International Loopholes - iPhone 3G - Unlock help and other advice needed

[Demosthenes78]

Hey guys,

So I am heading to Australia for five months and am loathe to go there and pick up some crap phone to use locally there for five months. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no way I am paying to use the iPhone at AT&T's rates for international calling and data usage for five months. (The fees are obscene)

So, I've been doing a lot of research and need some thoughts and help on what I've come up with as a solution, outlined below:

1. Crack/Jailbreak/Unlock my phone
This would let me pop in a pay-as-you-go sim card in Australia, keeping my rates low, while still letting me use iPhone functionality in Wi-Fi areas (although 3G won't work). So that would solve the local calling / texting problem.

2. Get a Skype subscription or equivalent
I would get skype and a SkypeIn number. Then, I would have my US number forward to my SkypeIn number which would then forward to my new local number which would transmit through my iPhone. That workaround should eliminate a huge amount of cost. And then I could use SkypeOut for international calls over a WiFi network. (I've heard Truphone might even work without the WiFi necessarily... any thoughts on that?)

So, that's the general idea as I've been able to work it out. Here are the problems I need help with:

1. What exactly do I need to do to unlock the phone to put a sim card in it in Australia? And if I do this, will I be able to pop my AT&T sim card back into it on my return to the states? (Or would I just restore it to factory settings first?)

2. Is Skype the best choice or is there another internet / VOIP carrier I should use?

3. Am I even sorta on the right track here or should I be doing something completely different?

Thanks

 

[Munder301]

I'm actually doing the same thing (but I'm staying in Brisbane for about a year). I would love to hear if anyone has an answer to this. I sold my old iPhone 3G before the release of the 3G S (got about $450 for it) so I could cancel my plan in the US and just buy an iPhone over there. Should I go through the hassle of buying a cheap unlocked iphone in the US and just get a prepaid plan in AU? I'll be in the US intermittently but I would love to have the 3.0 software and I know you can't unlock that right now.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[mattmartincouk]

Munder301:

Get one in Australia - that's what I did. Paid to unlock it.

They gave me something like $1200 prepaid credit for the $80 unlock. And yes, it a full official unlock.

 

[Legolai]

Hey guys,

So I am heading to Australia for five months and am loathe to go there and pick up some crap phone to use locally there for five months. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no way I am paying to use the iPhone at AT&T's rates for international calling and data usage for five months. (The fees are obscene)

So, I've been doing a lot of research and need some thoughts and help on what I've come up with as a solution, outlined below:

1. Crack/Jailbreak/Unlock my phone
This would let me pop in a pay-as-you-go sim card in Australia, keeping my rates low, while still letting me use iPhone functionality in Wi-Fi areas (although 3G won't work). So that would solve the local calling / texting problem.

2. Get a Skype subscription or equivalent
I would get skype and a SkypeIn number. Then, I would have my US number forward to my SkypeIn number which would then forward to my new local number which would transmit through my iPhone. That workaround should eliminate a huge amount of cost. And then I could use SkypeOut for international calls over a WiFi network. (I've heard Truphone might even work without the WiFi necessarily... any thoughts on that?)

So, that's the general idea as I've been able to work it out. Here are the problems I need help with:

1. What exactly do I need to do to unlock the phone to put a sim card in it in Australia? And if I do this, will I be able to pop my AT&T sim card back into it on my return to the states? (Or would I just restore it to factory settings first?)

2. Is Skype the best choice or is there another internet / VOIP carrier I should use?

3. Am I even sorta on the right track here or should I be doing something completely different?

Thanks

Jailbreak your 3G, then grab the ultrasn0w unlock when it comes available and then yeah go for the option 1, buy a pay as you go sim, im not sure about Australia but in the UK on PAYG you can usually get a data package for about £7.50 a month, so you neednt worry about data.

EDIT: Looking on the Virgin Mobile Australia website, you can get a pre-paid plan and a 300mb data allowance for $10 a month. out of your prepaid credit.

Post #2 you can get officially unlocked iphones in AUS like the other guy said, you'd probably best to do that.