Buying A Phone Abroad

lasvegaschris

I'm off to nYC in December and thought I'd take advantage of the exchange rate to bag myself a new phone.

Aside from the cost, are there any questions I need to ask when buying it? Obviously I want to make sure my UK Sim card works back here....

Has anybody else here bought a phone in the U.S.?

grumbler

A recent thread: buying the IPhone abroad??

corf999

There are two models in the US - https://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

to get the same model as per Europe you'd need the Sprint or US Cellular - Although I am not sure you can buy them sim free in the US yet.

Rev

lasvegaschris wrote: »

I'm off to nYC in December and thought I'd take advantage of the exchange rate to bag myself a new phone.

Aside from the cost, are there any questions I need to ask when buying it? Obviously I want to make sure my UK Sim card works back here....

Has anybody else here bought a phone in the U.S.?

If it's an iPhone be aware that their warranty is no longer world wide. I know this because my cousin is often abroad and asked me to find out if a Canadian iPhone would be okay here as they're £150 cheaper.


Contacted apple support and was told that if there's a hardware problem then he phone will have to be returned to the country of origin as the UK apple store won't replace or repair it.


It will work okay. All bands are supported etc but if it goes wrong you're out of luck.


No idea what other makers warranty procedure is. And apples used to be world wide but apparently changes were made this month for the iPhone 6 warranty.

d123

corf999 wrote: »

There are two models in the US - https://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

to get the same model as per Europe you'd need the Sprint or US Cellular - Although I am not sure you can buy them sim free in the US yet.

iPhone 6 doesn't have that problem, all models cover LTE classes 3, 7 and 20 (1800MHz, 2600MHz and 800MHz) which are the ones used in the UK.

Apple are a little ambiguous about warranty, and people have had warranty service in the UK on US handsets, it seems to depend on what the problem is.

This is what they say:

Service options may be limited if requesting service in a country that is not the country of purchase for the Apple Product. In the event that service for the Apple Product is not available in such country, Apple will notify you of any additional charges for shipping and handling that may apply before rendering service.

http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/products/uk-ireland-universal-warranty.html

Rev

d123 wrote: »

iPhone 6 doesn't have that problem, all models cover LTE classes 3, 7 and 20 (1800MHz, 2600MHz and 800MHz) which are the ones used in the UK.

Apple are a little ambiguous about warranty, and people have had warranty service in the UK on US handsets, it seems to depend on what the problem is.

This is what they say:


http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/products/uk-ireland-universal-warranty.html

This is direct from an apple advisor via their chat.

d123

You do realise that it's entirely possible to get a nonsense or partly incorrect reply from a CS agent when dealing with any company? What the outsourced CS on chat say is often quite different from what a genius will do in store.

Do a Google and you'll find forum posts of people who have had service, not to mention the fact I did post directly from the Apple warranty page...

Rev

d123 wrote: »

iPhone 6 doesn't have that problem, all models cover LTE classes 3, 7 and 20 (1800MHz, 2600MHz and 800MHz) which are the ones used in the UK.

Apple are a little ambiguous about warranty, and people have had warranty service in the UK on US handsets, it seems to depend on what the problem is.

This is what they say:


http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/products/uk-ireland-universal-warranty.html

d123 wrote: »

You do realise that it's entirely possible to get a nonsense or partly incorrect reply from a CS agent when dealing with any company? What the outsourced CS on chat say is often quite different from what a genius will do in store.

Do a Google and you'll find forum posts of people who have had service, not to mention the fact I did post directly from the Apple warranty page...

Or course I realise that. But it's common sense to go with what the company rep says and not what random forum posts say.


I'm not saying those are wrong. But if a company rep is saying no and the warranty page is ambiguous is it really worth taking the chance? Because if the phone goes wrong and the warranty isn't world wide it's an expensive mister to have made.

patman99

Everyone has assumed that the op is intending to buy an iPhone. He hasn't confirmed this, and may well be after something else.

The main issue when buying phones abroad used to be the charger unit, but as all todays phone charger cables tend to end with a USB connecion, this is no longer an issue.

The other thing you need to consider is that the phone may well be network locked (indeed, Apple's phones lock themselves to the first network that you insert a sim for and cannot be changed (as my son's ex found out)).

In the UK, it is not uncommon for phones supplied by independent retailers and the likes of CPW to be provided fully-open to be used on any network you may choose to use.

Also worth noting that in the US the prices are displayed excluding local taxes, so the final price usually comes in close to what you would pay in the UK.

d123

patman99 wrote: »

Apple's phones lock themselves to the first network that you insert a sim for and cannot be changed (as my son's ex found out)).

This only happens with iPhones sold by CarPhoneWarehouse as "sim free", they seem to be unique in this shady practice.

I'm aware of Apple selling T-Mobile USA and Verizon devices unlocked (in the conventional sense) if full price is paid. Currently, Apple don't sell a genuine unlocked device in the US, just unlocked full price network handsets (it's really just a pedantic difference, same phone, different description on the receipt).

lasvegaschris

So as far as Apple goes, my only issue is the warranty. Does anyone know if this is the same with their MacBooks and iPads? I always thought their worldwide warranty was a great selling point :-(

patman99 wrote: »

Everyone has assumed that the op is intending to buy an iPhone. He hasn't confirmed this, and may well be after something else.

I haven't decided myself yet! First time in NYC so I'll see 1) how much time I've got and 2) if there are good deals around. My experience in Vegas is that you have to go 'out of town' to get a decent deal when shopping, as most of the shops in the city are for tourists, and the sales aren't as good (I know smartphones don't really go on sale, I'm speaking about shopping in general here).

patman99 wrote: »

Also worth noting that in the US the prices are displayed excluding local taxes, so the final price usually comes in close to what you would pay in the UK.

A 16bg iPhone 6 in the UK would be £539 when bought outright, compared to $649 ($706 after tax) in USA which works out around £430. So nearly £100 saving.

You could buy the top end 128gb iPhone 6 for more or less what it would cost you to buy the bottom end 16gb one in the UK.