Importing iPhone

[SlinkyMike]

I have searched and not found a consolidated thread on the subject, if I have missed it ...bite me

What I would like to know is how have the l33t forumites who have imported iPhones gone about it; what was the total cost to your door; how long did it all take and generally just to share the experience ...anything to watch out for?

There are a multitude of ways available online but all of them seem fairly sketchy so how have the proud owners become so?

Sooo ...share away!

 

[nocilah]

Apparently they locked anyway. I only know of someone who bought one in the states and brought it through.

claimed it worked on MTN - but never saw the phone nor it working so not entirely sure how true the above story is.

 

[Snormossel]

Well my boss has one which he bought overseas(east).
They unlocked it for him and its working on Vodacom, not sure about MTN.

Prolly all in all under R4k

 

[Captain Slog]

Apparently they locked anyway. I only know of someone who bought one in the states and brought it through.

claimed it worked on MTN - but never saw the phone nor it working so not entirely sure how true the above story is.

It is very easy to hack past the locking - just do a wee bit of research. There is a new iPhone coming out soon so i would wait.

 

[Ou grote]

It is very easy to hack past the locking - just do a wee bit of research. There is a new iPhone coming out soon so i would wait.

Phone has a nice screen and browser, but no 3G.
Which u would probably want here...
Also may have decent GPS, hopefully SA maps will be available, but doubt it.

So rather wait and see.

 

[SlinkyMike]

OMG ...can anyone read?
This is not a discussion thread about the capabilities or lack thereof of the named device it is about methods of importing one.

Good god man ...I (along with anyone prepared to go through the hassle and expense of importing a totally unsupported device) am well aware of what an iPhone is and that there may or may not be a new new soon.

If there is anyone with 1st hand experience of importing one please chime in, the rest move along.

 

[Ivan...]

You might get better answers if this thread gets moved to the Cellphone section..people there have already argued the pros and cons of the iPhone.

I'm also interested in how easy it is to get one....

 

[SlinkyMike]

You might get better answers if this thread gets moved to the Cellphone section..people there have already argued the pros and cons of the iPhone.

I'm also interested in how easy it is to get one....

You Sir ...have a very good point.

EDIT: how the hell does one move a thread ..is that a moderators only function?

 

[Pooky]

It would be nice if someone could tell the process they went through to acquire one.

 

[kronoSX]

easy,pookie da bear.All you got to do is find a small person in a far far east place and make friends.Then when he can be trusted get him to send you da phone.Let it be shipped with piggiback container,the rest is history..mmmm

 

[d0b33]

OMG ...can anyone read?
This is not a discussion thread about the capabilities or lack thereof of the named device it is about methods of importing one.

Good god man ...I (along with anyone prepared to go through the hassle and expense of importing a totally unsupported device) am well aware of what an iPhone is and that there may or may not be a new new soon.

If there is anyone with 1st hand experience of importing one please chime in, the rest move along.

I bought mine using Google checkout and product search, I had it shipped to my US mailing address which shipped it over here, I had to pay customs plus the 14% VAT though at the door to DHL.

Another method is to use ebay, find a seller who will ship to your SA address so theres no need for a US address, be careful of scammers though.

If you dont have a credit card read this thread...
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=94651

I'll show you how to get a prepaid debit card to use with a SA paypal account to make purchases.

Also most iPhones sold today cant be unlocked via software methods yet(1.1.2 firmware or higher) so you'll need to purchase a turbosim(I bought mine of eBay yesterday) to allow calls on a non AT&T network.

 

[Pooky]

How much did it cost you alltogether?

 

[d0b33]

How much did it cost you alltogether?

I posted the charges here...
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=1408770&postcount=38

My iPhone is just an iPod touch for now so I bought a turbosim for $145.00
including shipping from ebay yesterday so it should arrive within a week from the Czech Republic.
This should allow me to use any simcard and network with my iPhone.

Edit:

I recommend you get an iPhone now since Apple seems to be making each iPhone harder to unlock...
For eg. I have bought a 1.1.2 OTB iPhone which has a new unlockable bootloader which makes an unlock by software methods harder, and now that v1.1.3 firmware has been released it is not yet unlockable,
so get your hands on an iPhone soon because Apple seems to be making these things harder to unlock.

If you want to have the phone without the hassle of activating and then unlocking it then choose ebay, ebay has unlocked iPhones for sale but it will cost more, I decided to buy a locked iPhone because it was cheaper.

 

[JQ444]

Mine was bought from the guys at Shop and Ship - locally. They offer 24hr delivery, depending where you are in the country. I'm not sure what the costs were, because it was a Christmas present. There is a shop in Sandton that sells it but they are pricey - about R2k more than what the advertised price is on Shop and Ship and those guys are prepared to give you a discount, whereas the Sandton shop won't.

The phone was ready for use out of the box on Vodacom.

 

[SlinkyMike]

Mine was bought from the guys at Shop and Ship - locally. They offer 24hr delivery, depending where you are in the country. I'm not sure what the costs were, because it was a Christmas present. There is a shop in Sandton that sells it but they are pricey - about R2k more than what the advertised price is on Shop and Ship and those guys are prepared to give you a discount, whereas the Sandton shop won't.

The phone was ready for use out of the box on Vodacom.

INteresting ...worth following up, thanks

 

[d0b33]

INteresting ...worth following up, thanks

Shop & Ship's not bad but still expensive at R8,499 IMHO
It is unlocked but uses a nextsim to make calls that means you are going to have to cut your simcard to fit with the nextsim, so you still need to hack a bit to make it work,
cheaper to import though and now that the Jailbreak 1.1.3 has been released you can import 1.1.3 firmware unlocked iPhones by next week already.

I paid about just a little over R6000 for my iPhone, I could have bought it for much cheaper but there was little stock because of the Christmas rush so I went with the first one that became available and it was still locked, but unlocking is easy so I'm happy with it.

 

[The Guy]

Shop & Ship's not bad but still expensive at R8,499 IMHO
It is unlocked but uses a nextsim to make calls that means you are going to have to cut your simcard to fit with the nextsim, so you still need to hack a bit to make it work,
cheaper to import though and now that the Jailbreak 1.1.3 has been released you can import 1.1.3 firmware unlocked iPhones by next week already.

I paid about just a little over R6000 for my iPhone, I could have bought it for much cheaper but there was little stock because of the Christmas rush so I went with the first one that became available and it was still locked, but unlocking is easy so I'm happy with it.

inorder to Jailbreak your 1.1.3 phone you need to be running 1.1.2 which has to be prepped for the update first before you upgrade to 1.1.3 if you dont it wont work.

 

[d0b33]

inorder to Jailbreak your 1.1.3 phone you need to be running 1.1.2 which has to be prepped for the update first before you upgrade to 1.1.3 if you dont it wont work.

I know that means those selling 1.1.2 unlocked phones on ebay have already started updating the 1.1.2 phones they were selling, so 1.1.3 unlocked iPhones will be the norm soon, also many of the *sim solutions are also compatible and not locked out as some have feared.

 

[The Guy]

I know that means those selling 1.1.2 unlocked phones on ebay have already started updating the 1.1.2 phones they were selling, so 1.1.3 unlocked iPhones will be the norm soon, also many of the *sim solutions are also compatible and not locked out as some have feared.

while we on the topic ... i see loads of guys moaning about 1.1.3 ..... it is apparently not as stable as the previous versions ...
a came across a thread .... " after upgrading you realized 1.1.3 is crap, hers how to downgrade "

 

[d0b33]

while we on the topic ... i see loads of guys moaning about 1.1.3 ..... it is apparently not as stable as the previous versions ...
a came across a thread .... " after upgrading you realized 1.1.3 is crap, hers how to downgrade "

It does have issues with 3rd party apps, but they need to be updated anyway, also 1.1.3 may have fixed the dropped call issue that needed the iWorld app to fix it, I'm not an expert on 1.1.3 yet though so I'll wait till I get my turbosim before I upgrade.

Edit:
It seems the 1.1.3 jailbreak is not actually the official release after all but has been leaked by nate who is part of the dev team but no longer because he released the jailbreak without official permission from the team, so updating to 1.1.3 is not a good idea because it does break some apps.