ANGIE1956

I would like an answer to this too, as i will be doing the same thing myself in December.

ldollard

Buying, unlocking and jailbreaking a phone will in the US to use in the UK, WILL NOT WORK.

Reason being they run on two different frequencies (cell phone bands). So please dont waste your time doing that. It would just be a lot easier to say buy an iphone used that works on o2 or t-mobile say and then go pay as you go for a few months to a year, then reapply.

Secondly, if you put down a deposit, probably 400 pounds or more on the line, you are then very likely to get a contract account with anyone.

pTeronaut

I am sorry, for this instance as the OP is referring to owning iPhones, you are misinformed. The iPhone is a quad-band phone capable of operating within 800, 850, 900, 1800 & 1900 MHz GSM, and 850, 900, 1900, 2100MHz UMTS/ HSPDA for 3G. Europe, UK specifically operates on 900 & 1800 Mhz GSM wavelengths with the exception of Orange and 2100MHz UMTS (3G). The only iPhone that will absolutely not work in the UK or on any other GSM network is the variant of the iPhone 4 recently released for the US carrier 'Verizon' which runs on a CDMA network.

@limeynic, it is possible to take your iPhones with you to the UK, but you will need to unlock them as previously mentioned. The unlock window is dependent of the model of your iPhone.

iPhone 4 can be unlocked regardless of Baseband by way of a special SIM tray, without being Jailbroken. NOTE this method is not without it's risks as it is a 'tethered' unlock (the unlock has to be performed after every reboot, and requires calling 112 and hanging up before the ringing tone is heard. There is a jailbroken variant of this unlock that handles the network connection automatically available as of today.)

iPhone 3G and 3G[s] require jailbreaking and that the iPhones baseband has not been updated for over a year, if you have updated your iPhones normally, then it is not possible to use those devices on any network other than which it was sold on.

iPhone 2G From what I have read, has a permanently unlockable baseband.

There are some talk on a legitimate iPhone Modding forum that should you be able to get a foreign iPhone onto their network, then they may be able to request an unlock for that iPhone from Apple.

Links for the hardware unlock and the iPhone Modding forum upon request by PM.