Parallel Imported Phones

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mattyh

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#2835 27-Nov-2004 13:06

Hi,

I am currently looking at buying a parallel imported Motorola E398. What are the risks involved in doing this? Is it advisable to buy from these sources?

Cheers

tonyhughes

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#10469 27-Nov-2004 20:20

a long time ago when I was a voda customer, i used to get phones from singapore all the time. never had a problem, but if i did, i wouldve been stuck with no support.

Buyer beware, and good luck. You will quite probably get yourself a great phone at a good price.

The higher prices here usually come about as a result of service levels provided.

Mostly Harmless

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#10485 28-Nov-2004 19:09

It's one way of getting around the inflated prices we pay in Kiwiland :-)

sbiddle

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#10525 29-Nov-2004 20:55

"The higher prices here usually come about as a result of service levels provided"

... and the very hefty margins since there is effectively no competition..

tonyhughes

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#10538 30-Nov-2004 08:07

Hefty margins??

The non-contract RRP price on the likes of an 027 Hyundai phone is over $500, but even on prepay, they are subsidized.

For those will to take a term contract, if you are spending about $45 or more a month, you can get a telecom mobile for around thirty dollars.

I think thirty bucks for a mobile is dirt cheap, and there is certainly no margin in there.

As for prepaid, why should phone pricing be any different to other things in the market? (cars, toasters, computers etc etc)

:-)

sbiddle

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#10545 30-Nov-2004 21:02

I am aware the margains are faily tight on some 027 phones but it's not the case with most of the GSM phones on the market. Wholesale prices for most phones are similair in both NZ or oz yet you'll probably pay around $100 more on a $500 phone here than you will in oz.

Keith78

28 posts

Geek

#10706 5-Dec-2004 00:10

Electronic goods in general are expensive in New Zealand. I suspect that there are a large number of middlemen. As for mobile phones, in New Zealand they're a bit of a rip off. Take a look at E-Town Digital, their prices are pretty cheap, and I'm sure they're still making a decent profit. For new phones, theyr'e around $80 cheaper than physical stores for the new panasonic phones. I got my A95 in Malaysia for $100 less than the price in New Zealand, plus an original Canon charger, tripod, 512mb CF, camera bag, camera case and some other goodies when my father went over there last month. So I saved around $400NZD all up.

I'm going to get my new phone either online, or when I got to Singapore and Malaysia soon. :D Happy bargaining for me.

If you still want to buy from NZ with some customer support, try pricespy.co.nz. They give you a list of the cheapest prices online. It's still "buyer beware" but some stores are quite helpful.

Keith

Mostly Harmless

77 posts

Master Geek

#10720 5-Dec-2004 12:41

I've just bought a T630 from e-Town. No problems with them, nice and cheap and they even offered to send me an English manual once they had then - the phone was a TIM phone from Italy. Only downside was the minor TIM customisations, which are much less intrusive than Vodafone's new branding in any case, and a flash will fix that.

In the end saved over $150 and avoided the horrible Voda icons. What more could you ask for?

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Keith78

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#11765 12-Jan-2005 00:21

Hey, dunno whether you got my e-mail or not, but what was the outcome in the end after fiddling with the settings? Coule you get the e398 to work from parallel imported? I want to buy that same phone from Malaysia in about half a week's time but I dunno if it'll work or not.

Keith

hmm__interesting

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#12832 15-Feb-2005 22:31

@ Mostly Harmless:

i am thinking of getting a T630 (from etown or parallel imports) and I am wondering if you were able to get PXT (mms) and vodafone live working? Cause my sister bought a Panasonic X66 from parallel imports and we can't get vodafone live to work on it...

Keith78

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#12837 15-Feb-2005 23:51

I got my e398 working finally, thanks to geekzone members :) Um, T630 shouldn't be a problem because vodafone has it set up on their website for configuration (http://wireless.vodafone.co.nz/ota.cfm). The website also has the configurations for the X66 so your sister shouldn't have a problem either, otherwise, you can manually configure it. Funnily enough, the e398 can't manually connect, but it picked up the NZ vodafone signal and half loaded the configurations by itself, I just had to select it and do some other things to my phone to make it send mms properly.

Keith

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#12843 16-Feb-2005 08:13

My T630 works really well. I don't use PXT but as mentioned above Voda have a configuration guide on their website. Voda live can be used via WAP, obviously you don't get the integration (and cack icons and what have you).

The T630 is a neat phone. I'm very chuffed with it.

Keith78

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#12881 16-Feb-2005 20:37

I think that the beauty of buying a phone from parallel imported or from overseas where I got mine, is primarily because it has the real factory settings before any provider tarnishes it with logos (such as the cr4p vodafone live logos all over the sharp, alcatel and some of the sony phones) and secondly, it's cheaper. Not as many middle-(wo)men so not as many people make a profit.

Keith

sbiddle

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#12883 16-Feb-2005 21:25

But some of the Parallel imported phones are not factory firmware they are from other overseas networks and are unlocked. It's not uncommon to find they are from Asian networks and will be preconfigured for them. The bulk of the T610's in the world are customised phones and not SE firmware.

Keith78

28 posts

Geek

#12885 16-Feb-2005 22:20

Oh ok, piece of cool information I learnt right there. I had a thorough check of my phone and it does have some Asian settings, much less intrusive though, didn't notice it before. Maybe it's just my phone.

Keith