Buying a factory unlocked iPhone4 - what are my options?

bobbysands81

Can I only buy one of these from Apple or can theybe bought anywhere sle and, if so, where is the cheapest?

Also am I right in thinking that if I buy a factory unlocked phone I can stay on the same price plan I'm currently on and keep my number?

Are there any down sides to buying a factory unlocked iPhone4?

Jakmeehan

You're right, the only place to get a factory unlocked iPhone is direct from apple.

iPhone 4 16GB - €599
iPhone 4 32GB - €699

No downsides to them, they're the exact same to any other iPhone 4 except for the fact that they're unlocked

bobbysands81

Jakmeehan wrote: »

You're right, the only place to get a factory unlocked iPhone is direct from apple.

iPhone 4 16GB - €599
iPhone 4 32GB - €699

No downsides to them, they're the exact same to any other iPhone 4 except for the fact that they're unlocked

Cheers mate!

Is it better to buy it this way than to buy it straight from your carrier? Do your carrier tie you into a certain pay as you go tarrif or can you choose?

Thanks.

Jakmeehan

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Cheers mate!

Is it better to buy it this way than to buy it straight from your carrier? Do your carrier tie you into a certain pay as you go tarrif or can you choose?

Thanks.

If you are buying it PAYG, you definitely can choose whichever tariff you want.

I'm not too sure about on Bill pay. I know that when it was exclusive to o2 they used to make you choose their "iPhone Plan" when buying one on bill pay, but not sure what the story is these days.

If you are planning on buying PAYG, you might as well buy direct from apple as it is only around €20 more and it is fully unlocked. If you buy it from the carrier it will be locked to that carrier and they will only unlock it for you after you have spent around €180 credit with them.

The downside about buying direct from apple is that it may take a couple weeks to deliver, whereas if you buy from a carrier you could walk into a store and walk out with one!

That said, I've heard that most carriers don't have much stock left anyway so you might have to wait a couple weeks in either case!

bobbysands81

Jakmeehan wrote: »

If you are buying it PAYG, you definitely can choose whichever tariff you want.

I'm not too sure about on Bill pay. I know that when it was exclusive to o2 they used to make you choose their "iPhone Plan" when buying one on bill pay, but not sure what the story is these days.

If you are planning on buying PAYG, you might as well buy direct from apple as it is only around €20 more and it is fully unlocked. If you buy it from the carrier it will be locked to that carrier and they will only unlock it for you after you have spent around €180 credit with them.

The downside about buying direct from apple is that it may take a couple weeks to deliver, whereas if you buy from a carrier you could walk into a store and walk out with one!

That said, I've heard that most carriers don't have much stock left anyway so you might have to wait a couple weeks in either case!

You're being very helpful, many thanks mate.

On the Apple website it says that it ships in 1-3 business days - do you know WHERE it ships from? Happy days if it ships from Dublin in 1-3 days, not so happy days if it's the US!

Though if they mean you should get it in 1-3 days then even better - do you know the answer to this one?

Tefral

bobbysands81 wrote: »

You're being very helpful, many thanks mate.

On the Apple website it says that it ships in 1-3 business days - do you know WHERE it ships from? Happy days if it ships from Dublin in 1-3 days, not so happy days if it's the US!

Though if they mean you should get it in 1-3 days then even better - do you know the answer to this one?

I bought one from Apple last week. Arrived in three days by UPS and it was sent from England

Jakmeehan

bobbysands81 wrote: »

You're being very helpful, many thanks mate.

On the Apple website it says that it ships in 1-3 business days - do you know WHERE it ships from? Happy days if it ships from Dublin in 1-3 days, not so happy days if it's the US!

Though if they mean you should get it in 1-3 days then even better - do you know the answer to this one?

Oh cool, up to recently it had 1-2 weeks as the shipping time.


When they say it ships in x days I think it usually mean that it leaves the warehouse in that many days, I could be wrong tho.

RobbieTheRobber

Jakmeehan has pointed out most of the features.

The real benfits in buying one from apple rather than a subsidised contract from a phone network is that you can avail of better tariffs when not tied into an iphone specific tariff.

I have recently changed to 3 and for €40 am getting a better deal in terms of minutes and texts than i was getting with O2 for €65 or €70 per month.

Which makes the saving over the 18 month contract period essentially the cost of buying the iphone direct from apple.

so i think it acctually works out more cost effective and you are not tied to an 18 month contract so can move to any network shoudl you see a better deal or one more suited to your needs.

bobbysands81

Thanks everyone!

Over and out.