Buing Iphone in NZ or UK for travelling Europe ?

Forums › Apple iOS and devices › Buing Iphone in NZ or UK for travelling Europe ?

steve74

15 posts

Geek

#92468 30-Oct-2011 11:06

Hi guys

The wife and i are both up for new phones and are looking to make the break to smartphones. All of our friends have the iphone and all seem pretty happy with them. We are going to do a 3 months tour of ireland, england and europe in may next year and have a few questions. Once you convert the currency they seem to be no cheaper in the UK than in NZ.

1. If we buy here at home unlocked, will it work in UK and europe? Will we have to buy multiple sim cards to avoid high cross network fees?

2. Are we better off buying an unlocked UK phone and then bring it back to nz to fit a NZ SIM or do NZ networks not support unlocked UK phones?

Also are there any other pitfalls in using a NZ iphone in uk/europe or a UK phone in NZ? I assume WIFI is the same, not interested in 3G but it could be usefull when travelling i guess?

Thanks, steve

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80646 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41030

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#539232 30-Oct-2011 11:13

Providing the UK handset is really unlocked, it will work the same as the one bought here.

Yes, you will want to buy some local SIM with cheaper mobile data if you want to avoid roaming fees.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

Dreamy

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#539256 30-Oct-2011 12:39

If it were me, and since the prices are roughly the same anyway, I'd get the one here, as then you have an NZ wall charger and don't have to muck around with adapters. If it's unlocked (as all the ones sold here are) then you can drop any sim in from anywhere in the world. As Mauricio said...you will definitely want to get a local sim as the roaming charges will be very high.

~~Dream.Catcher~~
iPhone 4s 16 GB, Ipad2 32gb
windows 7 computer

rphenix

990 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 127

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#539380 30-Oct-2011 22:23

Dreamy: If it were me, and since the prices are roughly the same anyway, I'd get the one here, as then you have an NZ wall charger and don't have to muck around with adapters. If it's unlocked (as all the ones sold here are) then you can drop any sim in from anywhere in the world. As Mauricio said...you will definitely want to get a local sim as the roaming charges will be very high.

Except, the one thing apple does right is the power adapter. Instead of having to use a converter, or buy another adapter, the adapter itself has modular power connectors you can change. So about $2 - $5 for the NZ plug to replace the UK one.

steve74

15 posts

Geek

#540077 1-Nov-2011 21:34

thanks guys, i found a little bit more info and yes it seems that sim packs with free data and call minutes are not that expensive so it looks the way to go. So an unlocked iphone will work over there on their networks? there is no funny gsm / frequency thing going on like telecom and vodafone have here?

cheers, steve