T-Mobile UK sneakily offering iPhone 3G to moneyed customers
By Vladislav Savov 
posted Aug 4th 2009 4:59AM
posted Aug 4th 2009 4:59AM
We've done some digging, and while O2 has exclusivity on the iPhone 3G until September, that does not prevent T-Mobile from essentially functioning as a reseller of unlocked SIM-free units. Further distancing itself from legal action, the carrier is only offering the handsets to upgrading customers (as opposed to newcomers), thus the phones technically come sans a SIM. So, the suits at Magenta Towers must be feeling pretty smug right about now, having danced through a loophole and secured a wildly popular (albeit older generation) phone, all in the name of keeping high-brow customers from jumping ship. While you won't hear any PR from T-Mobile on the matter, we have a full statement from O2 on the subject of losing 3G exclusivity come September. You ready?
We have a multi-year agreement with Apple to sell iPhone in the UK. This relationship continues.Man, those Britons keep it short and sweet, don't they?
Were also good at Bureaucracy :)
Were alzo gud at spellun.
(More seriously, well done T-Mobile, shame they aren't trying to offer it to everyone "sim-free" if you just happen to pick up a sim in the store while you're there who's to know style.)
Oh dear Sim, he spelt it correctly.
I think Sim was referring to the "were" vs. "we're" issue.
CALLING T MOBILE NOW
If u really want one that bad just get any friend in Australia to buy one for u and send it over. You can buy iPhone 3G and 3GS unlocked on the Australian Apple store website.
I'll do it if u cover shipping and a small fee, say $50AUD
Go to Buy.com right here in the US.
When can we get it on Vodafone? How do you know its only exclusive till september? What about the 3G s ? I bloody hate using 02
Hurrah! iPhone, soon to be available with 100% less O2 :D
I'm so looking forward to the end of O2's exclusivity on the iPhone.
Their network is TERRIBLE. Even in central London, I only get 3G coverage about 40% of the time. When I do get 3G coverage, the speeds are terrible. Google.com takes about 20 seconds to load. Add that to the many network outages and you really wonder why anyone would choose O2 as their network.
I'd love to have an iPhone on Vodafone, T-Mobile or even 3.
Just on on eBay and get one sim free. That's essentially what T-mobile are doing.
What are you talking about? O2 is by far the superier network. I've used them all and they pale in comparision, Vodafone coming a close second though.
Have to agree with GingerFox, O2 has the best network coverage where I live, T-Mobile's is appauling.
O2 aint gonna be too happy about this, but at least more competition means it's better for the consumer
I don't see why this is so special as I bought both my 3G and 3GS from Italy were the law is that they are not allowed to sell locked phones thus forcing apple to sell it unlocked there.
What's the price of unlocked iphones in italy?
Problem is, the markup on unlocked iPhones can be huge!
A 3GS 32gb can set you back £920!
Ever wondered why Apple have never blocked the hacking loophole??? It's because they have no need to! Yes, o2 has exclusivity with Apple but Apple want to sell phones so it makes sense for them to leave the backdoor open for T-Mobile, Voda and Orange folks out there.
Long live the 3GS!!!
It does really make more sense for Apple to drag their feet on plugging unlock exploits, because the more handsets they sell, the better. Who gives a shit if it's at ATT's expense?
"Long live the 3GS!!!"
I don't think 1 year is that long.
We do love it short and sweet, everyone except my wife :( FML
can t-mobile usa use the exact same loophole to sell the iphone here? or would AT&T have the FCC all over tmo?
The unlocked phones come from Belgium or Italy. In the EU, there is freedom of trading goods. Not so with the USA. You're stuck, unless you can get someone from Italy or Belgium to send you one (taxes apply).
That's a good question - how are they obtaining these phones? Are they importing them from Belgium or Italy (as the above commenter stated), or are they purchasing O2 iPhones at full price somehow and unlocking them with PwnageTool or a similar application? (Although I don't see how they'd be able to walk into an O2 store every day and say they want 150 iPhone 3Gs at full contract price!)
And I wonder how T-Mobile plans to offer support. Obviously, Apple isn't going to warrant these "black market" devices.
"Obviously, Apple isn't going to warrant these "black market" devices."
Unless they are hacked apple has to warrant these devices. EU law states so.
And even hacked phones if its a clear hardware failure.
Selling hacked phones would be illegal in the EU. It's much easier—and legal—to just buy them in one of the EU member states that have laws requiring the sale of unlocked phones: Czech Republic, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Slowenia.
"Obviously, Apple isn't going to warrant these "black market" devices."
Hate to disagree but if you buy it from T-Mobile the law states the 1 year warranty is their problem
My guess is they're unlocking the units they sell in Austria/Croatia/Czech Republic/Germany/Hungary/Macedonia/Montenegro/Netherlands/Slovakia and shipping them to the UK. Makes more sense than importing from Belgium/Italy I think.
List of iPhone carriers by region: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1937
Big deal? It's not as if T-Mobile are the only resellers of factory unlocked iPhones in the UK, so if you want one to, for example, use on Vodafone then you can do so assuming that you can find somewhere with stock and don't mind paying a fortune. Heck, for a suitable donation I would buy you one from Belgium and ship it (EUR 675 for a 32GB version, if one can be found in the shops). The main problem at the moment, at least as far as the 3GS is concerned, is actually finding one. Personally, I am now resigned to not getting mine until September since stock levels are so low relative to demand here in Belgium. I also suspect that quite a lot of them are going straight out of the country again to markets like the UK.
@Eddie
I think they're importing the iPhones from the Czech Republic where T-Mobile is one of the three Providers (besides O2 and Vodafone) that are selling the officially unlocked iPhones.
Anyway, shame on T-Mobile: In Germany T-Mobile forbid Vodafone importing officially unlocked iPhones from Italy. Why do they think they can do something in the UK which they forbid Vodafone to do in Germany?
Thats not really a lot, I'm paying $190/mo on AT&T right now for two phones, unlimited everything, and a shared 400 or 600 minutes a month (can't remember which). £75is only $127, and I can imagine that anyone with 3-4 lines and a bit of plush would be right there or more. For reference I have an HTC Touch Pro and my fience has a LG Vu (which is about to meet a hammer and her to get a WinMo phone), so I'm not paying AT&T's iPwn-You tax.
The only real way of running up a bill of that size on a UK provider is if you use it outside of the country. Once you get past the £45/50 a month mark then it is generally unlimited calls/net/text messages.
Exclusivity or not, one has to wonder why the heck must the phone be provider locked? Even mind boggling the number of people willing to pay $$$ for a locked device.
one does wonder and the mind does boggle...
Nothing new, it's been sold on Play.com unlocked for months.
Hopefully they'll be helpful when it comes to switching my iPhone to their service when my free interwebs runs out.
The same thing is happening here in Germany: although T-Mobile has the monopoly for iPhones the second largest carrier Vodafone is offering unlocked iPhones (3G and 3GS) to their most loyal customers - if they ask real nice OR real hard, and only "under the table" of course.
Same could be said for New Zealand. Our 'Telecom' is basically rebating what it costs to get an unlocked iPhone from Vodafone. Bring in an iPhone and they'll give you a rebate if you sign onto one of their higher data quota plans (similar to what Vodafone offers). Only available in store.
That's interesting. Especially as T-Mobile Germany as the exclusive provider of the iPhone, is suing Vodafone for exactly the same thing :-)
Awwwwwwwwwwwwww yeah. T Mobes. Doin it for the lulz.
yeah there's no way this is legal
Do they enable Visual Voicemail, then? Or tethering?
How on earth can you say they are a superior network, have you looked at Ofcom's coverage maps for the mobile networks!? o2 have the second worse 3G coverage of any network in the UK and have the worst 2G coverage, 3 cover a greater percentage of the country than they do, they are pants! In terms of popularity yes o2 are first in the UK but in terms of network coverage they are awful. They may be cheaper than Vodafone but there is a reason for that ......
Vodafone iPhone all the way :)
Now.. US PLZ? Even though T-Mobile USA's 3G network is tiny and won't work with the current iPhone.. any competition is good. I'm a happy camper with my iPhone 3G on T-Mobile right now and my city has 3G soo...
$999 at buy.com