I would like to buy an iPhone here in the USA. I've bought Apple products in the past and have liked having their phone support available. I understand from Apple that if I buy the phone here and use it in LOS I will void my warranty and brick the phone. Have you found a way around this and had success with your iPhone in LOS?

I'm prepared to but a non commitment phone from Apple (699UDS) as I'm out of contract with A T & T. It hurts but that's what i figure I'll have to do.

Thanks for any info. on your experiences.

Edited July 31, 200916 yr by watcharacters

I'm guessing that you are interested in the 3Gs. On this forum, we're not allowed to say whether there are hacks available in Thailand; it's not too difficult for you to find out for yourself. Just be aware that if you do hack your iPhone, that you can never get the upgrades (well, never as of now, don't know what future hacks will do). I was looking at them a few weeks ago in the States, and decided against it. First, it's a pile of money. Second, LoS is only now rolling out the 3G network, while other countries are starting to roll out the 4G. Third - and rather important - that with the new 3.0 operating system, the temperature parameters are rather tight, especially on the high end. In other words, your phone would overheat here. The same applies for the old 3G with the new 3.0 software. I don't remember the exact temperature that is the max, but do remember that it is less than body temp - and the temps in LoS get *way* higher than that.

I want an iPhone for myself, but I'm going to wait until the overheating and system compatability issues are resolved. As they say here, "Up to you."

I'm guessing that you are interested in the 3Gs. On this forum, we're not allowed to say whether there are hacks available in Thailand; it's not too difficult for you to find out for yourself. Just be aware that if you do hack your iPhone, that you can never get the upgrades (well, never as of now, don't know what future hacks will do). I was looking at them a few weeks ago in the States, and decided against it. First, it's a pile of money. Second, LoS is only now rolling out the 3G network, while other countries are starting to roll out the 4G. Third - and rather important - that with the new 3.0 operating system, the temperature parameters are rather tight, especially on the high end. In other words, your phone would overheat here. The same applies for the old 3G with the new 3.0 software. I don't remember the exact temperature that is the max, but do remember that it is less than body temp - and the temps in LoS get *way* higher than that.

I want an iPhone for myself, but I'm going to wait until the overheating and system compatability issues are resolved. As they say here, "Up to you."

I am pretty sure its not illegal to jailbreak your phone.. why would it be? Its your phone you can unlock it if you like.

Using third party software without a license would be i guess

Of course its not illegal and neither is talking about it on this forum and anyone who says it is needs to educate themselves.

Don't know about voiding the warranty but NO you will not brick your iphone by buying it in the States and using it in Thailand. (where do people come up with this kind of misinformation?) ANY Iphone you bring from the states is easily unlocked and usable in Thailand. YES you can update the iphone but usually not right away to the newest update. The updates relock the iphone so you have to unlock it again if you want to update. Which is fairly easy to do yourself unless you are completely technologically disabled.

The OP stated:

"I'm prepared to but a non commitment phone from Apple (699UDS) as I'm out of contract with A T & T."

By "non commitment" I am assuming that he is referring to an open-market or "unlocked" phone. That being the case, all he needs to do is buy a SIM here, plug it in, and go.

He should be able to go the route of getting the subsidized phone from AT&T with another two-year contract. If he is a long-time customer in good standing they might even unlock the phone for him.

Edited July 31, 200916 yr by mgjackson69

Ok, I wasn't specific enough. It *is* legal to unlock your phone for the sole purpose of being able to connect with different networks. There was a special ruling about the DCRM to allow this. Jailbreaking your phone is something else; it's the process of making your phone capable of running aps that you did not buy from the Apple Ap or iTunes shops. Generally, because you still use Apple's bootware...oh, forget it, it gets too complex for me to write about it.

It appears to be a grey area on TV; and because of that, I'm not going to do anything to make life difficult for the owners and mods by telling people to do something illegal or pointing them to links for that purpose.

As far as further education goes, mind showing us the case law that says that Jailbreaking is legal? Ah, never mind. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to understand that, either.

To the OP,

bought an iPhone in Dubai and brought it back here in Feb. I have been using Dtac sim and have had nothing but problems unlocking it, updating software etc. I now use my old phone with no worries and use my iphone purely as an ipod. bit of a shame i know, but in the boonies no one can unlock it for me.

my advice would be to save the dosh, bring the $700 to Thailand and buy a decent phone here that is fully compatible. that said, you can get iphone through True. As for the 3G network, forget it. unless you are in central Bkk there is virtually no 3G network here.

Cheers

James

To the OP

All phones that are sold in the US are suposed to be purchased Pre-locked to an ATT provider.

The 3g Iphone runs for far less than 699 on e-bay (200+_) They are dirt cheap now since the latest eddition has hit the market.

What you need is an I-phone designed for the Italian, HongKong or Australain market, because these phones can be purchased "un-locked" and are made spefically for these markets by apple to function freely with any service provider.

If you surf e-bay you will find that the australian phones and far more expensive than the domisticate phones and this is because they can function any where with out the messy issues that come up with un locking phones.

Un locking the 3g via software can now be done rather than using a turbo sim

legalities of this process I have no idea....

My wife, mother in law and I all have i-phones. My wife originally used a turbo sim but latter had her's unlocked via software.

As for me and my mother in law, strangley enough, they are also from the US (purchased via e-bay) and we do not use turbo sims and have never had them un locked via turbo sims....

Why they work here is beyond me. Having said that, I have never hooked mine up to I-Tunes via my PC out of fear it may wipe out my I-phone.

I am rather niave to this stuff.... but I do surf I tunes with my I phone and down load music and aps without issues....

good luck

But there is no reason for this unfounded fear, just use google and read up a bit on connecting to itunes so you can add your own music and videos and whatever else you want which is the major purpose of the iphone. As long as itunes has "update automatically" turned off it will not alter your phone in any way and you can use the iphone the way its meant to be used.

Ok, I wasn't specific enough. It *is* legal to unlock your phone for the sole purpose of being able to connect with different networks. There was a special ruling about the DCRM to allow this. Jailbreaking your phone is something else; it's the process of making your phone capable of running aps that you did not buy from the Apple Ap or iTunes shops. Generally, because you still use Apple's bootware...oh, forget it, it gets too complex for me to write about it.

It appears to be a grey area on TV; and because of that, I'm not going to do anything to make life difficult for the owners and mods by telling people to do something illegal or pointing them to links for that purpose.

As far as further education goes, mind showing us the case law that says that Jailbreaking is legal? Ah, never mind. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to understand that, either.

thanks for the update.

You had me seriously concerned about the anal retention factor of the forum rules.

I couldn't figure out how this forum could care about talking about an iPhone and the breaking or unlocking of it.

That would have been over the top IMHO.....

and while on the topic where is the tech forum on this page. I looked and didn't find. But my post did get moved.

Ok, I wasn't specific enough. It *is* legal to unlock your phone for the sole purpose of being able to connect with different networks. There was a special ruling about the DCRM to allow this. Jailbreaking your phone is something else; it's the process of making your phone capable of running aps that you did not buy from the Apple Ap or iTunes shops. Generally, because you still use Apple's bootware...oh, forget it, it gets too complex for me to write about it.

It appears to be a grey area on TV; and because of that, I'm not going to do anything to make life difficult for the owners and mods by telling people to do something illegal or pointing them to links for that purpose.

As far as further education goes, mind showing us the case law that says that Jailbreaking is legal? Ah, never mind. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to understand that, either.

thanks for the update.

You had me seriously concerned about the anal retention factor of the forum rules.

I couldn't figure out how this forum could care about talking about an iPhone and the breaking or unlocking of it.

That would have been over the top IMHO.....

and while on the topic where is the tech forum on this page? I looked and didn't find. But my post did get moved.

I just want to have fun

The OP stated:

"I'm prepared to but a non commitment phone from Apple (699UDS) as I'm out of contract with A T & T."

By "non commitment" I am assuming that he is referring to an open-market or "unlocked" phone. That being the case, all he needs to do is buy a SIM here, plug it in, and go.

He should be able to go the route of getting the subsidized phone from AT&T with another two-year contract. If he is a long-time customer in good standing they might even unlock the phone for him.

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I'm willing to pay the non -commitment price of $699 because I don't want a contract. And no I promise they will not unlock the phone. I guarantee that. and if anyone knows how to get them to do that please send me a PM. i did go to a great apple reseller www.lacomputercompany.com and talked with a tech there and he said there is a possibility of buying an unlocked iPhone from apple or A t & T but numerous calls to each has resulted in a "no" each time.

I'm not trying to break a law. I simply want to have a phone i would like and enjoy it.

I don't think that is asking for too much....

I'm willing to pay the non -commitment price of $699 because I don't want a contract. And no I promise they will not unlock the phone.

You're going to need to unlock it with ultrasn0w if you want it to work here. You should hurry up if you're going to do this, since once AT&T start selling phones with 3.1 installed, you're screwed (at the moment anyway) for a software unlock, since 3.1 updates the baseband and there's no going back...

I'm willing to pay the non -commitment price of $699 because I don't want a contract. And no I promise they will not unlock the phone.

You're going to need to unlock it with ultrasn0w if you want it to work here. You should hurry up if you're going to do this, since once AT&T start selling phones with 3.1 installed, you're screwed (at the moment anyway) for a software unlock, since 3.1 updates the baseband and there's no going back...

Ahhhh.... this does perhaps explain the US$350 difference between a factory unlocked and a software unlocked 3GS on ebay. If Apple are going to find a way of not allowing the unlocking of non factory unlocked phones then you can justify the difference.

I guess it makes sense my GF has a 1.x.x phone and it can still do 90% of what a 3GS can do.

Ahhhh.... this does perhaps explain the US$350 difference between a factory unlocked and a software unlocked 3GS on ebay. If Apple are going to find a way of not allowing the unlocking of non factory unlocked phones then you can justify the difference.

Well, remember this was what everyone was flapping about when they realised the baseband in 2.2.1 wouldn't work with 3.0, but yet here we are with an unlock for the baseband in 3.0 that works perfectly. I can't say I'm that concerned...