Living in Australia can be a frustrating experience. You’re always reading about the hottest new phone being released overseas, yet everytime you ask if you can buy it in Australia, you’re met with a standard “wait and see” response. But thanks to the Internet, you don’t really have to wait anymore – you can pick up phones online and have them shipped to you well before they even start getting tested in Australia. But there are a few important aspects you should consider before you spend a heap of cash on an international phone.
Lots of phones are locked to the carrier that sells them in any particular country. Try and pick up an iPhone from the US and you’ll discover what this means. And unlike the iPhone, which has a healthy community of developers working out how to jailbreak and unlock your phone easily, many phones will require you to get into the root menu to bypass network locking. If you’re not a seasoned developer comfortable with code, then you don’t want to buy one of these phones – if you stuff it up, you’ve just bought yourself a very expensive brick.
We’re pretty fortunate – most mobile networks around the world use one or more of the same four frequencies to let you make and receive calls, so chances are the phone you buy overseas will work over here. There are some important exceptions however, mostly revolving around the faster 3G/HSPA phones.
In Australia, there are three different 3G/HSPA networks in use: 850MHz, 900MHz and 2100MHz. All three major Australian Telcos (Telstra, Optus and VHA) use the 2100MHz frequency in capital cities. However, in other areas, Telstra uses the 850MHz spectrum for its NextG network, while both Optus and VHA use the 900MHz frequency for 3G.
Where this can pose a problem is in the different handsets. For example: The iPhone supports the 850MHz and 2100MHz frequencies, but not 900MHz. This means that it will work on all of Telstra’s network, but only get 3G in the capital cities (it will drop down to GSM speeds instead) for Optus and Vodafone. Alternatively, the new Nexus One from Google supports 900MHz and 2100MHz, but not 850MHz, meaning it won’t offer 3G for Telstra customers outside the capital cities.
It’s important to check the tech specs on your phone of choice, as well as knowing which network you want to use it on.
This probably seems like a minor point, but if you were eyeballing the latest KDDI phone from Japan to the point you decided to pick it up online, remember that it’s probably a Japan-only handset. Even if it works with the Australian networks, it probably won’t have menus in English. Or a manual. Or anything else, for that matter. So unless you speak Japanese natively, this is something to be aware of. may not have English language support. And even if it does, the English manuals are likely to be a lot simpler than the Japanese ones, according to my good mate Chris Nicholls from Tech Trader magazine. In any case, it pays to be careful when making your purchasing decision…
As always, buyer beware. If you’re picking up a brand new iPhone from an online retailer and the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. You may get a product, but it might not be the one you were after. You might also have your identity (and money) stolen, so try and be careful, okay?
Chances are, if you buy a phone online from outside Australia, you won’t get any warranty support. Even if the website says you do, you probably won’t.
This shouldn’t really be a concern at all, but there is a chance that customs may take it upon themselves to confiscate your imported phone when it arrives on Australia’s doorstep. It could be that you need to pay them some money to receive it, it could be that they destroy it because the box is riddled with dangerous pests that will destroy Australia’s precious environmental ecosystem. Either way, it’s something you shoud be prepared for.
Ultimately, when it comes to importing a phone from overseas, the biggest piece of advice is to buy smart. Do your research, buy from a reputable seller and – most importantly – make sure you share the fruits of your purchase with us here at Giz AU…
Jordan
January 6, 2010 at 12:59 PM
Thanks Nick, this is a good summary.. I’m hopeful the Nexus will be happy on Vodafone AU.
Report PermalinkWilliam Ye
January 6, 2010 at 1:11 PM
Eh that’s what i’ve been hoping for too :)
Report PermalinkAshley Carey
January 6, 2010 at 1:18 PM
Oh, have you ordered it? Any tips for getting around it not allowing you to order it in Australia?
Report PermalinkWilliam Ye
January 6, 2010 at 1:29 PM
I’m sort of waiting for a nice eBay price.. Most of them there want to just earn money and are selling for way too much.
Anyone else have any other ideas?
Report PermalinkJordan
January 6, 2010 at 1:47 PM
I have ordered one through a package forwarding service i’ve heard good things about, myus.com. They have a personal shopper service- eg. for 10% of the item cost ($53 USD) they’ll order it with their US credit card and address for you, then send you the package once they take delivery.
I’ve used them for a laptop battery once, but never for anything this big.. i guess it’s a bit of a risk, but i can’t find anything except positive reviews of their service.
Report PermalinkRed T-Rex
January 6, 2010 at 2:13 PM
I saw this link posted on another Gizmodo article that may be useful. I haven’t used it yet but I have a couple of things in mind that I might try it on first i.e. under $100
http://www.myus.com/
Report PermalinkAshley Carey
January 6, 2010 at 3:00 PM
Thanks very much guys, I like the sound of the myus thing. Will give it a try.
Report PermalinkWilliam Ye
January 6, 2010 at 5:24 PM
Yeah i saw those but i’m not too sure. I’ll wait for some more responses first. :)
The prices on eBay are outrageous. If the phone itself sells for $530 unlocked how can they sell it for $600 – $700 plus like $50 shipping?
Report PermalinkMatt
January 6, 2010 at 7:30 PM
I just found an awesome site for ordering them… http://www.priceusa.com.au … they take only 5% commission. they sound trustworthy, check out whirlpool to find out more about them.
Report PermalinkPaul McManus
January 7, 2010 at 7:51 AM
I have been using myUS.com for a few months now (I have purchased a permanent address with them) and it has all been great – no problems.
As for customs, any purchase or package collectively worth more than $1000 usually attracts an additional bill.
Report PermalinkChris Schirlinger
January 7, 2010 at 8:43 AM
Someone else to try is priceusa.com.au
They are an Australian based USA purchase company. I’ve never used them before, but so far they have been very professional, multiple emails at every stage informing me of whats happening
Cheaper than the USA based ones too. They charge 5% of total price of the item but offer a more limited service.
Funny thing is if you check their “What are people buying now” page it’s almost all Google phones :)
Report PermalinkJordan
January 7, 2010 at 12:10 PM
My first hiccup with Myus.com-
They made a small charge then refund to my credit card, and i was supposed to verify the amount (PayPal style).
Unfortunately it came through in AUD to my statement and they want a USD amount, no currency converter would produce a figure their site was happy with, and after three attempts they declined my card.
I have emailed their support people. Damnit i want my superphone now :(
Report PermalinkCyK
January 6, 2010 at 1:19 PM
You also should watch out for what features are supported. I wanted the latest Japanese phone for a while but found out after some researching that many won’t support the web here. That was a deal breaker for me even if it looked 100 times better than anything we can get here.
Report PermalinkAdz
January 6, 2010 at 1:24 PM
Good summary and I spent many months researching the HTC Hero, before I bought 3 months ago from OS.
I found Whirlpool forums the best for research for us aussies.
Report PermalinkOllie
January 6, 2010 at 1:25 PM
NextG is the biggest pain in the r.s. for buying phones outside Orstralia. If you want coverage you need NextG. Telstra knows this unfortunately. There’s no reason they couldn’t release one with 850 support, a lot of the other HTC’s do anyway. Hopefully there’s some talkie talkie between Googes and the big T.
Report PermalinkDenis Evans
January 6, 2010 at 2:56 PM
There is one more BIG gottcha you didn’t mention. In almost every country except the US the phone system is GSM/HSDPA. If you buy a phone in the US you need to make sure it runs on GSM networks. Most US networks are NOT GSM!! Only T-mobile & AT&T are GSM. Sprint Verizon Nextel etc etc are CDMA and generally phones running on these networks will not work in Oz at all.
Report PermalinkPhil Campbell
January 6, 2010 at 7:07 PM
I guess all this is going to be relevant to the Apple tablet thingy as well. Will be very tempting to pick up an iSlate in the US in a few month’s time, but I guess it will be locked to a mobile network just like a giant iphone…
Report PermalinkNathan Young
January 7, 2010 at 12:57 AM
That’s strange what you say about the iPhone and 3G coverage. I have an iPhone 3G 16GB and I’m with Optus and I live in Ocean Grove (3226) which is 30 minutes south of Geelong, and I get 3G fine at my house. And I even get 3G in Toongabbie, which is 20 minutes out of Traralgon. They both seem pretty quick to me, so long as I have a decent connection (ie, not somewhere where the 3G keeps dropping out).
Report PermalinkKalarr
January 7, 2010 at 11:02 AM
I’m in the process of trying to get my Nexus via contacts in Singapore.
Report PermalinkJames
January 7, 2010 at 11:32 AM
Specifically with Android phones, be careful to ask the originating country of the phone as that will dictate which market you are locked to. for example, a Hero bought in Australia from an Australian retailer might actually be imported from eastern Europe, which currently does not have access to paid apps in the market. It isn’t, as far as I can tell, possible to change that (and my Polish model Hero would appreciate it if anyone could tell me different).
Report PermalinkChris
January 7, 2010 at 1:32 PM
I believe (though someone will have to confirm) that some functioning of software features of import phones can be variable too: if I understand other folks correctly, you can’t access the Android Market / app store on Optus yet (Telstra, Vod and 3 are fine), and the turn-by-turn Google Navigator was turned off outside the US for a while (is it back up, Android folks?).
James – I’m no expert, but I’d suspect that rooting your Hero (which means something very different in the US :P ) and changing the firmware might change the Market it’s tied to. A google on the various Android sites might help.
From my own research, remember the import / GST/VAT tax if you get a friend in Singapore or UK to import – +7% in Singas, and a whopping +20% in the UK (2.5% import + 17.5% VAT). Doesn’t apply to the US mail order sites though as most ship through tax free US states.
Report PermalinkJack Cola
January 7, 2010 at 2:14 PM
I want to continue from step 5 – Warranties. First of all, if you are overseas and need a new phone. DO NOT BUY A NOKIA PHONE. I can’t stress that enough. I got a phone from someone as a present who went to Hong Kong. He purchased the Nokia e71. It all works, it not a fake phone, and it works well in Australia, however, it has problems charging. To cut a long story short, you can read more about it at my blog. http://www.jackcola.org/blog/47-global-companies-oh-how-i-hate-them-i-am-looking-at-you-nokia-and-dell
What I want to say, is that if you are overseas and your phone breaks for what ever reason, and you desperately need a new one, don’t buy a nokia. Because when you get back to australia, they don’t honour their warrentees. For them to fix the charging problem – even though the phone works, they wanted $468.00AUD to get it repaired. For $469.00, you can purchase the phone brand new. Nokia pretty much screws you over because they know you can’t do anything about it.
Report PermalinkMike Williams
January 7, 2010 at 10:40 PM
That’s akin to my experience of travelling with an Acer laptop which is supplied with an “International Traveller’s Warranty” which is designed to help you get *local* support when you’re travelling with your mobile device.
I got to Finland where the power supply connector broke out. The local Acer support people simply stated that they had never heard of this warranty and weren’t going to honour it or check on its existence (despite all the Acer paperwork I showed them). In the end, out of desperation, I paid for the service to get back on the road with a functioning device.
I tried contacting Acer UK (I’d bought the laptop there) and also Acer HQ Taiwan to complain about this and never ever got a response.
Report PermalinkMichael
January 7, 2010 at 8:51 PM
Good summary. I hadn’t thought about the potential Customs intervention.
I bought a HTC Magic from Hong Kong on eBay and blogged about the experience here: http://gorey.com.au/archives/3760
I had to install a ROM to get access to Google sync features and the Android market, scary stuff for a novice.
I’m with Telstra and it now runs great on EDGE. I won’t do it again because of the risk factor.
Report PermalinkAlexander Bont
January 8, 2010 at 12:11 AM
I’ve bought my last 5 phones from HK as they get the new phones faster than Oz and they are a lot cheaper. The phone I have now is a HTC Touch HD. It was $1300 in Oz and only $800 in HK with a free battery. If there is a problem, I’d send it back to HK. I’ll never buy a phone in Oz while the prices are so high.
Report PermalinkSmab
October 1, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Hi Alex,
Report PermalinkI’m looking to buy a HTC phone when I’m in Hongkong next – where do you think the best place to go is? I want to use it on the Vodafone network – I live in Regional NSW so I hope that it will be ok?
Any help would be ace!
Carolina Tillett
January 8, 2010 at 9:22 AM
A comments on the lack of warranty on the phones if bought overseas. If people order through my service (price usa) then they still have the original USA warranty. If you need the phone fixed under warranty then all you just need to do is ship it back to my agent in the USA and he send it out to be fixed. SInce he is the one that bought it from the original store he has a valid warranty. The time on this is not too bad and only adds up to about a week more than shipping it off here in Australia.
Report PermalinkFinn McCool
January 9, 2010 at 6:56 AM
Look into parcel forwarding. They give you an U.S-based address where you can have the phone shipped. Then they will forward it to you per your instructions. I used Shipito as they were the cheapest one I found. It costed $8.50 plus shipping.
Report PermalinkDan
January 28, 2010 at 7:25 PM
All rubbish.
None of these points make sense (or matters) other than “lack of warranty” which most buyers should already know before they order from overseas. There must be reasons for them to do so, such as the phone they want is not available here, etc…
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