When you travel in Europe, how exactly does roaming work? Here in the States we have one very big country, with national carriers, so unless some coverage is missing, roaming is unusual.
But in Europe, the countries are small, and there are a LOT of them. Same thing with carriers by out standards.
How far do you have to roam before coverage from one carrier becomes a problem so that you need to invoke roaming, or a different sim?
Generally, when you cross the border into another country, you start roaming and pay a lot for it. The only exceptions are some smaller countries are served my the same infrastructure as another neighboring country (I live in Switzerland and don't roam when I go into Liechtenstein). You really don't get much coverage for your money in Europe, not like it is in the US.
I am going to the US this summer with an iphone and i am wondering if there is a way to turn off data without turning off voice cell. The only thing i see is airplane mode , which turn off eveything.
i was told by my provider that the iphone sometimes used data on its own to scan ofr updates. at the current rates i would rather turn data off and only allow wi-fi
Imo they should come up with a canada/US plan, or does that exist already?
Although Apple is using a micro-SIM card in the iPad 3G measuring 12mm x 15mm -- or just under half the size of the standard size SIM card from an iPhone 3GS -- it's possible cut down a full-size SIM card and turn it into a Micro-SIM, as the contacts are fully compatible.
This is very very interesting. Does this mean you can use any chopped-off SIM with a 3G data plan anywhere in the World? And if so, will the allegedly 'unlocked' iPad allow it, or will this necessitate a jailbreak?
When you travel in Europe, how exactly does roaming work? Here in the States we have one very big country, with national carriers, so unless some coverage is missing, roaming is unusual.
But in Europe, the countries are small, and there are a LOT of them. Same thing with carriers by out standards.
How far do you have to roam before coverage from one carrier becomes a problem so that you need to invoke roaming, or a different sim?
I should point out that I live in the US now, so my experiences from when I lived in the UK are 3 years out of date now, but I don't think much has changed.
This is a lame answer, but it depends and varies from carrier to carrier.
I was with Vodafone, who have a huge presence in Europe (actually they do worldwide, but in Europe they are particularly big). The plan I was on (an expensive one!) basically allowed me to roam Europe and not incur any charges, much like if I go around the US now, AT&T don't charge me anymore. One thing that made it more complex than in the US is that Vodafone gave me a list of carriers I was supposed to make sure I was on if they themselves didn't have a presence in the country. I don't know how much it cost if I went onto one of the "non-Vodafone approved" networks, because I never saw a bill, but I believe it wasn't that much.
Now, if you don't travel much in Europe (i.e. you're like my parents and only goto Spain once per year for a couple of weeks), you'd pick a much cheaper monthly plan, but pay through the nose if you used your phone in Spain, so they would buy a different SIM card in Spain, whereas I would just use the Vodafone network there (it's worth mentioning that if they used the Vodafone Spain network they would pay roaming charges even though their plan in the UK is with Vodafone, though the roaming charges if they were on the Vodafone Spain network would be lower than if they went on say the Telefonica network).
Once I got out of Europe, I bought different SIM cards. Vodafone does have presence in the US (they own a lot of Verizon) and that wouldn't have been especially expensive had I used it, but the place I used to spend most of my time visiting had awful Verizon coverage, so I bought a different SIM.
The only place all this SIM swapping became a problem was in Japan and Korea since they are not on GSM, so I used to just hire a phone from the airport and I was good to go.
So, in summary for Europe, you can get a plan which works basically just like in the US (i.e. you can go everywhere in Europe and it costs you no more), but that plan is more expensive than one which would limit you to a particular country.
Personally I quite like the Europe model. My wife basically never travels outside of California unless we are going back to the UK, so it would be great if she could have a plan that restricts her to California which is cheaper than one that you could use country wide.
I am going to the US this summer with an iphone and i am wondering if there is a way to turn off data without turning off voice cell. The only thing i see is airplane mode , which turn off eveything.
i was told by my provider that the iphone sometimes used data on its own to scan ofr updates. at the current rates i would rather turn data off and only allow wi-fi
Imo they should come up with a canada/US plan, or does that exist already?
You can turn e-mail off as well as push services. Turn off WiFi. Turn off location services.
Go to the Settings icon. It's all there.
As long as you don't use Safari then, or other programs that go to the internet themselves, you're fine.
I should point out that I live in the US now, so my experiences from when I lived in the UK are 3 years out of date now, but I don't think much has changed.
This is a lame answer, but it depends and varies from carrier to carrier.
I was with Vodafone, who have a huge presence in Europe (actually they do worldwide, but in Europe they are particularly big). The plan I was on (an expensive one!) basically allowed me to roam Europe and not incur any charges, much like if I go around the US now, AT&T don't charge me anymore. One thing that made it more complex than in the US is that Vodafone gave me a list of carriers I was supposed to make sure I was on if they themselves didn't have a presence in the country. I don't know how much it cost if I went onto one of the "non-Vodafone approved" networks, because I never saw a bill, but I believe it wasn't that much.
Now, if you don't travel much in Europe (i.e. you're like my parents and only goto Spain once per year for a couple of weeks), you'd pick a much cheaper monthly plan, but pay through the nose if you used your phone in Spain, so they would buy a different SIM card in Spain, whereas I would just use the Vodafone network there (it's worth mentioning that if they used the Vodafone Spain network they would pay roaming charges even though their plan in the UK is with Vodafone, though the roaming charges if they were on the Vodafone Spain network would be lower than if they went on say the Telefonica network).
Once I got out of Europe, I bought different SIM cards. Vodafone does have presence in the US (they own a lot of Verizon) and that wouldn't have been especially expensive had I used it, but the place I used to spend most of my time visiting had awful Verizon coverage, so I bought a different SIM.
The only place all this SIM swapping became a problem was in Japan and Korea since they are not on GSM, so I used to just hire a phone from the airport and I was good to go.
So, in summary for Europe, you can get a plan which works basically just like in the US (i.e. you can go everywhere in Europe and it costs you no more), but that plan is more expensive than one which would limit you to a particular country.
Personally I quite like the Europe model. My wife basically never travels outside of California unless we are going back to the UK, so it would be great if she could have a plan that restricts her to California which is cheaper than one that you could use country wide.
Interesting, but confusing. What do you consider to be expensive, in American dollars, for that Vodafone plan you had. I know it's out of date, just wondering.
When you travel in Europe, how exactly does roaming work? Here in the States we have one very big country, with national carriers, so unless some coverage is missing, roaming is unusual.
But in Europe, the countries are small, and there are a LOT of them. Same thing with carriers by out standards.
How far do you have to roam before coverage from one carrier becomes a problem so that you need to invoke roaming, or a different sim?
You have to buy add-ons (of GBP 5 per month, for instance, with O2 UK) on top of your usual contract, in which case you can receive calls for free and call rather cheaply (8p per min) while roaming - but this works only within the EU.
Otherwise, you pay substantive (but no longer exorbitant) fees for both making and receiving calls while roaming. In the case of 02 UK, it's 35 pence per min for making a call, and 18 ppm for receiving.
You have to buy add-ons (of GBP 5 per month, for instance, with O2 UK) on top of your usual contract, in which case you can receive calls for free and call rather cheaply (8p per min) while roaming - but this works only within the EU.
Interesting, but confusing. What do you consider to be expensive, in American dollars, for that Vodafone plan you had. I know it's out of date, just wondering.
The honest answer is I don't know. I didn't have to pick the plan or pay the bill (a ghastly fat woman from the telecom department just used to hand one over whenever I broke the last one!)
However, I know you had to justify yourself if the bill ever went over GBP100 for a month (about $150 at the moment) and mine never did, and I would spend at least 3 weeks per month on the road (and was a heavy phone user - I'm waiting now for the cancerous growth to show itself!)
My parents plan costs them GBP15 per month, but if they go roaming, they end up paying GBP1/minute (I think). Like nasdarq mentioned, they could pay an addon to their plan of about GBP5 per month and that would bring the cost per minute down dramatically).
Roaming costs have fallen a lot in Europe lately. Some EU commission or other found a few years ago that the carriers were taking the piss in terms of roaming costs (and costs in general) and forced them to lower their prices. One of the main elements of the EU is that companies are not supposed to charge more in one European country than another (I think Apple fell foul of that once with song costs on iTunes) and the phone carriers found themselves getting in trouble on those grounds.
I'm not that confident. It will be sometime after a colony is established there.
And then THEY will have a different plan.
Are you guys saying AT&T is anticipating costs of interplanetary data transmission? Would this be their roaming rate anywhere in the solar system, or would there be extra charges for the outer planets? It would seem kind of cheap to limit service to Earth and Mars ...
Because AT&T charges $25 per 20 MB. That comes to $75 per 60 MB.
Not much difference these days. AUD today is going at about 1 = 0.93 USD (check our OANDA for the latest). Cell prices here are generally pretty steep to encourage you to buy packages and even those have nasty stingers like absurdly high prices once you use up your quota. If planning on travelling to Oz, there's a good discussion of options include a Google Docs spreadsheet to calculate options on the Whirlpool forum (generally a good place to go for technical questions).
Still no word on what the data plans on iPad will be here: we only get to start pre-ordering on 10 May. I heard someone say dealers may have demos already, but one I asked told me he couldn't show it to me.
I am going to the US this summer with an iphone and i am wondering if there is a way to turn off data without turning off voice cell. The only thing i see is airplane mode , which turn off eveything.
There is a setting for this called "data-roaming", and you should be sure to leave it turned off. Apple added this option soon after the first iPhone was introduced, when travelers started getting hit with enormous data-roaming bills. You can find this setting in the "Settings" app, under General->Network. The default is off.
Told by whom, when? Where can I check out this info?
I would love to explore this further, since I have a soon-to-be 3-year old first gen and 2-year old second gen iPhones. I would like to get both those unlocked.
Are you guys saying AT&T is anticipating costs of interplanetary data transmission? Would this be their roaming rate anywhere in the solar system, or would there be extra charges for the outer planets? It would seem kind of cheap to limit service to Earth and Mars ...
They'll find a way to bleed us dry. If you pay by the message, SMS costs more per byte than communicating with Hubble Space Telescope.
Anyway, I would almost certainly leave behind the SIM if I hoped to use a cellular device internationally.
I am going to the US this summer with an iphone and i am wondering if there is a way to turn off data without turning off voice cell. The only thing i see is airplane mode , which turn off eveything.
i was told by my provider that the iphone sometimes used data on its own to scan ofr updates. at the current rates i would rather turn data off and only allow wi-fi
Imo they should come up with a canada/US plan, or does that exist already?
Data Roaming is off by default. You have to turn it on in order to use data while roaming. It is separate from "voice cell".
Look in Settings -> General -> Network and you will see the Data Roaming switch
Told by whom, when? Where can I check out this info?
I would love to explore this further, since I have a soon-to-be 3-year old first gen and 2-year old second gen iPhones. I would like to get both those unlocked.
It seems that these procedures vary.
In Germany and France you simply contact the carrier at the end of the contract period, confirm the serial number and IMEI, they then enter the IMEI into a database that Apple is monitoring. After normally less then 2 business days the iPhone is then permanently unlocked (iTunes will detect that the phone no longer requires activation using the original carrier SIM). Works fine, we have officially unlocked over 100 1st gen iPhones from T-Mobile Germany and Orange in France.
If I remember correctly, some 1st gen users received some assistance in at least making the iPhone work as an iPod touch after upgrading to a newer model; no idea if this was a "special" or a permanent policy though.
ATT has historically gouged its customers to the point that droves left the landlines and went to other carriers. ATT then ended up tying to buy them back with $20, $E50 and finally $100 checks to no avail. You would think that they have learned.
This is no different. Sure there are some ridiculous roaming charges in Europe but the governing body recently put significant pressure on the carriers.
If one is foolish to support this stupidity then one deserves ATT.
In Germany and France you simply contact the carrier at the end of the contract period, confirm the serial number and IMEI, they then enter the IMEI into a database that Apple is monitoring. After normally less then 2 business days the iPhone is then permanently unlocked (iTunes will detect that the phone no longer requires activation using the original carrier SIM). Works fine, we have officially unlocked over 100 1st gen iPhones from T-Mobile Germany and Orange in France.
If I remember correctly, some 1st gen users received some assistance in at least making the iPhone work as an iPod touch after upgrading to a newer model; no idea if this was a "special" or a permanent policy though.
yes but you don't even need to wait for the end of the contract period, not with all carriers anyway - with O2 UK, for instance, they allow unlocking after 12 months. I am still under 24-month contract with my iPhone 3G, but it has been unlocked for a few months now.
Comments
When you travel in Europe, how exactly does roaming work? Here in the States we have one very big country, with national carriers, so unless some coverage is missing, roaming is unusual.
But in Europe, the countries are small, and there are a LOT of them. Same thing with carriers by out standards.
How far do you have to roam before coverage from one carrier becomes a problem so that you need to invoke roaming, or a different sim?
Generally, when you cross the border into another country, you start roaming and pay a lot for it. The only exceptions are some smaller countries are served my the same infrastructure as another neighboring country (I live in Switzerland and don't roam when I go into Liechtenstein). You really don't get much coverage for your money in Europe, not like it is in the US.
i was told by my provider that the iphone sometimes used data on its own to scan ofr updates. at the current rates i would rather turn data off and only allow wi-fi
Imo they should come up with a canada/US plan, or does that exist already?
Although Apple is using a micro-SIM card in the iPad 3G measuring 12mm x 15mm -- or just under half the size of the standard size SIM card from an iPhone 3GS -- it's possible cut down a full-size SIM card and turn it into a Micro-SIM, as the contacts are fully compatible.
This is very very interesting. Does this mean you can use any chopped-off SIM with a 3G data plan anywhere in the World? And if so, will the allegedly 'unlocked' iPad allow it, or will this necessitate a jailbreak?
When you travel in Europe, how exactly does roaming work? Here in the States we have one very big country, with national carriers, so unless some coverage is missing, roaming is unusual.
But in Europe, the countries are small, and there are a LOT of them. Same thing with carriers by out standards.
How far do you have to roam before coverage from one carrier becomes a problem so that you need to invoke roaming, or a different sim?
I should point out that I live in the US now, so my experiences from when I lived in the UK are 3 years out of date now, but I don't think much has changed.
This is a lame answer, but it depends and varies from carrier to carrier.
I was with Vodafone, who have a huge presence in Europe (actually they do worldwide, but in Europe they are particularly big). The plan I was on (an expensive one!) basically allowed me to roam Europe and not incur any charges, much like if I go around the US now, AT&T don't charge me anymore. One thing that made it more complex than in the US is that Vodafone gave me a list of carriers I was supposed to make sure I was on if they themselves didn't have a presence in the country. I don't know how much it cost if I went onto one of the "non-Vodafone approved" networks, because I never saw a bill, but I believe it wasn't that much.
Now, if you don't travel much in Europe (i.e. you're like my parents and only goto Spain once per year for a couple of weeks), you'd pick a much cheaper monthly plan, but pay through the nose if you used your phone in Spain, so they would buy a different SIM card in Spain, whereas I would just use the Vodafone network there (it's worth mentioning that if they used the Vodafone Spain network they would pay roaming charges even though their plan in the UK is with Vodafone, though the roaming charges if they were on the Vodafone Spain network would be lower than if they went on say the Telefonica network).
Once I got out of Europe, I bought different SIM cards. Vodafone does have presence in the US (they own a lot of Verizon) and that wouldn't have been especially expensive had I used it, but the place I used to spend most of my time visiting had awful Verizon coverage, so I bought a different SIM.
The only place all this SIM swapping became a problem was in Japan and Korea since they are not on GSM, so I used to just hire a phone from the airport and I was good to go.
So, in summary for Europe, you can get a plan which works basically just like in the US (i.e. you can go everywhere in Europe and it costs you no more), but that plan is more expensive than one which would limit you to a particular country.
Personally I quite like the Europe model. My wife basically never travels outside of California unless we are going back to the UK, so it would be great if she could have a plan that restricts her to California which is cheaper than one that you could use country wide.
I am going to the US this summer with an iphone and i am wondering if there is a way to turn off data without turning off voice cell. The only thing i see is airplane mode , which turn off eveything.
i was told by my provider that the iphone sometimes used data on its own to scan ofr updates. at the current rates i would rather turn data off and only allow wi-fi
Imo they should come up with a canada/US plan, or does that exist already?
You can turn e-mail off as well as push services. Turn off WiFi. Turn off location services.
Go to the Settings icon. It's all there.
As long as you don't use Safari then, or other programs that go to the internet themselves, you're fine.
I should point out that I live in the US now, so my experiences from when I lived in the UK are 3 years out of date now, but I don't think much has changed.
This is a lame answer, but it depends and varies from carrier to carrier.
I was with Vodafone, who have a huge presence in Europe (actually they do worldwide, but in Europe they are particularly big). The plan I was on (an expensive one!) basically allowed me to roam Europe and not incur any charges, much like if I go around the US now, AT&T don't charge me anymore. One thing that made it more complex than in the US is that Vodafone gave me a list of carriers I was supposed to make sure I was on if they themselves didn't have a presence in the country. I don't know how much it cost if I went onto one of the "non-Vodafone approved" networks, because I never saw a bill, but I believe it wasn't that much.
Now, if you don't travel much in Europe (i.e. you're like my parents and only goto Spain once per year for a couple of weeks), you'd pick a much cheaper monthly plan, but pay through the nose if you used your phone in Spain, so they would buy a different SIM card in Spain, whereas I would just use the Vodafone network there (it's worth mentioning that if they used the Vodafone Spain network they would pay roaming charges even though their plan in the UK is with Vodafone, though the roaming charges if they were on the Vodafone Spain network would be lower than if they went on say the Telefonica network).
Once I got out of Europe, I bought different SIM cards. Vodafone does have presence in the US (they own a lot of Verizon) and that wouldn't have been especially expensive had I used it, but the place I used to spend most of my time visiting had awful Verizon coverage, so I bought a different SIM.
The only place all this SIM swapping became a problem was in Japan and Korea since they are not on GSM, so I used to just hire a phone from the airport and I was good to go.
So, in summary for Europe, you can get a plan which works basically just like in the US (i.e. you can go everywhere in Europe and it costs you no more), but that plan is more expensive than one which would limit you to a particular country.
Personally I quite like the Europe model. My wife basically never travels outside of California unless we are going back to the UK, so it would be great if she could have a plan that restricts her to California which is cheaper than one that you could use country wide.
Interesting, but confusing. What do you consider to be expensive, in American dollars, for that Vodafone plan you had. I know it's out of date, just wondering.
When you travel in Europe, how exactly does roaming work? Here in the States we have one very big country, with national carriers, so unless some coverage is missing, roaming is unusual.
But in Europe, the countries are small, and there are a LOT of them. Same thing with carriers by out standards.
How far do you have to roam before coverage from one carrier becomes a problem so that you need to invoke roaming, or a different sim?
You have to buy add-ons (of GBP 5 per month, for instance, with O2 UK) on top of your usual contract, in which case you can receive calls for free and call rather cheaply (8p per min) while roaming - but this works only within the EU.
Otherwise, you pay substantive (but no longer exorbitant) fees for both making and receiving calls while roaming. In the case of 02 UK, it's 35 pence per min for making a call, and 18 ppm for receiving.
You have to buy add-ons (of GBP 5 per month, for instance, with O2 UK) on top of your usual contract, in which case you can receive calls for free and call rather cheaply (8p per min) while roaming - but this works only within the EU.
Getting a lot of different answers here.
It's off to dinner for now though.
Interesting, but confusing. What do you consider to be expensive, in American dollars, for that Vodafone plan you had. I know it's out of date, just wondering.
The honest answer is I don't know. I didn't have to pick the plan or pay the bill (a ghastly fat woman from the telecom department just used to hand one over whenever I broke the last one!)
However, I know you had to justify yourself if the bill ever went over GBP100 for a month (about $150 at the moment) and mine never did, and I would spend at least 3 weeks per month on the road (and was a heavy phone user - I'm waiting now for the cancerous growth to show itself!)
My parents plan costs them GBP15 per month, but if they go roaming, they end up paying GBP1/minute (I think). Like nasdarq mentioned, they could pay an addon to their plan of about GBP5 per month and that would bring the cost per minute down dramatically).
Roaming costs have fallen a lot in Europe lately. Some EU commission or other found a few years ago that the carriers were taking the piss in terms of roaming costs (and costs in general) and forced them to lower their prices. One of the main elements of the EU is that companies are not supposed to charge more in one European country than another (I think Apple fell foul of that once with song costs on iTunes) and the phone carriers found themselves getting in trouble on those grounds.
Getting a lot of different answers here.
It's off to dinner for now though.
My info is one day old though
By the way, some operators (like Vodafone) probably still practice that carrier-by-carrier approach, which I agree is very confusing.
I'm not that confident. It will be sometime after a colony is established there.
And then THEY will have a different plan.
Are you guys saying AT&T is anticipating costs of interplanetary data transmission? Would this be their roaming rate anywhere in the solar system, or would there be extra charges for the outer planets? It would seem kind of cheap to limit service to Earth and Mars ...
Is that $100 Australian, or $100 American?
Because AT&T charges $25 per 20 MB. That comes to $75 per 60 MB.
Not much difference these days. AUD today is going at about 1 = 0.93 USD (check our OANDA for the latest). Cell prices here are generally pretty steep to encourage you to buy packages and even those have nasty stingers like absurdly high prices once you use up your quota. If planning on travelling to Oz, there's a good discussion of options include a Google Docs spreadsheet to calculate options on the Whirlpool forum (generally a good place to go for technical questions).
Still no word on what the data plans on iPad will be here: we only get to start pre-ordering on 10 May. I heard someone say dealers may have demos already, but one I asked told me he couldn't show it to me.
I am going to the US this summer with an iphone and i am wondering if there is a way to turn off data without turning off voice cell. The only thing i see is airplane mode , which turn off eveything.
There is a setting for this called "data-roaming", and you should be sure to leave it turned off. Apple added this option soon after the first iPhone was introduced, when travelers started getting hit with enormous data-roaming bills. You can find this setting in the "Settings" app, under General->Network. The default is off.
Not what I was told.
Told by whom, when? Where can I check out this info?
I would love to explore this further, since I have a soon-to-be 3-year old first gen and 2-year old second gen iPhones. I would like to get both those unlocked.
Are you guys saying AT&T is anticipating costs of interplanetary data transmission? Would this be their roaming rate anywhere in the solar system, or would there be extra charges for the outer planets? It would seem kind of cheap to limit service to Earth and Mars ...
They'll find a way to bleed us dry. If you pay by the message, SMS costs more per byte than communicating with Hubble Space Telescope.
Anyway, I would almost certainly leave behind the SIM if I hoped to use a cellular device internationally.
I am going to the US this summer with an iphone and i am wondering if there is a way to turn off data without turning off voice cell. The only thing i see is airplane mode , which turn off eveything.
i was told by my provider that the iphone sometimes used data on its own to scan ofr updates. at the current rates i would rather turn data off and only allow wi-fi
Imo they should come up with a canada/US plan, or does that exist already?
Data Roaming is off by default. You have to turn it on in order to use data while roaming. It is separate from "voice cell".
Look in Settings -> General -> Network and you will see the Data Roaming switch
Told by whom, when? Where can I check out this info?
I would love to explore this further, since I have a soon-to-be 3-year old first gen and 2-year old second gen iPhones. I would like to get both those unlocked.
It seems that these procedures vary.
In Germany and France you simply contact the carrier at the end of the contract period, confirm the serial number and IMEI, they then enter the IMEI into a database that Apple is monitoring. After normally less then 2 business days the iPhone is then permanently unlocked (iTunes will detect that the phone no longer requires activation using the original carrier SIM). Works fine, we have officially unlocked over 100 1st gen iPhones from T-Mobile Germany and Orange in France.
I am not sure about the US situation, but the official statement from AT&T still is (it seems) http://www.wireless.att.com/answer-c...&t=solutionTab
If I remember correctly, some 1st gen users received some assistance in at least making the iPhone work as an iPod touch after upgrading to a newer model; no idea if this was a "special" or a permanent policy though.
This is no different. Sure there are some ridiculous roaming charges in Europe but the governing body recently put significant pressure on the carriers.
If one is foolish to support this stupidity then one deserves ATT.
It seems that these procedures vary.
In Germany and France you simply contact the carrier at the end of the contract period, confirm the serial number and IMEI, they then enter the IMEI into a database that Apple is monitoring. After normally less then 2 business days the iPhone is then permanently unlocked (iTunes will detect that the phone no longer requires activation using the original carrier SIM). Works fine, we have officially unlocked over 100 1st gen iPhones from T-Mobile Germany and Orange in France.
I am not sure about the US situation, but the official statement from AT&T still is (it seems) http://www.wireless.att.com/answer-c...&t=solutionTab
If I remember correctly, some 1st gen users received some assistance in at least making the iPhone work as an iPod touch after upgrading to a newer model; no idea if this was a "special" or a permanent policy though.
yes but you don't even need to wait for the end of the contract period, not with all carriers anyway - with O2 UK, for instance, they allow unlocking after 12 months. I am still under 24-month contract with my iPhone 3G, but it has been unlocked for a few months now.