Unlock iPhone question - iPhone 3G

cburgess34 · 12-10-2007, 09:33 AM

I recently bought an iPhone thru apple.com but have not activated it yet because it is a Christmas present. Anyway, here is my situation I'm in. I live in USA for 4 months of the year and Istanbul, Turkey for 8 months of the year. I am currently in Istanbul, where I will activate my iPhone and become an AT&T customer. My question is, is it possible to unlock my phone here in Turkey, use my AVEA (Turkish cell phone carrier) SIM card for 8 months of the year and then when I return to the States, slip my AT&T SIM card back in and use my iPhone with AT&T and have no problems or lose any iPhone features?

I hope I am explaining myself here but I'd like to unlock my iPhone, use an international SIM card for part of the year, return to the States and have no problems with AT&T.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Hawk · 12-10-2007, 03:53 PM

Yes, as far as I know, that shouldn't be too much of a problem - depending on your firmware version.
The problem that you might now have thought about is that for 4 months out of the year, you're going to be paying for service that you aren't using. and the reverse of that is that 8 months of the year, there will be your other bill that you would be paying on and not using.
My best advice is to call AT&T and talk to them about what kind of plan they can assist you with. They might be able to do "suspended Service" while you're in Turkey.

cburgess34 · 12-10-2007, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawk

Yes, as far as I know, that shouldn't be too much of a problem - depending on your firmware version.
The problem that you might now have thought about is that for 4 months out of the year, you're going to be paying for service that you aren't using. and the reverse of that is that 8 months of the year, there will be your other bill that you would be paying on and not using.
My best advice is to call AT&T and talk to them about what kind of plan they can assist you with. They might be able to do "suspended Service" while you're in Turkey.

Yes, that is what I always do, put my US cell phone carrier on hold while I'm away. I am now with Verizon and I always just put a 3 month hold for $25 while I'm away.The company that I work for pays my Turkish cell phone carrier bill, so that is not a problem. I just usually slip in my SIM card on any GSM phone and I'm good to go.

What steps do I need to take in order to unlock my iPhone and have it work with AVEA Turk cell phone carrier, without causing any problems to my iPhone? Thanks.