PAYG USA phone in the UK

[AndyR]

If a PAYG iPhone is released in the USA, do you reckon this would work in the UK also?

I'm of to LA/Palm Springs in September so if this is possible I would deffo pick one up to bring back, especially with such a good exchange rate for us brits at the moment.

 

[bigandy]

If it's simlocked you may have issues, unless AT&T offer an unlocking service.

It would work here, but you may be limited to roaming charges from the USA

 

[iBlue]

So you're planning on buying a US pay as you go phone for use when you return to the UK? I'm not sure it will work. The phone I had as such was useless here. US mobile phones are usually locked.

 

[fishkorp]

sure it would work if you didn't mind having a US phone number and paying ridiculously high international roaming charges every time you make a call while you're in the UK. actually, the PAYG site doesn't mention if it will work in the UK, but calls to the UK are 40 cents a minutes. i'm guessing if the phone does work over there you'll be spending more than $1US per minute. unless of course someone provides an unlocking service that will allow you to use it with the GSM carrier of your choice with all the AT&T features disabled/crippled giving you a fancy $600 iPod

 

[kamiboy]

If you buy one and people figure out a way to circumvent the sim locking mechanism forced on the iPhone by AT&T then you can unlock it and pop any old sim card in it in and use in the UK. The ONLY thing you loose is the relatively useless Visual Voice Mail that only AT&T has for now.

I plan on going this route myself actually.

 

[AndyR]

Thanks was just wondering really. I know people who have bought some phones on holiday before as PAYG and just bunged a regular UK Sim Card in back here and its work no worries.

We shall see....

 

[elppa]

If you buy one and people figure out a way to circumvent the sim locking mechanism forced on the iPhone by AT&T then you can unlock it and pop any old sim card in it in and use in the UK. The ONLY thing you loose is the relatively useless Visual Voice Mail that only AT&T has for now.

I plan on going this route myself actually.

Visual Voicemail is great.

I hate those machines that won't let you jump straight to the most recent message.

My one blabbers on about a "message envelope" — what the hell is that?

 

[buymeaniphone]

Visual voice is a really cool feature, but I dont think I would ever use it. I never get voice mails cause I always have my phone with me and I always answer when people call. I'd rather have people text me than leave a voice mail that would take more than a minute to hear, even when the message is only 10 seconds long.

If your able to take a US phone and get it unlocked and use it in the UK why wouldn't it work? Isn't that the reason business people get their phones unlocked so they can buy a sim in Europe and still use their phone? I dont think it would be a problem, but you would have to convice AT&T to unlock it or get it unlocked online. Only thing is who knows what other features besides Visual Voice mail wont function properly if unlocked.

 

[elppa]

Visual voice is a really cool feature, but I dont think I would ever use it. I never get voice mails cause I always have my phone with me and I always answer when people call. I'd rather have people text me than leave a voice mail that would take more than a minute to hear, even when the message is only 10 seconds long.

Great, so you never go to Cinemas, restaurants, libraries, galleries where it is considered polite to turn off your mobile phone?

I think the point of vv™ is that a 10 second message takes 10 seconds to listen too, without all the filling.

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[kamiboy]

In Europe we do not have the tradition of leaving messages when the person isn't there, we just call back later.

In the many years I've had a mobile phone I can prolly count on my hand how many messages I've got. And most of them were just junk messages where the person didn't hang up in time.

So, yeah, we just want the iPhone itself here in Europe, not the exclusive AT&T "features".

 

[elppa]

In Europe we do not have the tradition of leaving messages when the person isn't there, we just call back later.

In the many years I've had a mobile phone I can prolly count on my hand how many messages I've got. And most of them were just junk messages where the person didn't hang up in time.

So, yeah, we just want the iPhone itself here in Europe, not the exclusive AT&T "features".

I am a proud European.

And I get messages left!

The person who was writing originally was from Texas, so that's not in Europe anyway.

 

[AlBDamned]

Would this idea be affected by the two bands the iPhone works on? i.e. doesn't it operate only on USA GSM bands?

 

[MikeDTyke]

Would this idea be affected by the two bands the iPhone works on? i.e. doesn't it operate only on USA GSM bands?

It's a quad band phone, will work pretty much anywhere in the world as long as the roaming agreement exists or you can unlock to run on a local network.

 

[kamiboy]

I am a proud European.

And I get messages left!

The person who was writing originally was from Texas, so that's not in Europe anyway.

I was basing my comments on people I know and people over here generally. So far as I know no one has yet gotten excited over this feature. My point is that people focus too much on that one part of the iPhone. The feature I am excited about is the iPhone itself. It makes all other phones look like children toys and all other manufacturers like clueless morons that have been fumbling in the dark for years. Who knows, the iPhone might end up being a failure due to any number of factors but I think and hope that it will sweep the rug from under all the other manufacturers and revolutionize the mobile industry.

 

[sananda]

In Europe we do not have the tradition of leaving messages when the person isn't there, we just call back later.

In the many years I've had a mobile phone I can prolly count on my hand how many messages I've got. And most of them were just junk messages where the person didn't hang up in time.

So, yeah, we just want the iPhone itself here in Europe, not the exclusive AT&T "features".

i live in london. i leave and receive voicemail.

 

[geese]

The OP plan should work. When unlocking a phone, most of the time you're just replacing the firmware anyway. There is nothing AT&T can do to circumvent this. Goto to a small dodgy looking mobile phone shop in london, and they'll unlock it for you. Make you you get a 'big brand' phone whose model in available in Europe.

 

[AlBDamned]

It's a quad band phone, will work pretty much anywhere in the world as long as the roaming agreement exists or you can unlock to run on a local network.

Really? I read somewhere this week that the model approved at the FCC was dual band and only matches the USA GSM networks.

Must have been some disinformation...

Edit: Yup sorry, it's clearly quad band. I thought it was strange that I hadn't seen the dual band story anywhere else...