Buying an iPhone from Singapore

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
My iPhone recently broke and I figured it's probably time to upgrade anyway and I have the possibility to get a new one from Singapore, which I already know is going to be unlocked... but they also said that they can't guarantee that it will work with a Swiss sim. (phone is half the price of one here)

Has anyone else bought an iPhone from Singapore or Asian region? Is it worth the risk?

Thanks!!

2
Yes. They work.....sort of.

The one I bought was still locked, it was from the US and an ATT phone. There were 2 options. They sell a wafer thin PCB that you attach you SIM to and itfits in the phone and works perfectly. basically it tricks the phone into thinking it is an ATT SIM.

Once that wafer breaks...because it does....you can also buy unlock software online which works fine.

If you haven't shopped around go to SIM LIM Square. Lots of choices there.

3
Hi there, if you post your question on this forum , you might get some interesting answers

4
Hi John,

thanks!

Can you recommend any sites for the unlock software?

Cheers

5
Thanks, i'll give it a go

6
If you order a NEW iphone 3gs with firmware 3.1.3 and baseband 5.12 you will NOT be able to unlock it with Jailbreak methods. If it is the old FW and basebaned and newer than a week 40 iphone (about last November) it will be a tethered Jailbreak. So you can't reboot the phone without being near a computer.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1937

According to this all iphones in Singapore and Malaysia are unlocked. So you shouldn't have a problem.

How much are you getting it for in Singapore? AFAIK prices around the world are quite similar for the iphone!

7

The one I used to use was http://www.iphoneunlockuk.com They were good they had a new release within days of Apple coming out with a new version of the IPhone software.

8
Hi and thanks a lot for your reply.

Without going into too much detail... the phone is from a friend/work partner who is based in Singapore and if he extends his contract for another two years he can get the new iPhone, which I could have. Will cost around CHF 500.- (3GS)

So there are no doubts about the iPhone and it will be bought outright and "unlocked" so should be able to work with any sim in any country.

I just don't want to be surprised... but if it's a legitimate phone and unlocked I have nothing to worry about, right?

Thanks

9
if you pose this question to the sellers at Sim Lim, you might also get some interesting answers, maybe even not have to do anything yourself

10
If it is unlocked by the carrier in singapore (which it will be according to that link) then you can use it on any GSM network in the world.

Please delete this link. This is a CONN site that is selling software which other people have developed and provide for FREE to anyone that needs it.

This is the site that the best Jailbreaks and unlocks come from

http://blog.iphone-dev.org/

And indeed it's the site that the aforementioned site gets their software from for free and sell to unsuspecting users

The site even says there is an unlock for 3.1.3 which is a blatant lie

11
I can believe this is true. I have bought many phones in Singapore and all of them were unlocked as long as they weren't bought with a contract. The IPhone was the only exception and I agree it was one of the earlier models.

So I guess there will be no problem for I.Suter as long as s/he is not buying from a friend on contract. Still recommend a visit to Sim Lim Square to check out the market. The only other thing to check in Singapore that the phone has not been adapted for Chinese language. Some Sony Ericsson phones are useless to English speakers because of this.