iPhone 3G on O2, but moving to NZ

BlizzardX · 2 Jul 2009 at 13:28

Hello.

I've got a 3G with O2, but I am looking at emigrating to NZ by the end of the year. Now I realise the iphone is locked to O2 in this country, but is it locked to o2 no matter where you are? I.e. in NZ, vodafone is the compatible company for the iphone... would i be able to put a voda nz sim in and it work fine or will it require unlocking?

Will Apple or O2 actually allow you to unlock the Iphone at the end of the contract?

randal · 2 Jul 2009 at 13:29

Correct.

You'd need to software unlock 3.0 to use it in NZ. Can't say any more than that, but have a Google for the Dev Blog for more info.

megakid · 2 Jul 2009 at 14:07

I moved to Australia with my O2 iPhone 3G - been using on a pay-as-you-go vodafone sim ever since. I'm using the latest 3.0 software too.

1 hint... Don't upgrade to 3.1 if it comes out anytime soon regardless of what it contains...you might regret it!

Edit: About O2/Apple unlocking it - good luck with that. I called up O2 genuinely wanting to buy out the remainder of my contract (about 9 * 35 quid) at the time to get it unlocked so I could use it out here... They said I could buy out the contract but they still couldn't unlock the phone..."But you can still use it to play music and go on the internet if there's wifi around"....Me: "So you're telling me, at the end of my 18 month contract, my iPhone becomes an expensive iPod Touch?" "Yes sir, afraid so..." ?

That pretty much forced me down the jailbreak route.

philjohn · 2 Jul 2009 at 14:21

Unfortunately there is no legal requirement in the UK for a carrier to provide an unlock code at any point (during of post contract period). Ofcom really need to sort that one out and ensure legislation is in place - especially when the phones cost as much as they do now, 12 month contracts are impossible (or nearly) to find and mobile phone subsidies seem to be diminishing.