Buying iPhone in America

Clareman

Hi all,

heading to New York at the weekend, right in time for the Super Bowl, a few years ago I bought an iPhone 1 in the store there and brought it home to use with no hassle, would it be possible for me to get an iPhone over there now to bring home (i.e. phone only no contract).

kilianmanning

Yes its possible, just buy an unlocked one in an apple store but make that its not the Verizon or sprint model they use a different network than the gsm we use here. The one that you want is the gsm model that they sell on at&t.

Oh and make sure you have it up and running if you want to dodge customs on the way back.

coylemj

kilianmanning wrote: »

Yes its possible, just buy an unlocked one in an apple store but make that its not the Verizon or sprint model they use a different network than the gsm we use here. The one that you want is the gsm model that they sell on at&t.

As long as the iPhone 4S is unlocked, you don't have to worry about AT&T or Verizon, it will work on GSM networks in Europe. With previous models you had to ask for the AT&T model as this was the only one that took a SIMM.

The unlocked iPhone includes all the features of iPhone but without a contract commitment. You can activate and use it on the supported GSM wireless network of your choice, such as AT&T in the United States.* The unlocked iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S will not work with CDMA-based carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone/iphone4/about_unlocked

Deep Thought

coylemj wrote: »

As long as the iPhone 4S is unlocked, you don't have to worry about AT&T or Verizon, it will work on GSM networks in Europe. With previous models you had to ask for the AT&T model as this was the only one that took a SIMM.

The unlocked iPhone includes all the features of iPhone but without a contract commitment. You can activate and use it on the supported GSM wireless network of your choice, such as AT&T in the United States.* The unlocked iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S will not work with CDMA-based carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone/iphone4/about_unlocked

As long as the iPhone 4S is unlocked, you don't have to worry about AT&T or Verizon, it will work on GSM networks in Europe

* The unlocked iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S will not work with CDMA-based carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint

Is this not conflicting info....

Harcrid

Deep Thought wrote: »

As long as the iPhone 4S is unlocked, you don't have to worry about AT&T or Verizon, it will work on GSM networks in Europe

* The unlocked iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S will not work with CDMA-based carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint

Is this not conflicting info....

No, it says as long as its unlocked it WONT work on the CDMA network. Which means it WILL work on GSM.

Rael

A word of warning to the OP. I'm not sure whether Apple Retail stores carry the unlocked sim free version as standard. You might have to order it through the online store for pick up in the retail location. If that's the case then I think there's a 2 week wait at present.

For the OP's sake, I'm happy to be corrected on this

Clareman

Thanks folks, just checked it out there and the current price is $649 for a 16GB unlocked 4GS, I don't think it's worth that, I'll stick to the 3GS that I have.

Thanks again

Rael

Rael wrote: »

A word of warning to the OP. I'm not sure whether Apple Retail stores carry the unlocked sim free version as standard. You might have to order it through the online store for pick up in the retail location. If that's the case then I think there's a 2 week wait at present.

For the OP's sake, I'm happy to be corrected on this

I've heard that Apple stores in the US will actually unlock new AT&T stock on the spot if they've no unlocked phones in stock.