Can you buy the iphone 3GS unlocked?

Is there anywhere in europe where you can just by the new iphone 3GS
unlocked and not attached to any network? I want to be able to just use my existing sim, and therefore not change network. My network will support it if I purchase
the phone elsewhere. I'm a bit wary of spending big money on ebay etc, would like to buy it over the counter. if anyone knows if this is possible, i'd appreciate any advice.

JB

You can buy it in an Apple Store, they don't attach it to any network.
For example my father had an iPhone for his birthday (lucky him), but it was in Italy and he has an Irish SIM card. Well no worries he just put the SIM into it and it's in that moment that it locked it to O2 IRELAND.
Hope I helped

Davcoccio said:

You can buy it in an Apple Store, they don't attach it to any network.
For example my father had an iPhone for his birthday (lucky him), but it was in Italy and he has an Irish SIM card. Well no worries he just put the SIM into it and it's in that moment that it locked it to O2 IRELAND.
Hope I helped

Click to expand...

Not quite true. In some you can get it prepaid, but it's still carrier locked (e.g. UK, Germany, Austria and there's no way to unlock it without an additional fee).
In a lot of european countries you can't buy the iPhone unlocked at all.

The exceptions?
- Italy
- Belgium
- Greece
- Russia
- Slovakia
- Czech Republic
- Turkey

However prices were around €499-€530 for the 8GB 3G model, I'd expect similar prices for the 3GS. At those rates you pay almost as much by getting the official (expensive) iPhone plan in your country. Plus non-official carriers won't support services such as visual voicemail.

If the country you buy it in is in the EU, taking it back to another EU country is no problem at all and you can use it with whichever carrier you like.

OK, thanks guys, it looks like i'll have to stump up for the expensive price plan.

Just aside, I assume its worth the money? I use a blacberry at the moment.
Stupid question????

i was a very, very dedicated blackberry user. I had no interest in an iPhone. A customer of mine upgraded to the 3G, and passed his 1st gen. down to me. I will never, never have a device that is not an iPhone. Hope that helps with your decision. Good Luck.

Good enough for me.

Thanks.

Play.com is going to be selling them unlocked but for such a ridiculous price