I finally did it. Earlier this week, I got a new iPhone. I was badly in need of a new phone for the past month as my old n95, drowned in a pint on a Saturday night out in Dublin. I temporarily tried using my old n73 and another entry level phone from Vodafone but just needed something with more power, features, email, mobile web, car kit compatible, etc. Vodafone couldn’t help me out with an upgrade because I’ve another 9 months left in my contract so I decided to look at my options [I should mention that they did give me 2 months free line rental because they felt sorry for me or something - about €160]. After using an iPod Touch since earlier this year, I really thought it was time to get an iPhone but how?
My Options
- Transfer my number to o2 (as they exclusively sell the iphone in Ireland) but I had 9 months left in my contract so that was out.
- Get a new number with o2 and have 2 phones – 1 for business and 1 for personal. Problem with this was that any time I called into either an o2 Store or Carphone Warehouse, they were never in stock and didn’t know when/if they would be.
- Get it from the US but when I had a couple of my friends check it out for me on their travels, all those phones were locked down to the network.
- Get a hacked iPhone on eBay that used iJailBreak or simable or another form of hack but the problem with this is that you can’t do firmware updates without the risk of apple locking the phone when re-activating it.
The Solution
After doing a bit of searching on eBay, I found out that certain countries were selling iPhones unlocked (or simfree) from their network. I did some searching around and it appeared to be true. A number of countries have laws in place that don’t allow Apple to lock the phones to a particular network, one of which is Italy. I did some more searching on eBay and I found a seller in Ireland that had some iPhones from Italy for sale. We agreed a price and I dropped down to Dublin to try before buying.
After unwrapping the packaging, I popped in my Vodafone sim, started up the iPhone and connected it to my MacBook’s iTunes. Apple did its thing and activated the phone. Later that night, I did a full firmware update and the phone re-activated with Apple – no hacks, no worries, no problems. OK, maybe a little bit of worrying while I was waiting those few seconds for it to activate but all was fine.
Setting Up iPhone for Vodafone Ireland
There wasn’t much to do to get the iPhone working with Vodafone Ireland. It picks up the cell information anyway so the phone works perfect. I just needed to get the right settings in for the 3G part. Under Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network I’m using the following information:
- APN: isp.vodafone.ie
- Username: vodafone
- Password: vodafone
I also rang Vodafone to see if my data add-on package would cover requests going through this APN. It didn’t but they have a package for 1GB for €10 extra per month. I’ve added that on and it should be through on the next bill date.
Screenshots (click for larger image)
Here’s some screenshots that I took of the phone on Vodafone Ireland. Oh, to take a screenshot, hold down the power button on the top of the iPhone and press the home button once. The screen will flash and add the screenshot to your camera roll. I had to look this up online as the instructions that came with my iPhone are in Italian. That’s the only draw back but I can live with it.
Conclusion
If you don’t want to go to o2 to get your iPhone, have a look on eBay for iPhones that are “legally unlocked” from Apple. They range from €550 to €750. The official price on Vodafone Italia is €569, as far as I remember. I paid €700 for mine, but sure I’m mad like this when it comes to gadgets. Still, I’m with Vodafone with all my free calls and stuff, I’ve got an iPhone and I’m NOT stuck in an 18 month contract with o2 on a worse price plan. I couldn’t be happier! I’m sure this process would work fine for getting an iPhone on Meteor Ireland or Three (3) Ireland. You’d just need to get the correct settings for those networks.
Hopefully this will help someone looking to get an iPhone that are not with o2 Ireland. I believe there is a market of around 2-3 million people in Ireland that are not with o2 and could want one. If anyone has any questions, don’t be afraid to ask.
