where to get a 3G iPhone (apart from O2)

drunkmonkey

Been looking around for a 3g iphone without a contract.. and so far the cheapest i've found is....

€499 from vodafone italy http://iphone.vodafone.it/

€469 from Vodafone NewZeland http://www.vodafone.co.nz/

€445 from Optus in OZ http://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Template_wRHS&FP=/personal/mobile/prepaidmobile/prepaidmobileappleiphone&site=personal

€375 from 02 UK - Not available yet, just a rumour, probably when stocks are plentifull....

Does anyone know where you can pick up a pre paid one at a good price? Must be some poor country banging them out for below €199....

any help much appreicated..

flodis79

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Must be some poor country banging them out for below €199....

Don't think so.. It is only launched in markets where Apple knows they can get big revenues. And even if you get the phone subsidised to 200 euros, the contract will probably be 50-60 euros per month for 1-2 years.

http://digg.com/apple/iPhone_without_contract_999
Apparently they will cost $999 without a contract!

drunkmonkey

The prices i've listed up there are for pay as you go 3g iphones not contract ones....there not out in india until september but i'd say the pay as you go price there has to be sub €300

Deep Thought

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Been looking around for a 3g iphone without a contract.. and so far the cheapest i've found is....

€499 from vodafone italy http://iphone.vodafone.it/

€469 from Vodafone NewZeland http://www.vodafone.co.nz/

€445 from Optus in OZ http://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Template_wRHS&FP=/personal/mobile/prepaidmobile/prepaidmobileappleiphone&site=personal

€375 from 02 UK - Not available yet, just a rumour, probably when stocks are plentifull....

Does anyone know where you can pick up a pre paid one at a good price? Must be some poor country banging them out for below €199....

any help much appreicated..

Am I seeing things ?????

iPhone on PAYG on Vodafone ???:eek:

dunkindonuts

Szondi wrote: »

Am I seeing things ?????

iPhone on PAYG on Vodafone ???:eek:

Yes in different countries, different networks have the right to the iphone.

naladaly

so if im an O2 customer here but i dont wanna take the rip off price plan can i but a cheap i phone on ebay or whatever and use it here with my normal price plan with all the features???

drunkmonkey

There not cheap on ebay, there going for crazy money..

best option could be to get a free ryanair flight to Italy and pick up a pay as you go one from vodafone there...

Must ask my local chipper what the story is there tonite, are they locked to vodafone...

lotas

doesent matter if there locked to Vodafone. the unlock is working, and its just a matter of time before its released... Hmmm.... how long would it take to drive to italy... Anyone want one? if i get enough interest, it might be a road trip!

Rob_l

drunkmonkey wrote: »

There not cheap on ebay, there going for crazy money..

best option could be to get a free ryanair flight to Italy and pick up a pay as you go one from vodafone there...

Must ask my local chipper what the story is there tonite, are they locked to vodafone...

yes they would be, to vodafone italia.
you would have to wait for the jailbreaking software for the iphone 3g to be released also.
(maybe its released but i dont know)

elderlemon

Didn't I see something from someone in Brazil yesterday that had the 3g version working on a brazil sim card (iphone isn't sold in Brazil). Basically fooled the phone into thinking it was on an AT&T network by messing with the sim. The guy was on itunes, online and made calls with it.

WezzyB

according to gizmodo.com they have to be unlocked when sold in belgium, so maybe just get a cheapo flight there...
I think they are on sake for about €700

Gekko

if I could get them without any sales restrictions somewhere, I'd definitely buy a couple. Belgium or Italy looking interesting!

drunkmonkey

In Italy you need to physically go into a vodafone store to buy one, that's only restriction....499 is not a bad price but still a little on the high side...

700 no way....it's just a phone....

elderlemon

€509 for the 8gb and €609 for the 16 from France, unlocked and no contract.

drunkmonkey

Where can you buy that in france? Can it be bought online?

I can feel my 3 sim getting all giddy in my pocket:D

elderlemon

see http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/07/17/france_payg_iphone_3g/

drunkmonkey

here it is...

http://www.darty.com/nav/achat/telephonie/iphone/mobile_iphone/apple_iphone_3g_8_go.html

Can't get it through the checkout, must try and find a french person tomorrow, probably buy 3 of them, One for myself and 2 to flog on ebay to pay for mine...

phreak

drunkmonkey wrote: »

here it is...

http://www.darty.com/nav/achat/telephonie/iphone/mobile_iphone/apple_iphone_3g_8_go.html

Can't get it through the checkout, must try and find a french person tomorrow, probably buy 3 of them, and 2 to flog on ebay to pay for my one;)

is it really worth it?

on o2 an 8gig iphone + 18 months on the lowest tarriff = €979

buy one of these, unlock it, if you only topup by 20 a month for 18 months it'll cost you €869. And you get no data with that.

drunkmonkey

phreak wrote: »

is it really worth it?

on o2 an 8gig iphone + 18 months on the lowest tarriff = €979

buy one of these, unlock it, if you only topup by 20 a month for 18 months it'll cost you €869. And you get no data with that.

I think so, I'm on relax 950 with 3 and i'm very happy with my bills so there's no way i'm moving to an 18mt contract with 02.....

I'll make about 400 euro from selling the 2 iphones on ebay so mine will be standing me 100 euro and i'm not tied into any contract...it's a far cry from the 979 i'd have to give 02....

phreak

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I think so, I'm on relax 950 with 3 and i'm very happy with my bills so there's no way i'm moving to an 18mt contract with 02.....

I'll make about 400 euro from selling the 2 iphones on ebay so mine will be standing me 100 euro and i'm not tied into any contract...it's a far cry from the 979 i'd have to give 02....

but wouldn't the €100 iphone tarriff not be better than relax 950 tarriff plus you get your phone for 49 euro

iphone €100 euro tarrif
Calls: 700 mins
Texts: 250
Data: 1Gb
phone: €49

relax 950 €99
i know you can use your units in any way you want but for example:
Calls: 350 ish
Texts: 250 ish
Data: 500mb
phone: €509, plus you've broken the warrenty


I'm open to correction regarding the relax 950 plan as i've never had any dealings with 3.

drunkmonkey

phreak wrote: »

but wouldn't the €100 iphone tarriff not be better than relax 950 tarriff plus you get your phone for 49 euro

iphone €100 euro tarrif
Calls: 700 mins
Texts: 250
Data: 1Gb
phone: €49

relax 950 €99
i know you can use your units in any way you want but for example:
Calls: 350 ish
Texts: 250 ish
Data: 500mb
phone: €509, plus you've broken the warrenty


I'm open to correction regarding the relax 950 plan as i've never had any dealings with 3.

I don't think there similar tarrifs, 02 marketing department would have you believe they are but there really 2 completly different propositions...

You've got the extra flexibility with 3 and loads of extra free stuff....

I'm not going to use 1gb of data on my phone every month a lot of the content on 3 is free and dosn't come out of your data allowance..(for example when i'm using skype that does not come out of my units or use data, If I read the news that free, all those kinda things are chargable on 02 or will tear your 1gb data allowance to shreads)

All I do is surf a few sites, play live poker and grab my emails on the go.....might use 100mb of data on my phone on average......that still leaves me with 800 Minutes and 150 picture or video texts, plus 3000 free skype minutes and texts, msn messenger, free content through planet 3 & 3000 free 3 to 3 minutes....overall I think you get a shed load more with relax 950...

I'd miss planet 3 if I ever left for 02...it's now a part of my phone....i'd rarley buy a paper these days, it's all there for free....

Think i'll stick to my plan, the phones from france are factory unlocked so I won't be breaking the warranty by jail breaking them,
3 are the exclusive provider of the iphone in Hong Kong so everything should work fine....

phreak

its not actually unlocked, just doesn't require a contract...read this: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/07/17/france_payg_iphone_3g/

drunkmonkey

The have to unlock it under french law....so there's no problem...

Waiting on a price from the states tomorrow, reckon it's going to be good....

TrueDub

drunkmonkey wrote: »

The have to unlock it under french law....so there's no problem...

They can charge you for the privilege though...

Dades

Mr.S wrote: »

would you really bother flying to another country to buy a phone?

+ 1

I think your stubbornness in relation to signing a contract with O2 is blinding you to the practicalities of what you say you're going to do. I was the same, before I actually did the sums and realised moving to the €45 tariff would only cost me about €10 extra p/m, max, based on my call history.

Villain

Yep same here Dades, being a customer with Vodafone for 7 years, they have been undercharging me for over a year i.e. charging me €45 a month instead of €69 but the Iphone with O2 at €45 a month will cover my text, call and most data needs so its off to O2 I go as soon as they get some bloody phones, although I might be in luck, my mates girlfriend works in a Carphonewarehouse shop and they aren't letting people pre-order so teh first in the store is mine as she has my contract, etc all done

Cyrus

but what if he is in a 3 contract? he would incur costs to cancel it

so sim free makes most sense

cdebru

drunkmonkey wrote: »

The have to unlock it under french law....so there's no problem...

Waiting on a price from the states tomorrow, reckon it's going to be good....

It has to be unlocked for any french Network not the same as an unlocked phone that can be used anywhere in the world

Thats the way the first gen iphone that was unlocked in France worked it could be used on any French network if you wanted to use it in Ireland you still had to jailbreak it and unlock it

As of right now there is no unlock available for the 3g iphone it will be possible to jailbreak it with the next release of pwnage but that is not the same as an unlock.

At the moment you would be taking a risk buying a 3g iphone more than likely it can be unlocked but it could be a while

The Brazil thing is already discredited it is not a real unlock it is using a sim adaptor and the company behind it is admitting that the signal is patchy

Cyrus

cdebru wrote: »

It has to be unlocked for any french Network not the same as an unlocked phone that can be used anywhere in the world

Thats the way the first gen iphone that was unlocked in France worked it could be used on any French network if you wanted to use it in Ireland you still had to jailbreak it and unlock it

As of right now there is no unlock available for the 3g iphone it will be possible to jailbreak it with the next release of pwnage but that is not the same as an unlock.

At the moment you would be taking a risk buying a 3g iphone more than likely it can be unlocked but it could be a while

The Brazil thing is already discredited it is not a real unlock it is using a sim adaptor and the company behind it is admitting that the signal is patchy

so you are telling me that its possible to lock a phone to a number of operators from one country?

thehomeofDob

I would rather an unlocked iPhone so I can bring it over to Meteor. I only top up by 20 a month, but I send 100+ texts a day to Meteor numbers. o2's price plans won't give me that ability?

Dades

Cyrus wrote: »

but what if he is in a 3 contract? he would incur costs to cancel it

I assume this would have been mentioned in his original cost breakdown.

thehomeofDob wrote: »

I would rather an unlocked iPhone so I can bring it over to Meteor. I only top up by 20 a month, but I send 100+ texts a day to Meteor numbers. o2's price plans won't give me that ability?

I think everyone would rather an unlocked phone, tbf. Also I thought I read, here maybe, that you could get text add-ons for the iPhone tariffs?

100+ texts a day?! I'd be less worried about my tariff and more concerned about finding the best texting handset!

thehomeofDob

Dades wrote: »

100+ texts a day?! I'd be less worried about my tariff and more concerned about finding the best texting handset!

True that. But there's lots of apeal from the iPhone that other better equipped (for text input) devices lack. I'd be willing to sacrifce that for what it offers, or go with the equally expensive HTC Touch Pro.

cdebru

Cyrus wrote: »

so you are telling me that its possible to lock a phone to a number of operators from one country?

It was possible for the first gen iphone and as the 3G iphone shares the same firmware it would seem highly likely that apple will repeat this trick of complying with French law in that the phone is available for use on any network in France but not completely unlocked outside of france.

That leaves you needing an unlock to make use of the phone outside of France.
As the 3G iphone has a completely new bootloader the unlock is starting from scratch the last time Apple changed the bootloader back in November it took nearly 6 months before the soft unlock was discovered it could be done quicker this time but it could take longer as well Apple are learning from their mistakes as they go as well.

It should also be remembered that the 1st iphone was freely available in the US so the impetus for an unlock was greater than for the more locked down system of procuring an iphone now. There will be far fewer "illegitimate" iphones in the short term at the very least.

Bottom line is that I would hold my fire and see how things develope before flying to France to shell out on a few non contract 3G iphones

Johnny Bitte

Hi all,
Now before you start I ve seen the thread above regarding iPhones but reading through 110 pages hoping the answers to my questions are there doesn't appeal to me.

The situation is simple, I m with O2 but do not want to buy the iPhone from them and pay the ridicules prices.

I have been looking at buying one from ebay and wanted to ask what features/functions/services would be lost by doing this?

As I m with O2 buying one locked to the network wouldn't be an issue but if I was to get an unlocked one would it cause any issue's?

Also would buying it from another country have an regional issues with it?

I ve heard that when Apple release updates it can cause issues with phones not bought legit, any advice there?

Thanks for any help.

CivilEx

The_Goose135 wrote: »

Hi all,
Now before you start I ve seen the thread above regarding iPhones but reading through 110 pages hoping the answers to my questions are there doesn't appeal to me.

The situation is simple, I m with O2 but do not want to buy the iPhone from them and pay the ridicules prices.

I have been looking at buying one from ebay and wanted to ask what features/functions/services would be lost by doing this?

As I m with O2 buying one locked to the network wouldn't be an issue but if I was to get an unlocked one would it cause any issue's?

Also would buying it from another country have an regional issues with it?

I ve heard that when Apple release updates it can cause issues with phones not bought legit, any advice there?

Thanks for any help.

If you are going to stay with O2 and you buy a legally unlocked phone from say Italy...I'm struggling to think of any features you would loose. If you are buying off EBay, you need to be sure that the phone is not regionally locked i.e. unlocked for all French networks but locked only to those networks in France

Apple release updates seem to counteract certain "not bought legit" iPhones so you might be ok as long as you never connect to iTunes again or risk bricking it...overall I'd say hold off for another few weeks and see does O2 launch the PAYG iPhone if you don't want to get locked into a contract...

The iPhone seems to fall in a different category of the traditional "rules of engagement" between customers & O2 so buyer beware of phones bought overseas which you plan to use on O2 Ireland

Hope this helps

drunkmonkey

This thread might help you..

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055335311&highlight=iphone+france

culabula

I bought my iPhone last week from Italy (PAYG on TIM). I had it in Belfast within 3 days.

It worked out of the box. So far I have used the following SIMs in it:

3UK X-Series
3IRL 10GB DATA
Bouygues telecom
Vodafone Espana
O2 UK PAYG

and so on. I have no issues whatsoever. Everything worked immediately, with no issues. NO APN needed to be input. All I seem to be missing is visual voicemail (big fizz, I answer my phone).

andrewh5

culabula wrote: »

I bought my iPhone last week from Italy (PAYG on TIM). I had it in Belfast within 3 days.

It worked out of the box. So far I have used the following SIMs in it:

3UK X-Series
3IRL 10GB DATA
Bouygues telecom
Vodafone Espana
O2 UK PAYG

and so on. I have no issues whatsoever. Everything worked immediately, with no issues. NO APN needed to be input. All I seem to be missing is visual voicemail (big fizz, I answer my phone).

Even O2 haven't got visual voice mail yet. Only AT&T has it so far.

culabula

andrewh5 wrote: »

Even O2 haven't got visual voice mail yet. Only AT&T has it so far.

O2 IRL may not have but O2 UK do (and are making a point of it NOT being available on their brand-new PAYG offering (since yesterday)).

Now using my brand-new YOIGO SIM in it in Santiago de Compostela....again, not a bother.......

Ernie Ball

culabula wrote: »

I bought my iPhone last week from Italy (PAYG on TIM). I had it in Belfast within 3 days.

It worked out of the box. So far I have used the following SIMs in it:

3UK X-Series
3IRL 10GB DATA
Bouygues telecom
Vodafone Espana
O2 UK PAYG

and so on. I have no issues whatsoever. Everything worked immediately, with no issues. NO APN needed to be input. All I seem to be missing is visual voicemail (big fizz, I answer my phone).

What's TIM? Where'd you order it from?

culabula

Ernie Ball wrote: »

What's TIM? Where'd you order it from?

True Italian Merda

Ah-Watch

culabula wrote: »

True Italian Merda

02 UK is £349 which works out around €445
Vodafone Italy is €499 by its website

CivilEx

I may be wrong here but I understand the O2UK phone is locked to them, while the Italian phone is fully unlocked and can be used on any network? If that is the case, the Italian phone is better value for money even though more expensive IMO

culabula

Ah-Watch wrote: »

02 UK is £349 which works out around €445
Vodafone Italy is €499 by its website

Not quite sure what your point is here? O2 UK is 349 (8GB) AND 399 for the 16GB.

Both Voodoo Italia and TIM charge 499 AND 569 for the iPhone 8GB and 16GB respectively. The latter is what I bought.

The O2 version is locked. The Italian versions are not.

Fully. Unlocked.

The British PAYG version is attractive only for the fact that 1 whole years worth of data traffic and wifi access is included in the price -but to enjoy this you would have to submit to the (dubious) pleasure of living in the UK. No grazie.

A friend picked mine up in Sicily after a major iPhone drought, two weeks ago and posted it immediately.It works, out of the box, with any SIM I choose -no faffing about, no jailbreaking, no relocking, no avoiding updates.

Hai capito?

Our man in Havana

So a trip to Scilly is in order.

Ah-Watch

culabula wrote: »

Not quite sure what your point is here? O2 UK is 349 (8GB) AND 399 for the 16GB.

Both Voodoo Italia and TIM charge 499 AND 569 for the iPhone 8GB and 16GB respectively. The latter is what I bought.

The O2 version is locked. The Italian versions are not.

Fully. Unlocked.

The British PAYG version is attractive only for the fact that 1 whole years worth of data traffic and wifi access is included in the price -but to enjoy this you would have to submit to the (dubious) pleasure of living in the UK. No grazie.

A friend picked mine up in Sicily after a major iPhone drought, two weeks ago and posted it immediately.It works, out of the box, with any SIM I choose -no faffing about, no jailbreaking, no relocking, no avoiding updates.

Hai capito?

Oh I know all that but was just saying that they were the prices, I'd love one but I ain't got the moola for one just yet:( I'll get mine in Italy when I do get the money

culabula

Bond-007 wrote: »

So a trip to Scilly is in order.

Not really, silly, those islands not being in Italy! :-)

Our man in Havana

Indeed, I meant Sicily. Or perhaps Sardinia.

culabula

Bond-007 wrote: »

Indeed, I meant Sicily. Or perhaps Sardinia.

A sardonic riposte!

randomer

I just got my 3g Iphone from Italy. I ordered it on Ebay. It has been sitting in the fedex warehouse since last Tuesday because they had an issue with the address.

It wasn't cheap (over 700 euro on ebay), but I popped my three sim in and it worked straight away. Just updating the software and syncing my contacts now.

culabula

randomer wrote: »

I just got my 3g Iphone from Italy. I ordered it on Ebay. It has been sitting in the fedex warehouse since last Tuesday because they had an issue with the address.

It wasn't cheap (over 700 euro on ebay), but I popped my three sim in and it worked straight away. Just updating the software and syncing my contacts now.

Hope at least that it was the 16GB version! :-)