iPhone--Should I buy one in the US before we move?

According to the CS agent I spoke to at MagicJack, as long as you buy one in the States--I'm guessing with a US billing address--when you take it to Britain, it doesn't 'know' its in the Uk.

Umm...are you sure? It's a VoIP device. Surely it's IP aware.

I'm not sure. The CS agent told me that it was a standard practice for international business travelers to use them to call home. I figure the worst that can happen is it doesn't work, and I raise a stink return it.

I'm not sure. The CS agent told me that it was a standard practice for international business travelers to use them to call home. I figure the worst that can happen is it doesn't work, and I raise a stink return it.

I think it's the same deal as with Vonage.  We brought our US Vonage accout with us and it works the same way -- it needs an internet connection and is hooked up to our BT router (also needed a power converter for the device itself), but the IP origin doesn't factor in.  It's attached to a US credit card with a US billing address, so it retains it's US account status and we have unlimited calls to/from the US under our billing plan.  Magic Jack is definitely cheaper, but we already had Vonage in the US, so just stuck with it.

I just wanted to add that last year I called AT&T about roaming fees and they said that the phone roams even when you do not answer it, as in, if someone calls you and you do not pick up but they leave a message, your phone is still "roaming" to be able to accept the call and the message notification.  I was skeptical at first but a supervisor confirmed this.  After thinking about it, it makes sense. 

Phone lines, last summer when we went to the UK we took our Vonange box with us to make and receive phone calls.  We had to go on amazon.co.uk to buy a us-uk phone cord and then when we plugged it in, it worked to make phone calls but when you weren't usin git, it just constantly rang.  I amthinking this might have something to do with the fact that the house we stayed at at a VOIP phone through Virgin but not sure. We are moving to the Uk in August and I am definitely not going to rely on my US vonage box to work.  I have checked the rates for Vonage in the UK and they are actually cheaper.

I'm currently using my US purchased iphone in the UK on a pay-as-you-go sim card from O2.  This required me to unlock the phone from ATT first, then change the phone settings to UK so phone numbers would display in the proper UK format.  Not too difficult to accomplish all this, but certainly not for the faint of heart. 

I got 2 iphone's here in the US and am taking them back to the UK in 2 weeks.  I have them unlocked from ATT but can't get the phone settings to work with my Vodofone sim card.  So frustrating! Any suggestions for me?