iPhone in the UK

[Flashback]

I caught up with a friend yesterday who mentioned that when she was in the UK last an Australian SIM card worked fine in her phone (when I was there in November this was also the case for myself) however when putting a UK SIM in her phone, it did not work.

Her phone was a 3G, mine is a 3GS.

The first thing I asked was whether she was sure it was unlocked, to which she replied she had it unlocked before she went.

So is it a case of the unlocking not working properly, or an issue with UK SIMs and iPhones? FWIW mine is definitely unlocked as I bought it direct from apple.com.au

 

[djfuzz]

Did she make sure she activated the unlocking through iTunes and that the telco did everything at their end? You receive an SMS informing you that the unlock is active and have to connect to iTunes to reactivate and unlock the phone.

 

[drewbles]

Did she make sure she activated the unlocking through iTunes and that the telco did everything at their end? You receive an SMS informing you that the unlock is active and have to connect to iTunes to reactivate and unlock the phone.

You actually need to do a full restore to activate the unlock. Plugging it in and sycning it isn't enough.

It's an annoying way of doing it but it's the only way to do it legitimately.

 

[Flashback]

You actually need to do a full restore to activate the unlock. Plugging it in and sycning it isn't enough.

It's an annoying way of doing it but it's the only way to do it legitimately.

Given my phone was bought from Apple direct, so would be unlocked, would I need to do that when I get my SIM in the UK?

 

[Fyfie]

UK sims definitely work with Australian iPhones - I used my Vodafone(AU) iPhone with a 3(UK) sim.

I unlocked it two years ago, so can't remember the exact sequence of events. I do remember that you need to put in an original network sim card after getting it unlocked (After phoning to get it unlocked, I needed to put in a Vodafone sim before it would work with my 3(Au) sim). This may have changed now, I last did it in July '08.

 

[samh004]

Given my phone was bought from Apple direct, so would be unlocked, would I need to do that when I get my SIM in the UK?

No. Mine is the same and it worked straight up, but beware if you choose Vodafone, as data didn’t work straight up for me and required tweaks I had to look for online to get going.

I wont point fingers, or maybe I will, but it seems a little odd it loads settings on the iPhone that don’t work properly

 

[Flashback]

No. Mine is the same and it worked straight up, but beware if you choose Vodafone, as data didn’t work straight up for me and required tweaks I had to look for online to get going.

I wont point fingers, or maybe I will, but it seems a little odd it loads settings on the iPhone that don’t work properly

Do you know if it would support tethering at all? I'd be looking at either Vodafone or O2 I think.

 

[Fyfie]

Do you know if it would support tethering at all? I'd be looking at either Vodafone or O2 I think.

02 you have to pay extra for tethering - which is annoying if you are on prepaid and have the 500mb of data allowance.

 

[Flashback]

02 you have to pay extra for tethering - which is annoying if you are on prepaid and have the 500mb of data allowance.

That's handy to know, as I'd most likely be looking at tethering...

 

[drewbles]

That's handy to know, as I'd most likely be looking at tethering...

Tethering should work. It's simply an APN and ipcc file that's used. There are plenty of 'workarounds' available to get tethering working.

And yes, the Apple purchased iPhone would be unlocked. If someone had purchased a phone and had them unlocked via their carrier, that's when they need to do a full restore to activate the unlock when the carrier notifies them it's ready to go.

 

[Flashback]

Tethering should work. It's simply an APN and ipcc file that's used. There are plenty of 'workarounds' available to get tethering working.

And yes, the Apple purchased iPhone would be unlocked. If someone had purchased a phone and had them unlocked via their carrier, that's when they need to do a full restore to activate the unlock when the carrier notifies them it's ready to go.

Fantastic, thanks for the info!