IPhone – use an unlocked AT&T iPhone 4 with european sim cards

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Moving to Austria in two weeks. AT&T is going to unlock my phone for me before I leave since my contract is in good standing with them.

Will I be able to use my iPhone 4 with European carrier sim cards once I get there?

Best Answer

iPhone 4 supports four GSM frequencies (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz). Phones like these are usually referred to as "quad-band" or "world-phones", because of these frequencies, most carriers around the world will support one or more of them.

Once unlocked, you should be able to use it pretty much anywhere that has a GSM network. You won't be able to use it on carriers that use CDMA networks as that's a different type of wireless radio entirely.

CDMA doesn't use SIM cards, so that's an easy way to tell them apart.

One other thing you should keep in mind is that iPhone 4 uses a micro-SIM. If your European provider doesn't provide micro-SIMs, you'll need to take a regular sized SIM and cut it to size.

Due to the popularity of the iPhone outside the US, even in countries where it's sold only on the gray market, it's pretty easy to find small cellphone vendors that can do this for you.