Europe asks : Any Contract free option ?

[coolgus]

Hello. I wonder if anyone has information about the contract free option which it was discussed 1 week ago. I have a friend there and want to buy this little devil but without any data plan. The amount of the contract buyout was at $175 as it was mentioned in the article so I want to ask if this is valid and if anyone proceed with it and could use the iphone with other sim card of differnet provider.

Thanks

 

[MacDonaldsd]

There on ebay at the moment, shame they neglect to mention they don't work in the UK. They seem to have it locked down with the use of iTunes for activation.

I hate waiting

 

[OS X Dude]

There on ebay at the moment, shame they neglect to mention they don't work in the UK. They seem to have it locked down with the use of iTunes for activation.

I hate waiting

Waiting is good - iBet some issues the Americans are having will be resolved before we get it, and rumour has it that UK iPhone will have 3G/HSDPA courtesy of Vodafone. Announcements from Apple are expected for Monday (2nd July) so we'll hopefully know more then.

I'd sooner wait and have an iPhone with more features, less bugs and some issues (like no disk use, no Bluetooth modem hopefully) than rush out and get one that is the opposite of that.

 

[MacDonaldsd]

Would be nice to have some concrete dates, if we get an announcement on monday il be pleased.

 

[MacRohde]

I simply cannot believe that there's going to be an announcement on Monday promising an iPhone for Europe with better features than the US one - that's just insane; all the US buyers would be pissed beyond believe (and rightly so).

 

[skubish]

I believe there is a prepaid option but you would still be tied to ATT and roaming in EU.

 

[OS X Dude]

Us Europeans may not have to wait much longer - hackers are trying to remove the network lock in the iPhone so that it is no longer tied to AT&T.

Still, we'd miss a few features such as the visual voicemail, and we'd have to pay the $175 (roughly £90) to quit the contract AND get a new SIM. All depends how desperate you are I guess.

 

[mrmarkus1215]

Question: I'm moving to London in September for grad school, so I can't get an iPhone here in the U.S. since I will only be able to use it for like 2 months...will the U.K. iPhone be impossible to unlock too? Meaning, if I wait until December and move back to the U.S. in late 2008, will I have a useless brick when I return?