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Topic: Buying cell phones / iPads before moving  (Read 3461 times)

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Buying cell phones / iPads before moving
« on: April 10, 2016, 05:05:54 PM »
Moving to Glasgow in June and wondering if I buy iPhone / iPad prior to moving (cheaper in US?) will all work in UK? Also have 2015 Plasma TV should I sell or bring with. Any other advice on Electronics would be welcomed!

Thanks


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Re: Buying cell phones / iPads before moving
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2016, 05:14:57 PM »
iPhones & iPads are fine. We brought our US ones here.

TV can be a bit tricky -- we brought our US TV but we did require a power converter and some kind of channel box to get it to work. At the time our TV was top of the range so replacing it would have been too expensive but now I'd replace it.


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Re: Buying cell phones / iPads before moving
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2016, 05:25:06 PM »
Hi there. I will give some information on bringing over your cell phone (iPhone).  We brought our phones from the US and had a slight hassle.  Basically you need your US carrier (in our case ATT) to unlock your phone before you expect to buy a SIM card to put in your phone over here.  It's not a big deal but some phone UK carriers told us to take our phone to Apple and even recommended jail breaking it, don't do that if you don't have to.   So as long as your bills are paid up and you've cancelled your service, your carrier should be able to unlock your phone, or presumably iPad if you had a carrier on that as well.  They would do this remotely and then you have to reset your device (so don't forget your back up!).  As a side note you'll also want a new ITunes ID to create for the UK ITunes Store. If you have music, apps or books on your phone that you already purchased and still want to access, just toggle between the 2 IDs. You'll notice once you get your finances all transferred and such, it's kinda hard to buy anything in dollars when you're paying in another currency...also some apps you'll use here (for example say transportation and travel apps) you won't be able to buy from the US Store.

As far as electronics go, I'd recommend being ruthless where you can.  Televisions may not only have a region issue (not sure) but then do they have a power converter etc.  I will admit we shipped things we spent a lot of money that either had the converter integrated or yes we even brought our fairly new dyson (no power converter) but we purchased a 3000watt power converter when we got here and most things we plug in work great.  A Jura espresso machine...not so great.  It has a coffee grinder as part of the brew and needed the full 120v of power to pull a good cup of coffee (power converters only give 110v of power).  Is your head spinning yet? Haha.  I'm just saying it can be done, check your items and ask yourself if you just want a new one when you get here, could you live without it, etc. 


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American married to British Citizen, living in Colorado.  Moving to Hampshire/Berkshire area.


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Re: Buying cell phones / iPads before moving
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2016, 05:27:07 PM »
I bought my MacBook Air and iPod touch in the US because combined they were £400 cheaper than in the UK. They work fine here and are even covered under warranty in the UK.

TVs are more awkward because US and UK TVs run on different voltages/frequencies so you would need a transformer to use it and also US TVs are NTSC coding while UK TVs are PAL... It might be easier just to purchase a TV in the UK rather than deal with making a US TV work here.


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Re: Buying cell phones / iPads before moving
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2016, 06:04:52 PM »
I got a new iPad and iPhone right before my move in December. The Apple Store told me that all iPhones should be unlocked now. I was on Verizon and had no issues with SIM card here.


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Re: Buying cell phones / iPads before moving
« Reply #5 on: April 10, 2016, 06:26:48 PM »
Thank you so much...great advice or is it advise :) we are not married to any small appliances and I think TV's will stay in storage stateside...great forum great answers


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Re: Buying cell phones / iPads before moving
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2016, 10:50:54 AM »
You might want to be aware that the mobile phone network 3 has a special deal where you can use your phone and data plans in the US and France exactly the same as if you were in the UK.  That means that when you travel back to the states, you can use your phone and IPad for much cheaper than otherwise.  Keep it in mind when choosing a mobile provider if you like to travel.


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Re: Buying cell phones / iPads before moving
« Reply #7 on: April 11, 2016, 11:39:38 AM »
You might want to be aware that the mobile phone network 3 has a special deal where you can use your phone and data plans in the US and France exactly the same as if you were in the UK.  That means that when you travel back to the states, you can use your phone and IPad for much cheaper than otherwise.  Keep it in mind when choosing a mobile provider if you like to travel.


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I have 3 and highly recommend it,  in part for that very reason. They have free roaming throughout most of Europe as well. It's not just limited to France. I'm on my way to Austria right now and will be able to use my phone as normal while there.
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Re: Buying cell phones / iPads before moving
« Reply #8 on: April 11, 2016, 07:54:50 PM »
All my Apple electronics were bought either in the US or Malaysia, they work fine in the UK. Its just a matter of buying the appropriate plug. We have a TV that we bought in the UK from a friend, it is dual voltage and we'll be taking it back to the US in the summer. It has NTSC as an option on the menu, but we'll be using it with a cable box/watching TV via Netflix so that doesn't matter anyway.


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Re: Buying cell phones / iPads before moving
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2016, 01:27:39 PM »
Hi,

A bit late to this thread but should be useful for anyone searching for the same information

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/iphone/why-not-buy-us-iphone-for-uk-3481491/

There's quite a bit more to it than initially meets the eye and the responses so far here.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!


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