I will buy an iPhone as soon the next shipment to sweden comes. The thing is that I will move to Japan in a year or so and I'd like to use it there as well. Do I have to buy a new one there or is the european iPhone the same as the Japanese? I ask because I heard that the 3G network in japan is somewhat different from the european and the US one, wich is supposed to be the same.
You will need to buy a new one there. Your Swedish iPhone will remain locked to your phone network in Sweden. It will work in Japan, but only in roaming mode and billed back to your Swedish phone network account.
What you say is that if I unlock my iphone from my swedish provider (which is possible after 12 monthes) then I will be able to use it without any problems in Japan? Is it the exact same hardware sold all over the planet?
I live in Japan and am on my third iPhone 3G and I also have a non-3G US iPhone for when I travel in the US.
Even unlocked it will be a paperweight because you will need to get a Softbank iPhone specific SIM in order for it to work. The only way to get that SIM is to sign a contract for an iPhone when you buy one in Japan. The color of the SIM is also different silver is the standard color for Softbank SIMs, the iPhone 3G SIM is black.
The SIM that Softbank uses in the iPhone in Japan is NOT compatible with any other handset offered by Softbank they are not interchangeable in either direction. This is intentional and they tell you this when you sign the contract (in Japanese of course) as a disclaimer.
So this essentially means you can not buy a non-iPhone Softbank phone with the intention of pulling its SIM out and putting it in your unlocked iPhone 3G. While, a Softbank iPhone SIM would probably work, you won't be able to get that without buying a Softbank iPhone thus defeating the point.
Other Softbank SIMs simply won't work as the provision information is completely different for the Japanese handsets. They also changed the moble email address of people switching to the iPhone to @i.softbank.jp to further delineate the two and I presume for assisted bragging rights and self-promotion (the iPhone is very much a fashion item here and I have seen lines even in the country side).
In fact, when I needed to replace my iPhone they had to locate one and I had to drive a good distance into the middle of nowehere to get it. Incidentally, they replaced it with a phone from a special inventory set aside specifically for replacements due to the policy about the SIMs not working on any other Softbank phone. In theory this would leave you phoneless in the even that your iPhone failed because you cant simply put your SIM in another phone and this would be completely unacceptable in Japan.
So they inventoried factory new phones that are not in the nice packaging but rather a brown shipping box with foam inside and nothing but a new iphone in it with no wires or anything else. They simply switched mine, no paperwork, no questions asked.
But roaming will definitely work as someone from Switzerland visited me recently and their phone worked flawlessly, albeit at the cost of two arms and a leg.
When providers are permitted to unlock phones from networks, they will remain locked to the country of origin -- you won't be able to take it to a different country and use it. You would be able to use it with any other GSM provider in Sweden, not any other country.
One of my European friend has a Orange phone. But the roaming carrier is set to Docomo not Softbank. Is there a way to unlock and use a Docomo SIM card? Are Docomo SIM available?
This is extremely useful info, thanks for posting. I have the opposite question. I live here in Osaka and am planning to buy the Softbank iPhone. When I travel to the US and Canada for two months this summer, can I buy a SIM card in North America that will enable my Softbank iPhone to work while I'm there? Will I need to unlock it? And will it work again once I return to Japan? The US seems less proprietary, so I'm hoping there is a carrier that would sell a SIM card without the type of contract that Softbank requires... but am I just wishful thinking?
I live here in Osaka and am planning to buy the Softbank iPhone. When I travel to the US and Canada for two months this summer, can I buy a SIM card in North America that will enable my Softbank iPhone to work while I'm there?
No. Japanese iPhones are locked to the Japanese carrier.
<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1937>
The Softbank phone will work in the US with the Japanese SIM but roaming will be expensive. You would need to see if Softbank would be willing to give you an unlock code in order to use a US SIM.
