EXPIRED - Avoid rip-off Britain: Steps for getting the iPhone right now, unlocked, and under £290/£245

Newest Edit: Now marking Expired as the price is has been shown to be too high if dinged VAT by other members. Also - here's an email from the fromus2eu.com. So the "safe" price is now going to be more than the Nov 9th UK launch. The one option though if you don't want 8GB is the 4GB one for $299 as that won't be sold in UK and is cheaper.

"Quote:
Thank you very much for your email and interest you have taken in our business.
We can purchase an iPhone on your behalf and ship it to the UK.
The total price for a 8Gb Apple iPhone is as follows:

$ 422.94 price for Phone incl 6% Pennsylvania State Salestax
$ 35.00 shipping to the UK by United States Postal Service
$ 22.89 5% for international banking
$ 35.00 service fee
Grand total: $ 515.00

Other Options:
· If you wish to pay by paypal the total is $ 535.00

(4% added because that is what they charge us for receiving payments)
· If you wish to receive you package by UPS or Fedex the total is $ 560.00

This includes tracking and tracing and insurance and is a faster way to receive your iPhone

The following conditions apply:
· Not included in the price are duties and taxes that may apply for the UK
· We cannot ship as gift, used or repaired item etc
· The iPhone is new in box and is NOT Simlock free. We can not advise you on how to get it to work in the UK
· The Apple warranty does not apply in the UK
· The iPhone is not returnable or refundable
· Quantities are limited, so we can only ship 1 iPhone per customer"


Edit: Read the discussion and price analysis by publicnme and dudedue. Worst case price is higher (if charged VAT) than first calculated. There are also two more cheaper options which are $299 4GB and $349 8GB refurb at the US Apple Store.

Alright it's official. No not the official Apple iPhone UK announcement today but the fact that rip-off Britain is still going strong. So let's look at the steps you need to follow to get the iPhone for under £260 (or £230) unlocked without a contract right now rather than £269 PLUS £35/month PLUS 18 month contract PLUS waiting until November 8th.

The big thing holding this plan back was the hope for a 3G iPhone. Well unless Apple is playing clever the UK launch is going to be the same EDGE/GPRS 8GB iPhone that is currently being sold in the US.

So here's the step by step guide to your ahead of the pack sub £260 iPhone. Please note that although I'm going to go through my recommendations that I can't be liable for any cock-ups that might happen along the way!

Step 1. Buy one from the US. It's currently $399 (£199.75) on the Apple.com site. Wait you need an American cc...and shipping address. No prob. There's plenty of services out there to handle this for you but many charge a sign-up fee or monthly fee. I used the services of lovely Dutchie Ellen who runs FromUS2EU.com and had no problems so I guess this is my personal vouch :) You pay Ellen (paypal or bank transfer) and then she will buy the iPhone for you, have it delivered and then re-ship to the UK by USPS (important!!). Her pricing is $35 plus 5% surcharge to cover currency exchange etc. That works out to a fee + iPhone cost of $453.95 (£226.85).

PRICE TALLY: iPhone ($399) + collect/reship costs = £226.85

Step 2. Have it shipped to you. Ok here's the thing. You want this item shipped by USPS because they will not charge a flat brokerage fee unlike couriers (UPS/DHL/etc) and if I'm being really honest...you have a high chance of not getting charged duty either altogether. Please be aware that any product over £18 value is liable for VAT! However, when shipping with national post carriers this often slips through. I am NOT advocating adjusting the value of the package etc, I"m just saying I've observed this with USPS quite often. If your parcel happens to attract VAT you'll have to add some cash on and this will bring you to $492.26 (£246.53). The shipping charge by USPS should be approximately $25 and should arrive in a week/10 days. You can pay more if you want it faster.

PRICE TALLY: (If charged VAT): iPhone + USPS + VAT = £291. (if not charged VAT): iPhone + USPS = £245

Edit: As noted in the beginning please read price analysis by publicnme and dudedue who figures final price at £245 or £291 worst case.

So your final cost to get this in your hands from the Apple Store to you in the UK is £245 best case scenario or £291 worst case scenario. Plus you'll be getting it more than a month before anyone else.

So now you have this lovely American iPhone but alas it has an AT&T sim and won't work with your UK network. However have no fear because geeks have been working iPhone overtime for several months now to release an increasingly simple software unlock. It's pretty straightforward right now to unlock but I bet by the time it's in your sweaty hands there'll be an even better software unlock.

Step 3. Unlock the iPhone. I am not going to link directly to a tutorial because by the time you get the phone the link would probably be outdated. Instead here is a link to the hackint0sh forum where they have the latest and greatest unlock software plus detailed tutorials on how to do it. Honestly almost any idiot can do this if you follow the steps and it only takes about 1/2 hour. The most complicated thing you will have to do is type a username and password in or create a folder on your computer. http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=127

Step 4. Pop in your lovely UK sim and enjoy!! You've got the hot phone a month before UK release with the same specs it is announced as having on the November 9th launch. You've also got a fully unlocked iPhone with no contract obligation for less than you would have to pay for the phone PLUS contract at o2.

Step 5. I was going to say something less than nice about certain UK networks or price plans but way-heh don't want the hassle of nastygrams ;)