# iPhone compatability US to UK



## PhillyChic (Jan 28, 2012)

Has anyone successfully taken their US iPhone to the UK and transferred to a UK plan? Or is it necessary to purchase a new phone once in the UK? We've used our US iPhones on trips to the UK but it's always been very expensive when we get the next month's bill. We will be moving to England shortly. I'm also wondering if others have kept their US number and had it forwarded or any other ideas for how to keep the price of calls from the US to UK down. Thanks for any advice.


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## Kuya (Mar 28, 2012)

If your iphone is locked to one carrier then you are stuck with that carrier! Before you head to the UK try inserting a different sim card into the iphone and see if it accepts it, if it does then you should be fine to go onto a UK call plan.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

PhillyChic said:


> Has anyone successfully taken their US iPhone to the UK and transferred to a UK plan? Or is it necessary to purchase a new phone once in the UK? We've used our US iPhones on trips to the UK but it's always been very expensive when we get the next month's bill. We will be moving to England shortly. I'm also wondering if others have kept their US number and had it forwarded or any other ideas for how to keep the price of calls from the US to UK down.


Both iPhone 4 and 4S bought in US can be used anywhere else in the world. There is a difference between 4 and 4S. 4 can only be used on GSM and UTMS 3G network (Europe only uses these protocols), while 4S has been designed as a truly global phone and can be used on both GSM (used by T-Mobile and AT&T among others in US) and CDMA (Verizon and Sprint, among others). 

If you bought your iPhone direct from Apple (and paid the full price, not subsidised), then it's fully unlocked and accepts UK mini-SIM card or any other (but only on GSM). If you bought from one of the networks, it is locked to the carrier and has to be first unlocked before using another SIM. You do this by contacting your carrier (Verizon, T-Mobile etc) and ask for unlocking code. They may impose certain conditions (like minimum contract term) and may make a charge, but essentially by tapping in the code, you can unlock it. AT&T won't unlock their phones, and can't be used on any other carrier. UK carriers supply mini-SIM to use in iPhone 4 and 4S, both as pay-as-you-go and as contract.
Three (3) has particularly competitive rates:
Micro-SIM



Kuya said:


> If your iphone is locked to one carrier then you are stuck with that carrier! Before you head to the UK try inserting a different sim card into the iphone and see if it accepts it, if it does then you should be fine to go onto a UK call plan.


As I've said, phones can be unlocked except those from AT&T. What you cannot do is to use a phone unlocked from a US carrier with a SIM from another US carrier. Only fully unlocked phones from Apple Store can accept any SIM from any US carrier, but not from CDMA carrier like Verizon and Sprint. Only phones originally supplied by Sprint or Verizon can be used on their respective network.


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## PhillyChic (Jan 28, 2012)

Joppa thanks so much, you're a fountain of useful information, this is really helpful.


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## Jrge (Mar 22, 2011)

PhillyChic said:


> Has anyone successfully taken their US iPhone to the UK and transferred to a UK plan? Or is it necessary to purchase a new phone once in the UK? We've used our US iPhones on trips to the UK but it's always been very expensive when we get the next month's bill. We will be moving to England shortly. I'm also wondering if others have kept their US number and had it forwarded *or any other ideas for how to keep the price of calls from the US to UK down*. Thanks for any advice.


To do this, on our cellphones (mobiles) we use Skype on 3. Considering I have a pre-paid plan of £15, is a very good service, crystal clear conversations and allows me to use as much data as I want (Think of e-mails, GPS, Skype). (BTW, I have an unlocked HTC Incredible 2 from Verizon)

At home, we have a MagicJack connected to a laptop at all the times. Our initial investment was $40.00 and trust me, for as long as your Internet connection is good, you will feel right at home. I call to the US & Canada everyday, and my "boyz" in Philly every Sunday.. 

Animo
(Cheers)


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## tom_tom_tom (Nov 29, 2011)

Joppa said:


> Both iPhone 4 and 4S bought in US can be used anywhere else in the world. There is a difference between 4 and 4S. 4 can only be used on GSM and UTMS 3G network (Europe only uses these protocols), while 4S has been designed as a truly global phone and can be used on both GSM (used by T-Mobile and AT&T among others in US) and CDMA (Verizon and Sprint, among others).
> 
> If you bought your iPhone direct from Apple (and paid the full price, not subsidised), then it's fully unlocked and accepts UK mini-SIM card or any other (but only on GSM). If you bought from one of the networks, it is locked to the carrier and has to be first unlocked before using another SIM. You do this by contacting your carrier (Verizon, T-Mobile etc) and ask for unlocking code. They may impose certain conditions (like minimum contract term) and may make a charge, but essentially by tapping in the code, you can unlock it. AT&T won't unlock their phones, and can't be used on any other carrier. UK carriers supply mini-SIM to use in iPhone 4 and 4S, both as pay-as-you-go and as contract.
> Three (3) has particularly competitive rates:
> ...


Wow Joppa.. How do you know all this stuff :clap2:

Do you know anything about using an iphone 4 from Japan (softbank) in the UK? Getting a mico sim like mentioned above?


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## PhillyChic (Jan 28, 2012)

@Jrge My brother moved to Italy from the US and also swears by MagicJack! 

With your plan with 3, you mentioned it covers data. What about call time, how does that work?

Also, is it standard with UK companies to provide Executives with phones and monthly plans as it is in the US?


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## Jrge (Mar 22, 2011)

PhillyChic said:


> @Jrge My brother moved to Italy from the US and also swears by MagicJack!






PhillyChic said:


> With your plan with 3, you mentioned it covers data. What about call time, how does that work?


The £ 15.00 plan gives you 300 minutes, 3000 texts and “All-you-can-eat” data valid for 30 days. I make most of my calls via Skype, abuse the GPS and email features, so the minute allowance doesn’t matter to me, as data does. Get better value with an Add-on. - Phones - Discover - Three
In the other hand, my 18 y/o has a contract phone, pays £27.00 pcm on a 24 month contract and gets: 2000 minutes to call any carrier, 5000 minutes for calls within the carrier, 5000 texts and “All-you-can-eat” data.




PhillyChic said:


> Also, is it standard with UK companies to provide Executives with phones and monthly plans as it is in the US?


If you mean, 1) to carry out your duties, you bet. 2) to offer you a better deal or to be deducted via payroll, I don't know. 

Animo
(Cheers)


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## rachie99 (Apr 24, 2012)

When you unlocked your phone and moved to the UK did you cancel your US plan? I will be traveling frequently back and forth so I will need to keep my US number with Verizon. It is my understanding that when you put the UK SIM card in you will no longer be able to receive voice mails at your US number. Meaning, if someone dials your US number a message will say the phone number is not active. Do you know if this is correct?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

tom_tom_tom said:


> Wow Joppa.. How do you know all this stuff :clap2:
> 
> Do you know anything about using an iphone 4 from Japan (softbank) in the UK? Getting a mico sim like mentioned above?


SoftBank Mobile won't unlock iPhones, but there are plenty of outlets that can and will in UK. Costs about £20.

Check which software version your phone has by going Setting > General > About and look for Version. If it's on iOS 4, then unlocking is straightforward. 5.01 is a bit trickier but should be possible, and 5.1 (the latest, 4S comes with it) will be most difficult and most places can't unlock it. They may be able to downgrade to 5.01 first and then unlock, but not in every case. Language and country settings can be changed under Setting > General > International.

Once unlocked, you can use UK micro SIM without problem.


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## Jrge (Mar 22, 2011)

rachie99 said:


> When you unlocked your phone and moved to the UK did you cancel your US plan?


When we first moved, no. I kept my Verizon plan until recently. You can ask if they can port your number to a pre-paid smartphone plan ($100.00 for up to 6 months). The downside is, that if you are on an unlimited plan, you might not be able to go back to it. Remember the good old fashion unlimited data?



rachie99 said:


> I will be traveling frequently back and forth so I will need to keep my US number with Verizon. It is my understanding that when you put the UK SIM card in you will no longer be able to receive voice mails at your US number. Meaning, if someone dials your US number a message will say the phone number is not active. Do you know if this is correct?


If you have International rooming and remove the Sim-card, then you won't have any service at all. But still, people would be able to leave you voice messages.

I continued getting voice mails without any problems. However, I would call twice per day to check them and reply (remember, I use MagicJAck to call to the US, hence not additional cost) And this is exactly what I did:

Dial my 10-digit wireless number.
Press # to interrupt my greeting.
Enter my password, then press #.

Animo
(Cheers)


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## rachie99 (Apr 24, 2012)

Thank you so much for the reply. I got the magic jack app last night. One question...it says it works on 3G and 4g are you able to call the US via the app on the cellular service in the UK without a charge and minute usage or do you need a wifi connection to do that?


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## Jrge (Mar 22, 2011)

rachie99 said:


> Thank you so much for the reply. I got the magic jack app last night. One question...it says it works on 3G and 4g are you able to call the US via the app on the cellular service in the UK without a charge and minute usage or do you need a wifi connection to do that?


I have the device, not the app. (I'm an Android user). Although, I could try to find out for ya.

Animo
(Cheers)


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## rachie99 (Apr 24, 2012)

That would be great. The app should work on the Android as well. It uses the 3G service in the US so I am able to make calls from my magic jack number on my cell phone without a wifi connection. It works pretty well so I wondered if how it works using it on the UK cellular system (online customer service says it will work).


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## Maltoo (Sep 18, 2011)

Joppa said:


> AT&T won't unlock their phones, and can't be used on any other carrier.
> As I've said, phones can be unlocked except those from AT&T.


This is not true any longer as of April 2012 ATT will unlock any iphone that is not currently under contract.

https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/

General Eligibility Requirements for Unlocking iPhone

AT&T will unlock an iPhone under the following circumstances:

The person requesting the unlock is:
a current AT&T customer or
a former AT&T customer who can provide the phone number or account number for the account
The iPhone was designed for use on AT&T's network;
All contract obligations, including any term commitment, associated with the device to be unlocked have been fully satisfied; and
The iPhone has not been reported lost or stolen.

I also just called and got an unlock code for my son's Samsung Galaxy3

iPhones still under contract also have options...you can buy an unlock code and unlock your phone yourself or you can try through ATT to get them to unlock it some people have been successful in doing so or you can buy out your contract and ATT will then unlock you device


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## Maltoo (Sep 18, 2011)

*just a quick update*

I called on 11/22/12 because I had sent in an unlock request to AT&T for my iPhone 4S and received an email back stating they could not unlock my phone because it had been previously reported lost or stolen.

Since I have owned this phone since it was brand new and purchased it from AT&T I knew this was not true, so I called and after having to endure multiple calls and the run around from AT&T for over 2 hours. I am now the proud owner of a fully factory unlocked iPhone 4S still under contract until Nov. 2013.


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