Before You Buy a 3G Iphone Unlocked, Read This

There?s a place where you can buy an unlocked iPhone 3G wherein doing so would be completely legal. Surprised? You shouldn?t be if it?s in a region where buying unlocked cell phones is more of a rule than an exception. The region we?re talking about here is Hong Kong, probably the only place on earth where you can freely pick both your phone and your carrier.

Unlocked cellphones explained

First of all, what is an unlocked iPhone 3G, or an unlocked cell phone for that matter? A locked cell phone is one wherein you can only insert one type of SIM card; the one connected to exactly the same carrier as the cell phone. If you insert another SIM card, you won?t get any signal.

In the US for example, if you buy your iPhone 3G from AT&T, then you can only insert an AT&T SIM in it. i.e., you can only use your iPhone 3G on the AT&T network. An unlocked iPhone 3G on the other hand, would enable you to use it with any SIM and hence, on any network.

Perfectly legal

When you buy an unlocked iPhone 3G in Hong Kong, you don?t have to be worried that the authorities will put you in jail because they won?t. This whole set up is so legitimate in that region that Apple itself has started distributing unlocked iPhone 3G phones in that area.

Price to pay

Of course, while this all sounds so fine and dandy, it doesn?t come without a price ? literally. If you buy an unlocked iPhone 3G in Hong Kong, it is going to cost you more than if you bought it in the US, and that doesn?t yet include your fare to get there. You see, when you buy a phone in the US, the phones are cheaper because the carriers pay for that extra price in order for the potential subscriber to be enticed into locking in to their network.

How to buy an unlocked iPhone 3G

There are those who are simply fanatics of a certain kind of phone or brand. And when it comes to the word fanatic, that word can never be more appropriate to any other group of people than the fans of Steve Jobs, and hence the iPhone 3G. If you are one of them, then you wouldn?t mind paying the extra buck to buy an unlocked iPhone 3G? even if it were in Hong Kong.