Using a Europen Iphone with USA At&T

[skorpia]

Is this possible? A customer of mine has a family member who bought a iphone from Europe and is now selling it for cheap. Would i be able to take it to At&T to set up an account or an i wasting my money? I planed on jail breaking my iphone anyways, but sence im still new to i-modding i don't want to get myself into bigger mess then i need to..

thanks!

[bhz1]

If it's a 2g iPhone and they already have Att service, they can put their ATT sim into the phone and activate in iTunes. Not sure what the procedure would be for a 3g.

[reeko]

iPhones are not region locked. With ANY iPhone if you pop any AT&T sim into it it will activate in iTunes and be useabl.

I am from the UK and have never used AT&T, but from what ive read AT&T clock onto the fact that your using an iPhone and charge you more for it - the only thing to be wary of.

[skorpia]

awesome - ill give it a try and let you guys know

[alek]

without mod iphones are locked to their original carriers or are sold for ($700) unlocked by apple in some places where it is required.

[confucious]

Phones are locked to a carrier. A phone locked to O2 in the UK will not work on AT&T in the USA.

'Europe' is a large place with amny different countries.
If the phone was bought in Italy or Belgium it will be unlocked, if it was bought in France they have to sell an unlock code, if requested, after 6 months. Unlocking is illegal in Portugal but not, AFAIK in any other country in the EU.

If the phone is a 2G it can be unlocked so you will have no problem.

If it is a 3G it depends where in Europe it was bought and, if not Italy or Belgium, what BB it is on as to wether you can unlock using YellowSn0w.

[reeko]

Wrong.

An iPhone bought in the UK WILL work with an AT&T sim card in America.

An iPhone bought in the USA WILL work with O2 in the UK.

Some countries sell factory unlocked iPhones because of the legal implications in the specific countries.

[confucious]

Wrong.

An iPhone bought in the UK WILL work with an AT&T sim card in America.

An iPhone bought in the USA WILL work with O2 in the UK.

I didn't think they would, but if you are certain I will bow to your greater knowledge.

[dannydigtl]

FWIW, my Australian iPhone would NOT work in the US on AT&T until i had it legally unlocked by the carrier in Australia.

[confucious]

Wrong.

An iPhone bought in the UK WILL work with an AT&T sim card in America.

An iPhone bought in the USA WILL work with O2 in the UK.

Some countries sell factory unlocked iPhones because of the legal implications in the specific countries.

When you tell someone that they are Wrong you should make bloody sure of your facts first - otherwise you just look stupid.

According to the MuscleNerd

but I believe seczone isn't just yes/no to "unlocked?" query...the locktables are per carrier

So it looks like my original asumption was, after all, right.

[reeko]

Ok. Look:

I have pysically taken an iPhone from the USA to the UK and activated it using an O2 sim card on the iTunes UK store.

It worked like an OTB UK iPhone.

This was the 2G running 1.1.2 up to 1.1.4. It didnt work for me on 1.1.1 but it did after 1.1.2. I upgraded to the 3G when it came out and have not travelled to see - so whether or not the upgraded hardware / bootloaders etc. in the 3G stopped this? Whereas it seemed like a new sought of feature in 1.1.2 that was introduced?

Ive searched google and it seems to be very conflicting, so yes, its not a definete yes/no scenario. But with my experience it does work - i have done it.


And i thought all Australian iPhones came unlocked OTB?

[confucious]

I am glad you are so sure of your facts, I am never sure of anything.

The 2G may be different, I have not tried it myself but my original assertion that they were carrier locked was based on what I have read and was an opinion. I could, as always, be wrong.

I was surprised by your assertion that I was wrong though so took the trouble of running it past a member of the Dev Team and their response is in my previous post.

Although the response was not a definite yes or no, if MN believes it to be carrier locked then, until I can get more evidence one way or the other, on the balance of probabilities I believe the 3G is carrier locked but as you have actually tried with a 2G I am perfectly willing to believe the 2G was not carrier locked.

Things do, unfortunately, change.

[reeko]

I wouldnt disagree anything with musclenerd.

It seems odd that it didnt work with 1.1.1, then with 1.1.2 it did - i just assumed that as all the firmwares are the same and provide support for every legitimate carrier then the whole activate on anther legitimate carrier would work.

But to the australian guy - i thought that Australian iPhones are factory unlocked OTB? I am saying this because i am looking at getting one to use around June/July time when im over there .....

[confucious]

I believe they are sold locked but you can get unlock codes for them source -> iPhone 3G to be sold unlocked in Australia

[dannydigtl]

Australian iPhone 3Gs are certainly carrier locked, but the law there requires the ability for them to be unlocked after 6 months. So most carriers there will unlock it for like $80 after 6 months of the contract.

I moved back to the US from there and my Virgin Mobile iPhone would not work here in the US. So I then called them and paid the $80 for it to be unlocked. Then in iTunes when you restore or activate the phone it says "Congratulations, your iPhone is unlocked!" Its all done through Apple via the IMEI number. And voila, it worked. I'm currently using an AT&T GoPhone SIM in mine.

So in short, iPhone in Australia come carrier locked, but they are one of the few countries (to me knowledge) that mandate them be unlockable.

[reeko]

Ahhhh. Ok. Kills the idea of getting the new one unlocked OTB for me then.

Is this the score with all of the carriers/countries where the iphone has to legally be open to any carrier?

When you got to the US did you try activating with an AT&T sim on the US iTunes store before unlocking it? Because from my experience (whether still valid or not) that would have activated the iPhone, as AT&T are still a valid carrier .....

[dannydigtl]

Yeh i tried to use the phone as it was with the GoPhone SIM. I activated the SIM in my GoPhone and then plugged it into my iPhone. it didn't work. I never got the AT&T logo. Then i jailbroke and yellowsnowed the phone and it worked fine. But then i discovered i could have it legally unlocked so i did that. Unjailbroke, unyellowsnowed, installed OS 3.0, put the SIM in, and it worked fine.

I'm not an expert, but thats my experience and through some reading I found it to be the expected results of my actions.

I'm selling my unlocked iPhone 3G if you want mine :P I'm laid off and need some cash.

[reeko]

Ha id love to but im looking forward to June and what Apple are going to bring us Im gonna be travelling allot from June onwards for the next year or so and need an IMEI unlocked one so will have to look into it seriously soon.

Cheers for the offer though.

[confucious]

Is this the score with all of the carriers/countries where the iphone has to legally be open to any carrier?

Belgium, Italy and Hong Kong have to sell unlocked phones.
There was another country that recently changed (Holland?)
France is similar to Australia.