iPhone 3G in Israel

[dotdotdot]

Since I got my iPhone 3G I realized there is simply no other phone as powerful and capable on the market. I'm going to Israel for the year next year, and the iPhone becomes even more important since I won't have a computer or anything.

My warranty expires soon anyway, so I'm not worried about jailbreaking and all that. I'm wondering the steps needed to ensure that my iPhone 3G that I unlock in America will be able to work with an Israeli SIM card for an entire year of not touching a computer.

How will I know if the phone will work? After about a 12 hour flight, it would be terrible if I put the SIM in and it doesn't work.

 

[ya1950]

It works. You will have to jailbrake the phone and then sign up with one of the providers in Israel and you are good to go.

 

[stevin3]

It works. You will have to jailbrake the phone and then sign up with one of the providers in Israel and you are good to go.

I don't believe your answer is specific enough in this case. We don't want to mislead this guy into thinking he's all set. If you've upgraded to OS 2.2.1 via itunes then you have a baseband update that is incompatible with yellowsn0w the software unlock developed by the dev team. if you're at 2.2 you can definitely still do it but make sure that you don't upgrade to 2.2.1 via itunes.

As I understand it you do have some options though. You can get a hardware unlock like a turbosim... you'll have to do some research i've never used one of these. or alternatively depending one when you leave for Israel apple may release OS 3.0 and the dev team might be ready with an unlock for that. (but it would be risky to just count on that)

Best of luck unlocking your phone, hope you enjoy your year abroad!

 

[ya1950]

You are correct. Ideally the phone should be unlocked, otherwise the other option, as you say, is a hardware unlock. I have heard of people using turbosim for phones that cannot be unlocked at present but I have no personal experience. What I can say for sure is that unlocked 3G phones will work in Israel with all 3 of the major providers - Cellcom, Orange, or Motorola. Hope this helps.

 

[dotdotdot]

My iPhone is already at 2.2.1, so I assume that means I need to use turbosim or something.

iPhone 3.0 should be out before I'm gone, but hopefully there will be a way to jailbreak that and make it work with (I think) a Cellcom SIM.

 

[mishu99]

iphone 3g israel

hey i have similar issue, i just bought a new iphone from apple with no contract, should i go straight to unlocking it then sign up with an israeli provider, or should i download 8.0 itunes then set up my iphone through itunes then unlock then and sign up? please i need to know ive been away for too long and i need my emails (no computer)

 

[GeekGirl*]

it does work get a sim in Israel

 

[jal5286]

iPhone 3G, Cellcom Israel

I have a question about using an iPhone 3g in Israel. Assuming I get it unlocked, does Cellcom offer a similar data plan like ATT in the US does? Basically I'm asking can i access email, internet, etc over 3g.