Network > Data Roaming Off
Romain
27-03-2008
ok, so the only way is to be careful then...!
_amanda_
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by Romain:
“ok, so the only way is to be careful then...!”

Basically, yes.

I would reset the data counters on the handset before you go. That way you can keep an eye on the data sent/received and work out how your network will charge per Mb.
liamhere
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by Romain:
“I'm going to the US next week and was thinking of getting one too, but I have a question: once unlocked i will use my current Orange sim card, but as i don't want to spend hundreds of £ on data, is it possible to only allow wifi for the internet and email?”

unlocked

if so how long before a update locks it...again
chocolate_boy
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by prking:
“@chocolate_boy. There seems to be a flaw in your warranty logic. If you claim under warranty that you haven't activated the iPhone; how would you explain the registering of the phones IMEI on a network. Additionally, say you take it back after a few months and they ask you what's wrong, you can't simultaneously claim you haven't activated it and that its faulty.

On the customs point, marking something as a gift only applies to items under £36.”

I have had friends get them repaired from apple, they don't generally check all the networks to find out if your phone's IMEI has been used on orange, t-mobile vodaphone etc. It would take them too long to check all the networks to see if your phone as been used on them. Plus there's a little law called the Data Protections Act of 1992 which wouldn't allow them to pass on details of your mobile phone usage to another company (ie Apple).

If you restore it and it hasn't been activated, you can just say you got it as a gift a few months ago and hadnt got around to trying it, they cannot call you a liar if there's no proof.

There's nothing in the warranty agreement that says the phone has to be activated/in use on o2 before Apple will fix them.
chocolate_boy
27-03-2008
of course his warranty will be harder as he'll have to send it back to the usa.
_amanda_
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by chocolate_boy:
“I have had friends get them repaired from apple, they don't generally check all the networks to find out if your phone's IMEI has been used on orange, t-mobile vodaphone etc. It would take them too long to check all the networks to see if your phone as been used on them. Plus there's a little law called the Data Protections Act of 1992 which wouldn't allow them to pass on details of your mobile phone usage to another company (ie Apple).

If you restore it and it hasn't been activated, you can just say you got it as a gift a few months ago and hadnt got around to trying it, they cannot call you a liar if there's no proof.

There's nothing in the warranty agreement that says the phone has to be activated/in use on o2 before Apple will fix them.”

It takes exactly 2 seconds to check if the IMEI has been used with ANY networks sim in it. Its all done on the one system. So if you did say you hadn't activated it and tried to make a claim on the insurance etc, it would take the insurance company less than a minute to know you were lying.
Ricardodaforce
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by _amanda_:
“It takes exactly 2 seconds to check if the IMEI has been used with ANY networks sim in it. Its all done on the one system. So if you did say you hadn't activated it and tried to make a claim on the insurance etc, it would take the insurance company less than a minute to know you were lying.”

You are wasting your time Amanda. Chocolateboy is the worlds' premier expert at all matters iPhone. He was voted iPhone expert of the universe. By himself. From his iPhone.
chocolate_boy
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by _amanda_:
“It takes exactly 2 seconds to check if the IMEI has been used with ANY networks sim in it. Its all done on the one system. So if you did say you hadn't activated it and tried to make a claim on the insurance etc, it would take the insurance company less than a minute to know you were lying.”

As I said, I've had to friends restore and return iphones after they have unlocked and restored them, I don't think Apple do check this, so long as its not obvious then they repair them. O2 maybe different, but my mates had them repaired through Apple care.
Plus IMEI's are cloneable aren't they? I don't think its any hard evidence.
chocolate_boy
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by Ricardodaforce:
“You are wasting your time Amanda. Chocolateboy is the worlds' premier expert at all matters iPhone. He was voted iPhone expert of the universe. By himself. From his iPhone.”

:yawn::sleep: Grow up please.
_amanda_
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by chocolate_boy:
“Plus IMEI's are cloneable aren't they? I don't think its any hard evidence.”


Cloning or changing an IMEI is illegal though.
prking
27-03-2008
@chocolateboy, when you get something repaired under warranty you need to say what the fault is. As an example, suppose callers couldn't hear your voice. How do you tell Apple or O2 or Carphone Warehouse about the problem when the iPhone hasn't been activated?
jamie1
27-03-2008
so basically the answer is buy one if their cheap enough spend £4-£5 on ebay buying some unlocking software and hoping that it doesnt go wrong or am i over simplifing it
chocolate_boy
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by jamie1:
“so basically the answer is buy one if their cheap enough spend £4-£5 on ebay buying some unlocking software and hoping that it doesnt go wrong or am i over simplifing it”

Not exactly, there's no software to buy, Ziphone is completely free, you just download it from the site, no ebaying involved, and I've never seen an iphone or ipod touch it won't work on, since they're all identically made, there will be no issues like that afaik.
chocolate_boy
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by prking:
“@chocolateboy, when you get something repaired under warranty you need to say what the fault is. As an example, suppose callers couldn't hear your voice. How do you tell Apple or O2 or Carphone Warehouse about the problem when the iPhone hasn't been activated?”

Maybe if that was the particular fault, but you could just say you tried restoring it, or just send it back to apple saying the speaker is not working, they will open it and see it unactivated, but they'll prob assume you tried restoring (as most would) weather they'll go to the effort of getting in touch with o2 or AT&T to see if its been activated etc. is another matter, in my experience they're quite busy, so they just fix it quickly and move on, rather than checking up on you.

If its blatanty sent to them and still jailbroken etc then they'll reject it though, although I have heard some tales of them repairing them anyway lol
mjk79
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by chocolate_boy:
“For those considering buying from the States, it can save you money, but remember to get it send as a "gift" as you will have to pay customs on it, plus you may get unlucky as they do random checks, if they find it, they'll slap VAT & Import tax on it.

I see you're going over yourself, in which case yeah, buy one there and just pop it in ur pocket when u come home, it'll look like its just ur normal phone, unlock it when you get back!”

Surely doing all of those things is fraudulent?
Sananda Maitreya
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by mjk79:
“Surely doing all of those things is fraudulent?”

the gift thing doesn't make any difference anyway. there is no exception to the appropriate duties for something of that price for it being a gift.
chocolate_boy
27-03-2008
Originally Posted by mjk79:
“Surely doing all of those things is fraudulent?”

Yep, depends how honest you want to be, personally I wouldn't have a problem not paying the Americans any tax for it (I dont have any desire to support their country financially), if you're an honest person you would declare it when you came into the country, personally I wouldn't lose any sleep over just putting it in my pocket and pretending its just my regular mobile I took with me.
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