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iPhone 3Gs - Italy and Belgium - unlocked?

I know this thread is predominantly about Italy but i was just wondering does anyone have any information on the availability of unlocked phones in France?
Does anyone know what phone company sells them in france? is it the simple case of buying a payg unlocked version and then sticking your own sim into the phone? prices?
If this is the case, i will definitely do this. I have family over there who would be able to buy it and send it to me.

thank you if anyone is able to answer this for me!
 
wez99950 said:
I know this thread is predominantly about Italy but i was just wondering does anyone have any information on the availability of unlocked phones in France?
Does anyone know what phone company sells them in france? is it the simple case of buying a payg unlocked version and then sticking your own sim into the phone? prices?
If this is the case, i will definitely do this. I have family over there who would be able to buy it and send it to me.

thank you if anyone is able to answer this for me!
Click to expand...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1937

this should help you immensely. it did for me.

according to apple's website, france sells locked iphones.

HOWEVER. you can specifically request for them to authorize your iphone to be unlocked. it's usually a service for people who move out of a country and do not have a phone service available or whatever, but they can't say no to you.

so in short, you should be fine in regards to getting an unlocked iphone 3gs, if you ask the right questions.


The three phone companies are: Bouygues, Orange, and SFR.


--EDIT--

"In France, Orange will charge €229 ($318), or €149 for the 16GB version. Both prices require customers to sign up for Orange service for a year or more, but the phone's price does not depend on the contract. The cheapest contract, at €39 per month, requires a two-year commitment."

That should give u a general idea of the price. $318 for the 32 GB, $209 for the 16 GB. Plus the orange service, which is roughly $55 per month.

I'm pretty sure that Orange basically does not let you just "cancel" your contract. You either pay the rest of the contract in full, or you can possibly sell your contract to someone else or maybe switch the contract to someone else. Both of which are pretty tough to do.


So Orange seems like a big no no.
 
Belgian mobile operator Mobistar unveiled pricing for Apple's iPhone 3GS, available from June 26 in Belgium. All Belgian iPhones will be factory unlocked and sold without contract. Availability will be limited at first.

iPhone 3G 8GB: 475 euro (= 667 dollar)
iPhone 3GS 16GB: 575 euro (= 807 dollar)
iPhone 3GS 32GB: 675 euro (= 947 dollar)
 
nwlondonlad said:
The Prices for the Iphone 3GS are out in Belgium
16gig Iphone 3GS 575 euros
32gig Iphone 3GS 675 euros (that comes to £574)

From what i can deduce from the site those are the payg prices and the phones are unlocked (sim free)

http://iphone3g.mobistar.be/nl/?WT.ac=ow_banner
Click to expand...

Not Pay & Go, just unlocked - meaning any contract SIM works

Hopefully a friend at work is getting one reserved for me via his wife's cousin who has 12 Mobistar shops, failing that I shall be wandering into Brussels city centre around 9:30 Friday morning to see if I can grab myself a 32GB white. I resisted upgrading to 3G from 2G on the basis that the cost didn't justify the lack of extra memory, now there's 32GB I can't wait :D
 
How does one get VAT reimbursed? I'm going to Italy and Belgium in July and would definitely buy one if i can get VAt reimbursed.

How exactly does it work? I'm not a citizen of EU btw.
 
pelicanflip >

What's the point ? You have to live in France to have a contract with a carrier... like in all countries, so that will not work for us. But it's ok for people living in France.

Mmmm Belgium is interesting :)! Speaks french and I can go there with easyjet.

-> booking a flight :)
 
GogNav said:
pelicanflip >

What's the point ? You have to live in France to have a contract with a carrier... like in all countries, so that will not work for us. But it's ok for people living in France.

Mmmm Belgium is interesting :)! Speaks french and I can go there with easyjet.

-> booking a flight :)
Click to expand...

There is no point really, someone was just asking what phone companies in France were selling iPhone 3GS's so I just posted some info on the phone companies that existed. Tis all.

And belgium is very interesting indeed. Lucky you, how much is easyjet?
 
Man if I can get friday off work. Im gonna book a return to Brussels via eurostar and get me one of those 32GIG iphones. Dont speak a word of dutch tho :cool:
 
nwlondonlad said:
Man if I can get friday off work. Im gonna book a return to Brussels via eurostar and get me one of those 32GIG iphones. Dont speak a word of dutch tho :cool:
Click to expand...

I live in Belgium (dutch speaking) but I think most shop owners will be able to help you out in English without a problem. Good luck finding one!
 
nwlondonlad said:
That's the thing! the ques will be insane and to go all that way and come back empty handed :(
Click to expand...

Queues, you think? I don't reckon, butI could be wrong...

I called a Mobistar shop in Brussels centre last week to see if I could reserve an iPhone and they directed me to another store close-by that was "taking orders". All this amounted to was my name and number with a promise to call me "if they got stock"...

Typical Belgian inefficiency :eek:

Still, I'll pass by Friday morning and see if I can get one... I'll post in this thread my experience.
 
If anybody can give us a feedback on the availability of the iphone after tomorrow would be great !
 
sananda said:
Mainly French speaking, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Belgium is an odd country with French used in the south (Wallonia), Dutch used in the north (Flanders) but yet Brussels is French-speaking despite being in Flanders. French will serve you best in Brussels (failing that, Arabic might be worth a shot given the high Moroccan population) but I've been living in the country for the past 5-years and almost everyone (particularly in Flanders) speaks English to some degree (a lot of US/UK television programs on the TV that are subtitled rather than dubbed, which has been a blessing). Shops in Brussels definitely should speak English due to the tourist trade, although if you do speak French then you'll probably find happier staff.

My trick is not necessarily going to be finding an iPhone 3GS but rather persuading my wife to let me buy one since €675 is lot of money. I hate Brussels with a fiery passion (although having access to GPS ought to make things easier) so I'll probably try Leuven instead (home of Stella Artois, kids).

Annoyingly, Mobistar does not appear to be offering the finance deal that they were doing with the 3G, which would have been nice because the interest rate was low so you only ended up paying an additional €40 or so.
 
virtona said:
Belgian mobile operator Mobistar unveiled pricing for Apple's iPhone 3GS, available from June 26 in Belgium. All Belgian iPhones will be factory unlocked and sold without contract. Availability will be limited at first.

iPhone 3G 8GB: 475 euro (= 667 dollar)
iPhone 3GS 16GB: 575 euro (= 807 dollar)
iPhone 3GS 32GB: 675 euro (= 947 dollar)
Click to expand...

nwlondonlad said:
The Prices for the Iphone 3GS are out in Belgium
16gig Iphone 3GS 575 euros
32gig Iphone 3GS 675 euros (that comes to £574)

From what i can deduce from the site those are the payg prices and the phones are unlocked (sim free)

http://iphone3g.mobistar.be/nl/?WT.ac=ow_banner
Click to expand...

That does make them cheaper than Italy, which sells for 719€ for the 32GB version but in the end I may be able to get it for the same price including usage for 6 months. 80€ a month (includes 300 minutes, free SMS/MMS, 10GB data and free phone calls to other users on the same carrier) and an initial price of 215-260€ (695-740€ in total).
 
Kelmon said:
Belgium is an odd country with French used in the south (Wallonia), Dutch used in the north (Flanders) but yet Brussels is French-speaking despite being in Flanders. French will serve you best in Brussels (failing that, Arabic might be worth a shot given the high Moroccan population) but I've been living in the country for the past 5-years and almost everyone (particularly in Flanders) speaks English to some degree (a lot of US/UK television programs on the TV that are subtitled rather than dubbed, which has been a blessing). Shops in Brussels definitely should speak English due to the tourist trade, although if you do speak French then you'll probably find happier staff.

My trick is not necessarily going to be finding an iPhone 3GS but rather persuading my wife to let me buy one since €675 is lot of money. I hate Brussels with a fiery passion (although having access to GPS ought to make things easier) so I'll probably try Leuven instead (home of Stella Artois, kids).

Annoyingly, Mobistar does not appear to be offering the finance deal that they were doing with the 3G, which would have been nice because the interest rate was low so you only ended up paying an additional €40 or so.
Click to expand...

Odd, that's an understatement ;)

I'm working by gare du Nord, so a short walk to City 2 ane Rue Neuve, still hoping I get hold of one via another route rather than having to actually go to a shop...

And, kids, remember Stella is touted as being a "premium" beer in the UK, but here in Belgium we use it for washing our cars, it's one of the worst :D
 
Hi guys, been watching this forum for a while now and have a few questions for those of you in these countries .
I could potentially get the iPHone from Italy or Belgium, but my concerns are related to the warranty of the product.

Would I get international warranty upon buying the product ? I do a lot of travelling and you never know when/if it will break.

I haven´t checked in Belgium, but in Italy I can get it from an Apple store (it´s also slightly cheaper, at 599), wouldn´t that give me int´l warranty ?

Also, given the fact that the phone is factory unlocked, I suspect I will be able to use an external data plan with it ? Does anyone have experience with that from the 3G version maybe ?

Thanks in advance !
 
Jotun said:
Hi guys, been watching this forum for a while now and have a few questions for those of you in these countries .
I could potentially get the iPHone from Italy or Belgium, but my concerns are related to the warranty of the product.

Would I get international warranty upon buying the product ? I do a lot of travelling and you never know when/if it will break.

I haven´t checked in Belgium, but in Italy I can get it from an Apple store (it´s also slightly cheaper, at 599), wouldn´t that give me int´l warranty ?

Also, given the fact that the phone is factory unlocked, I suspect I will be able to use an external data plan with it ? Does anyone have experience with that from the 3G version maybe ?

Thanks in advance !
Click to expand...

First the warranty. Sorry to say but the warranty is not international. If you break your phone, you have send it back to the shop where you bought it. it doesn't matter if you buy it from Apple IT or from Italian carrier.

You can stick any sim card into the unlocked phone, and use any dataplan with it. Getting MMS and tethering to work with a not-apple-supported-carrier is a little bit tricky but can be done.
 
Lycanthrope said:
Odd, that's an understatement ;)

And, kids, remember Stella is touted as being a "premium" beer in the UK, but here in Belgium we use it for washing our cars, it's one of the worst :D
Click to expand...

Haha, oh those British people. I think they reason why the English people deem it "premium" is because of the high alcohol percentage ;)
 
inf said:
First the warranty. Sorry to say but the warranty is not international. If you break your phone, you have send it back to the shop where you bought it. it doesn't matter if you buy it from Apple IT or from Italian carrier.

You can stick any sim card into the unlocked phone, and use any dataplan with it. Getting MMS and tethering to work with a not-apple-supported-carrier is a little bit tricky but can be done.
Click to expand...

Thank you. MMS and tethering are not on the top of my list now, but thanks for pointing this out, it´s helpful to know.

The warranty part makes me think twice then...but I still think that getting tied to a carrier at those subscription rates is unreasonable both price and mobility wise. Hm. Tough choice.
 
Jotun said:
Hi guys, been watching this forum for a while now and have a few questions for those of you in these countries .
I could potentially get the iPHone from Italy or Belgium, but my concerns are related to the warranty of the product.

Would I get international warranty upon buying the product ? I do a lot of travelling and you never know when/if it will break.

I haven´t checked in Belgium, but in Italy I can get it from an Apple store (it´s also slightly cheaper, at 599), wouldn´t that give me int´l warranty ?

Also, given the fact that the phone is factory unlocked, I suspect I will be able to use an external data plan with it ? Does anyone have experience with that from the 3G version maybe ?

Thanks in advance !
Click to expand...

If you had been reading this forum you would know : no international support. The only chance would be if you buy the Iphone in an Apple Store... with a bit of work, you should be able to apply the warranty in an other Apple Store in Europe.
 
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