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> FS: Freakin Iphones (under £300)
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I have taken this from hotukdeals as I think it is important information that everyone on these boards would like to know.
How to avoid rip off Britain:
Edit: Read the discussion and price analysis by publicnme and dudedue. Worst case price is higher (if charged VAT) than first calculated. There are also two more cheaper options which are $299 4GB and $349 8GB refurb at the US Apple Store.
Alright it's official. No not the official Apple iPhone UK announcement today but the fact that rip-off Britain is still going strong. So let's look at the steps you need to follow to get the iPhone for under £260 (or £230) unlocked without a contract right now rather than £269 PLUS £35/month PLUS 18 month contract PLUS waiting until November 8th.
The big thing holding this plan back was the hope for a 3G iPhone. Well unless Apple is playing clever the UK launch is going to be the same EDGE/GPRS 8GB iPhone that is currently being sold in the US.
So here's the step by step guide to your ahead of the pack sub £260 iPhone. Please note that although I'm going to go through my recommendations that I can't be liable for any cock-ups that might happen along the way!
Step 1. Buy one from the US. It's currently $399 (£199.75) on the Apple.com site. Wait you need an American cc...and shipping address. No prob. There's plenty of services out there to handle this for you but many charge a sign-up fee or monthly fee. I used the services of lovely Dutchie Ellen who runs FromUS2EU.com and had no problems so I guess this is my personal vouch
You pay Ellen (paypal or bank transfer) and then she will buy the iPhone for you, have it delivered and then re-ship to the UK by USPS (important!!). Her pricing is $35 plus 5% surcharge to cover currency exchange etc. That works out to a fee + iPhone cost of $453.95 (£226.85).
PRICE TALLY: iPhone ($399) + collect/reship costs = £226.85
Step 2. Have it shipped to you. Ok here's the thing. You want this item shipped by USPS because they will not charge a flat brokerage fee unlike couriers (UPS/DHL/etc) and if I'm being really honest...you have a high chance of not getting charged duty either altogether. Please be aware that any product over £18 value is liable for VAT! However, when shipping with national post carriers this often slips through. I am NOT advocating adjusting the value of the package etc, I"m just saying I've observed this with USPS quite often. If your parcel happens to attract VAT you'll have to add some cash on and this will bring you to $492.26 (£246.53). The shipping charge by USPS should be approximately $25 and should arrive in a week/10 days. You can pay more if you want it faster.
PRICE TALLY: (If charged VAT): iPhone + USPS + VAT = £291. (if not charged VAT): iPhone + USPS = £245
Edit: As noted in the beginning please read price analysis by publicnme and dudedue who figures final price at £245 or £291 worst case.
So your final cost to get this in your hands from the Apple Store to you in the UK is £245 best case scenario or £291 worst case scenario. Plus you'll be getting it more than a month before anyone else.
So now you have this lovely American iPhone but alas it has an AT&T sim and won't work with your UK network. However have no fear because geeks have been working iPhone overtime for several months now to release an increasingly simple software unlock. It's pretty straightforward right now to unlock but I bet by the time it's in your sweaty hands there'll be an even better software unlock.
Step 3. Unlock the iPhone. I am not going to link directly to a tutorial because by the time you get the phone the link would probably be outdated. Instead here is a link to the hackint0sh forum where they have the latest and greatest unlock software plus detailed tutorials on how to do it. Honestly almost any idiot can do this if you follow the steps and it only takes about 1/2 hour. The most complicated thing you will have to do is type a username and password in or create a folder on your computer.
http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=127
Step 4. Pop in your lovely UK sim and enjoy!! You've got the hot phone a month before UK release with the same specs it is announced as having on the November 9th launch. You've also got a fully unlocked iPhone with no contract obligation for less than you would have to pay for the phone PLUS contract at o2.
Step 5. I was going to say something less than nice about certain UK networks or price plans but way-heh don't want the hassle of nastygrams
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Posted: 2007-09-19 10:53:55
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its probably worth giving the
discussion thread link too to see all comments about this
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Posted: 2007-09-19 10:55:45
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well thats going to hurt the money makers on ebay that have already been doing this for the last couple of months!
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Posted: 2007-09-19 11:06:37
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Hi
Dont you also need a at&t contract to buy an iphone from the apple website.. or can you buy the iphone with out contract...
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Posted: 2007-09-19 11:51:03
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On 2007-09-19 11:51:03, zootzoot wrote:
Hi
Dont you also need a at&t contract to buy an iphone from the apple website.. or can you buy the iphone with out contract...
nope, you buy an iphone locked to AT&T and to get the activation code you have to sign up to a contract OR unlock using the latest tricks....
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Posted: 2007-09-19 12:01:29
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I dont unserstand why people think you need to buy the contract, anybody can activate it and unlock it themselves with free software avalible on the web. Seems silly that people are buying these on ebay.com for like $450 when they could just buy one from apple.com for $400...
I like the above method, it sounds pretty sound to me lol
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Posted: 2007-09-19 13:14:21
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what? you mean Apple are expecting me to pay them to own an iPhone? well, they've got a damn cheek. they need to wake up to reality and realise that they have to pay the customer to compensate him/her for owning that garbage.
_________________
Feisty Fawn Linux user.
[ This Message was edited by: Brightspark on 2007-09-19 12:35 ]
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Posted: 2007-09-19 13:34:44
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On 2007-09-19 13:34:44, Brightspark wrote:
what? you mean Apple are expecting me to pay them to own an iPhone? well, they've got a damn cheek. they need to wake up to reality and realise that they have to pay the customer to compensate him/her for owning that garbage.
Here here!
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Posted: 2007-09-19 14:17:10
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have you used or owned one?
If not you cannot make a valid decision, and cannot offer a reasnoble arguent...
you have to pay all companies to own something, why would apple be any different.
Granted the iphone may not be for everything, but the fact they sold 1m units recently and then when the price lowered sales went up by 200% shows that its more then just value for money.
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Posted: 2007-09-19 14:41:32
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"have you used or owned one? "
how on earth did you arrive at the conclusion that i had to own something to know what that something is like? have you never heard of the internet?
here are some valid reasons:
-unable to send sms to more than 1 recepient
-touch sensitive screen
-a high percentage of reports of poor reception, earpiece quality, and call quality
-threaded sms
-poor camera(although this isn't really a deal breaker for me, but just adds to its many drawbacks)
-no customised ringtones. in fact, virtually everything is restricted.
-it's £300 too expensive.
"but the fact they sold 1m units recently"
i wonder why that was. it wasn't because of it's capabilities or value for money, that's for sure. it sold 1m on the basis on hype and apples so-called reputation.
it's a glorified fashion phone, and no more.
[ This Message was edited by: Brightspark on 2007-09-19 14:52 ]
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Posted: 2007-09-19 15:45:02
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