getting an unlocked iphone from europe

[dvigue]

my brother and sister in law live in germany. i see that tmobile over there has the iphone4. i am on tmobile...is it cheaper to buy an iphone from there and have it sent to here, cut down my sim and use it on tmobile USA?

anyone done that? are the bands the same?

 

[ghostface147]

If you use t-mobile here in the states, you will not have 3G speeds. T-mobile uses 3G bands that the iPhone doesn't support in the states.

 

[lorin.bute]

That's not really true. T-MO USA is the only carrier in the US that has the same bands as in Europe. My previous phone was a Nexus One bought from the US from T-Mo and it worked perfectly here in Europe. So it should work the other way around.

 

[ghostface147]

You need to do your homework lorin.bute. The iPhone 4 doesn't support the 1700 MHz band, which is what T-Mobile in the States uses for 3G. They support the 2100 Mhz band, but that's just one side of the equation. Try again.

 

[sting7k]

There are 2 versions of the Nexus One, one that has UTMS 900,1700,2100 and one with 850,1900,2100.

The first one works with Tmobile (1700) and the seond works with AT&T (850), the other bands are in other regions.

iPhone 4 - 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz. No TMoUSA 3G bands supported.

 

[lorin.bute]

I had no idea about the 1700 band for 3G. My bad!