i-Phone HELP - Moving to France

[Pixie Toadstool]

I wonder if anyone has had my experience and can help.

We will be moving to France shortly and I have an iPhone which is out of contract now and I have Pay as you Go with O2 currently. 

1. Will I need to get it unlocked even though the contract has finished and if so how do I do this and would it be easier to do here before I go or in France when I arrive?
2. Who provides network for the iPhone/who do I need to go with to use it or can I use a SIM from anyone in France to make it work? 
3. If there's a choice who provides the best package for me - I use quite a lot of data every month!!

Thanks in anticipation!!

Pix

[Bugsy]

Get your phone unblocked before you come to France.

I'm not sure of places near you in Hampshire but there is a stall in Wimborne Market that will do it for about £12.00.

Then get a pay as you go in france or get a 'cheap phone' contract in france and stick the sim into your iPhone.

Just make sure you turn off Global-roaming.

.

[Théière]

Are you sure it's locked, o2 do not lock their phones. Try someones sim card to find out

[Etoile]

I have kept my iPhone on O2 in the UK, (Tesco Mobile) even though I am in France. Walking into a French phone store is like walking into Grace Brothers, and if you do not use your credit in France you will lose it, and your number after a time. For data I am logged into the server at home anyway, and the call charges are not so bad as one may think.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Théière"]Are you sure it's locked, o2 do not lock their phones. Try someones sim card to find out[/quote]

If you do a google on this the results seem to be the same. Basically if its 'on contract' with O2 then it's unlocked but all O2 pay as you go phones are locked.

[Pickles]

[quote user="Théière"]Are you sure it's locked, o2 do not lock their phones.[/quote]

They certainly didn't lock them in the past, but we bought an O2 phone last year which definitely WAS locked, and have since been told that this is quite common now. As you suggest, it is best to try a different network sim card to check. It seems a lot easier to get the unlocking done in the UK than elsewhere from our experience.

Regards

Pickles

[Quillan]

Was it PAYG?

[Pixie Toadstool]

Mine is pay monthly but I am out of my contract time now.  I just spoke to O2 who told me that I can unlock the iphone by submitting a request via O2 website which I just did - I am just waiting to hear from them which could take 14 days and then apparently hey presto!!

They also said that the iPhones were originally locked but aren't anymore now they don't have exclusivity (I got mine in October 2008).

I am a little closer to sorting it all out - thanks to all of you who have replied so far - it has  been very helpful and pointed me in some useful directions!!

Pix

[AnOther]

There are tools readily available to both unlock and jailbreak any iPhone except the new v4. Just Google unlock iPhone.

Also note that it is illegal to lock phones in France and your supplier must unlock your phone if you demand it. Within the first 6 months of a contract they can make a charge but beyond that they have to do it for free.

Being France I have no idea how this actually works in practice but I can imagine obstacles being thrown up such as 'sorry, we'll have to send it away and it will take x weeks' for instance, and/or 'you will have to pay €xx for postage' etc. etc. so probably best to try other means.

[Chezstevens]

God Bless rip-off UK.  I bought my iphone in Italy and it is unlocked!  I swop between Italian, French and UK Sim Cards ... roaming data thru my italian provider is not bad.

[Théière]

Err what, UK......my iphone is unlocked o2!  It is orange who are the biggest culprits of locking phones now who owns them?

[Chezstevens]

They get away with it 'cos everyone considers UK, commercially, to be a plump pigeon ripe for plucking!!

[Théière]

No sorry still don't get it, I pay £5 pm for unlimited internet cannot see how that is a rip off?

France is far more that way, expensive data downloads, have to pay for high rate KW supply for electric even if you don't use it, I could go on........

[Pickles]

[quote user="Quillan"]Was it PAYG?[/quote]

Yes, indeed it was.

Regards

Pickles

[Babbles]

I've too have an iphone thats about to be out of contract, but everyone here in france says it cheaper to keep it on my O2 basic monthly contract than to change it over to a french contract, is this true? (I always keep data roaming off as that is really expensive) and use various apps such as Truephone and Ping! to keep in touch with UK mobiles when I'm connected to the wifi, anyone any thoughts is this is an effective way to have an iphone?

[Chezstevens]

[quote user="Théière"]

No sorry still don't get it, I pay £5 pm for unlimited internet cannot see how that is a rip off?

France is far more that way, expensive data downloads, have to pay for high rate KW supply for electric even if you don't use it, I could go on........

[/quote]

Electric ... we are on EJP 18 KW!!

[Pixie Toadstool]

As far as I can gather it depends on what you want to use it for.  I like my iPhone primarily to connect to the internet, get email and get the benefits of the many apps available and I'm not too keen on using it as a phone except to send texts and occasionally receive calls.  I notice that Bouyge do an unlimited data package with only about an hour of phone calls a month which would suit me but it still costs about 30 euros a month for a sim only package without contract.

Does anybody know anything better in France that provides unlimited data downloads.? I have been on all the major player websites but it seems hard to find an iPhone package that doesn't include the actual mobile phone itself - I just need SIM only.  I wanted a similar package to O2 in England to use whilst in France and to do this and keep my UK phone number we worked out today (my O2 helper and me) that it would cost about £80 per month!!!

Thanks all!

Pix

[Chancer]

I was beginning to wonder just what I was missing out on in this modern world having never even seen let alone used an i-phone, I recently asked someone if it was an i-phone that they had plugged into their ear but clearly it wasnt as they said I was nul.

My pal in the UK was exhorting to me in an evangelical manner to get one as it was, and I quote "the first phone that I have had that does everything that I want it to" I told him all I wanted a mobile phone to do was to make a few calls when I am in the UK and to sit in the draw for the rest of the year yet he still was trying to convince me that I should take out a contract.

I really laughed when I read your comment Pixie:

 

[quote user="Pixie Toadstool"].  I like my iPhone primarily to connect to the internet, get email and get the benefits of the many apps available and I'm not too keen on using it as a phone except to send texts and occasionally receive calls. 
Pix
[/quote]

Looks like I will be better off continuing with my old Nokia and in blissfull ignorance of whatever apps may be [:D]

[Théière]

Oh chancer you don't know what your missing, you can get an app that turns the phone into a spirit level! [:D]

[Pixie Toadstool]

[:-))][quote user="Chancer"]

I was beginning to wonder just what I was missing out on in this modern world having never even seen let alone used an i-phone, I recently asked someone if it was an i-phone that they had plugged into their ear but clearly it wasnt as they said I was nul.

My pal in the UK was exhorting to me in an evangelical manner to get one as it was, and I quote "the first phone that I have had that does everything that I want it to" I told him all I wanted a mobile phone to do was to make a few calls when I am in the UK and to sit in the draw for the rest of the year yet he still was trying to convince me that I should take out a contract.

I really laughed when I read your comment Pixie:

 

[quote user="Pixie Toadstool"].  I like my iPhone primarily to connect to the internet, get email and get the benefits of the many apps available and I'm not too keen on using it as a phone except to send texts and occasionally receive calls. 

Pix

[/quote]

Looks like I will be better off continuing with my old Nokia and in blissfull ignorance of whatever apps may be [:D]

[/quote]

Ah well there you are Chancer - exactly my point as I hardly ever want to use a mobile phone either - we agree.  [:D]

You need to see an iPhone and what it can do to be really seduced by the idea (I know you don't actually WANT to be seduced but ...).  My son and I were enjoying a day out in London when he enticed me into the Apple shop and as a good Mum I duly followed him in whilst stifling a groan but there were several tables laid out with, amongst other things, iPhones that you could actually play with and see what they could do.  I was absolutely flabbergasted by what they can do! 

"Apps" is short for applications and there are just thousands of things they can do.  On mine I have internet browsing and email facility, satnav, Google Earth, tube maps, weather with forecasts for most towns around the world, instantly updating currency converter, several radio apps, camera and the possibility of watching anything on YouTube on the big iPhone screen (it really is large enough to make watching films worthwhile), solitaire and mahjong games, facebook, ebay, moon cycle, Daily Telegraph, calendar/diary, notepad, stocks and shares portfolio manager, clock, iPod to play music, calculator (including scientific functions), dictaphone type app to record voice memos or record interviews and conversations, clock and Oh and I neearly forgot to say ... a phone and text message facility!!!  and yes that is no wind up - it really CAN be used as a spirit level!

If you're not really interested in computing things then I suppose it won't really grab you but as I am addicted to all the internet can do for me I find my iPhone very, very useful as  I love to have information at my fingertips.

By the way can anyone suggest any other really useful apps for France in particular?

Pix

[Théière]

[quote user="Pixie Toadstool"]. 

By the way can anyone suggest any other really useful apps for France in particular?

Pix
[/quote]

Booking ferry trips back to the UK [:P]

[Pixie Toadstool]

Oh Theiere are you suggesting using it as a PHONE?

Pix [;-)]

[AnOther]

[quote user="Pixie Toadstool"]By the way can anyone suggest any other really useful apps for France in particular?[/quote]Yes, Larousse, it's a free standing (no airtime required) English-French/French-English dictionary complete with conjugation etc. Also iTranslate which does need airtime.

I'm with Pixie here, I seldom use mine as a phone, I'm PAYG or rather I pay £5/mth for my SIM (my old UK number which I've had for years) and nothing at all unless I use it. In UK I'm mostly offshore anyway and I rarely need a mobile France. Instead it is my MP3 player (16gb), my calendar and contacts list, calculator, it carries notes and important documents (credit card hotlines, airline boarding passes), etc. etc. so more a PDA than a phone. It's all pin code protected.

In airport lounges or anywhere else with WiFi I can use Skype on it so another reason not to need it as a phone proper. I also have a BTopenzone account which is £5.99/mth for 500 minutes WiFi so can get connected to use Skype and the Internet virtually anywhere in UK I might need to. I can also use it for roaming but it gets rather expensive then.

Google Maps is useful but cost's airtime so if you are planning a visit to a strange town or city you can use it on the iPhone at home on your own WiFi and take screenshots, that way you have all the maps you need at your fingertips with no further need for airtime at all. You can of course take or download pictures of anything, be it maps, descriptions of places you are going to visit, WHY.

There are literally 1000's of apps available, many free but few costing more than a couple of $, so the uses for an iPhone, or iTouch, are limited by your imagination.

The downside of course is that to get one you need to either take our a contract or buy it outright so it's quite a sizeable investment. Mine was a gift and although I would never have personally gone out and got one now I have it I think if it died or got lost I'd have to replace it, probably S/H from eBay.

 

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Pixie Toadstool"]By the way can anyone suggest any other really useful apps for France in particular? Pix [/quote]

Around Me, - simply brilliant.

iCurrency Pad - tend to use that a lot with the current exhange rate movement [:D]

Taptu search - can be useful

Guardian Newspaper - if you want to read UK papers, of course

Games - good for visits to the Prefecture etc.

Doodle Jump -

Cogs -

Angry Birds -

.

[Chancer]

I am very pleased for you all but still remain unconvinced that my life will be enriched by an i-phone or from what I read, the apps.

I say this from a position of having removed most if not all of these type of things from my life, when all is said and done uneccessary things from my life and I have to say feeling a lot richer for it.

I do agree that the internet is a valuable resource although at first I refused to be convinced  I cant see the need to carry something to give me access when i am away from the house  and in any case I woud not want to pay for it.

I have just spent two weeks in the UK without internet access and very refreshing it was too, my mobie phone did get a little use as its not worth having a landline for the time I spend there.

These days I am fa more likely to carry a spirit level around with me than a mobile phone, there is one in the car and yet I usually forget the phone when I go out, if the i-phone had a built in tape measure maybe it could replace the one that lives in the poket of my K-way.

I do share with most of you the obsession of following the exchange rates, but boy did I get a nice surprise after two weeks away!