Posted by
Willows
16 yrs ago
Does anyone know if there is a way to buy an i-phone in the US and get it to work in HK without signing on for an AT&T based US plan?
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yes you can get all the help you need from the apple store online or you can go to the apple store in kowloon on nathan rd near the kowloon park entrance. you can buy an unlocked Iphone or they can unlock the one you already have. i believe 3 mobile (hutchinson mobile) has lease plans for Iphones. just go to http://three.com.hk and find a shop near you. i know there are 3 shops in hutchinson house in central in the bank of america tower. I know there are 2 in kowloon TST on carnarvon rd & cameron rd.
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msnglnk, I suggest you read the question again. ;)
Willows, I am pretty sure you cannot (legally) buy an unlocked phone in the US. You need to sign up for the plan. You're better off buying one in HK.
Am I correct in guessing you are looking at one from a rewards program like AmEx? I looked at that but ended up getting one from the online Apple Store in HK.
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From my understanding, if you want to get an iPhone in US, you must sign the plan with AT&T. Am I correct?
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Thanks axptguy38.
So if I want an unlock one where I can use in every country I go, the best way I think is to get in from Apple online store although its more expensive than those contract ones.
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Exactly. The reason it costs less with a contract is because the operator is paying some of the cost of the phone. They get their money back with the contract plus they gamble that you'll renew that contract and remain a customer, PLUS they gamble that you will (on average) use premium services.
Importantly, if you buy one from the Apple store in HK (or another authorized outlet), you won't have warranty issues. Do check the worldwide warranty conditions before you buy, however.
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Thanks again axptguy.^^
You just remind me of the warrantly issues. I thought warrantly is avaliable as long as the iPhone I got is an authorized one.
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"I thought warrantly is avaliable as long as the iPhone I got is an authorized one."
Yes. However many companies have restrictions on worldwide warranty. That is, when you buy a product in country X you can only get warranty service in country X. Some companies also have transferable warranties. You should check with Apple.
Furthermore, watch out for iClones.
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Thanks axptguy38.
As I lived in HK and will not move to other countries in the near future. So I think if I got a "HK iPhone", as long as it has HK warranty, it will be fine for me.
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Just arrived in HK to live. Brought my US iphone with me. Before leaving the US I went to Apple and AT&T to ask about unlocking my phone. Apple said it could be done but it was something AT&T had to do. At&t customer care looked at me with the "deer in the headlights look" and just said I dunno what to do if you're moving to HK. So, I'm here with an iphone that's locked. I went to the above website (Apple HK) for info of how to unlock it but don't know where to go from the main page. Sorry if I'm missing something obvious. I may try Nathan Rd., but I'm staying in Tung CHung and house hunting daily with 2 kids. Tough for me to get over there. If I get it unlocked, then what?
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Nathan Road is a bit too "tourist trap" for me. Not the kind of place where I would trust any random vendor too much.
Where I would go on the Kowloon Side:
- Golden Arcade in Sham Shui Po.
- Mong Kok probably has some places.
HK Side:
- The one reliable place I know is at the intersection of Obrien Rd and Johnston Rd, by the Wan Chai MTR.
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As far as I know, Apple will not 'unlock' a US iPhone for you. This would probably get them in strife with AT&T, so you will not find any info in the Apple website about this.
As mentioned above, there are stores in HK that will unlock iPhones for you, but keep in mind that unlocking is not necessarily a permanent fix. Some unlock methods are susceptible to failure when the iPhone software is updated, which means that you either bypass such updates, or you have to go back to the shop that unlocked it and get them to do another unlock...
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Thnx axptguy38 and hkbulb for the info. Am I ultimately probably better off buying an HK iphone? If so, just buy from Apple to ensure it's not an iclone and for warranty purposes? I assume apple care is available here.
A colleague suggested going to Smartphone Vodaphone or New Vision Technology for phone and service. Know anything about them? Will my US purchased apps work on an HK iphone? Are the app store and itunes store the same one we purchase from in the US?
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If you can get it unlocked for a few hundred, you're much better off unlocking your current one. While jailbreaking is definitely "reset" by updates, I'm not so sure about unlocking. They are not at all the same thing. Ask in the store.
As for buying from here, direct from Apple works. Also the 3 shops of course, but then you need to sign up for a 3 account. I would also say that off Nathan Road and the more touristy places, I would trust the shops. I mean not blindly, but if you go to the Wan Chai Computer Centre and get an iPhone it is not likely you'll be ripped off with an iClone.
Re: Smartfone etc. Any operator should work. All you need is a 3G data plan to go with your voice plan. The iPhone doesn't care. I have PCCW and they work fine. One thing most operators seem to forget to tell you is that you need to set the "APN" on the iPhone to get the data access to work. For PCCW the APN is "pccw".
Re: iTunes. You "need" one account per country. Your apps from the US store will work just fine. I got a US account (with US CC required) just so I could buy a couple games that are not available on HK iTunes. Conversely, apps like "iWeather HK", which I love, are not available outside the HK iTunes store. Moral of the story: Have one account here and keep the one in the US. The iPhone doesn't care if you mix.
Finally: Voicemail. Unless you have 3 (at least I presume) you won't get the fancy "visual voicemail". However you can still set the "voicemail" icon to actually call the number.
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Great. YOu've been a wealth of information. We'll see what I can get working.
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