Looking to buy an iphone 5 for oversea use

[elitejp]

I will be traveling overseas to asia and a friend of mine from there is wanting me to pick them up an iphone 5 from the states. So I have a few question about this?

1. Would an unlocked iphone work for using overseas on one of their carriers?
2. Any recommendations on where to buy?
3. What about buying refurbished to save some money?
4. Anything else i need to know before making a purchase over here and bringing it over there?

 

[pm]

1. Yes, but not for LTE. But for 3G HSPA, probably yes - although "overseas" is a bit vague and if you are talking someplace like Kenya, all bets are off.
2. In my experience the safest place is to get it from Apple directly. The price is very high, but you are guaranteed to get what you are expecting. If you balk at the price, the next "best" is probably Ebay. Most places don't sell unlocked iPhone 5's at all so it's hard to recommend anywhere else - like cowboom.com or some place like that - because you aren't likely to find what you need there.
3. I'm usually a fan of refurbished stuff as long as it's from a reputable place. If it's refurb'd by Apple is usually looks and works "good as new" and if you have a problem, you can get a replacement easily.
4. Keep in mind the nanosim thing. iPhone 5's don't take regular SIMs or even microSIMs but in a move that is typical of Apple, they went with a slightly smaller version of a MicroSIM called a nanoSIM. With steady hands you can trim a MicroSIM (or even a regular SIM) down using a good pair of scissors, but it's something to keep in mind as a potential problem.

 

[elitejp]

the country is china.
They have very convenient to use stapler looking things that you can just drop your sim into and get a perfect cut. Ive seen it for the nexus 4 and other phones, but didnt realize that apple has gone even smaller. Nontheless im sure china has a cutter for it as well.

 

[vshah]

you may be able to get a nanosim from whichever chinese carrier you choose as well.

 

[cronos]

Get it at apple.com, of course. Refurbished, if directly from Apple, is fine.

 

[isekii]

you got PM

 

[ImDonly1]

The Verizon and ATT versions have different LTE bands. Check which one you need and buy the one that has it. Not sure if China has LTE or what bands yet.

Also there are 3 different versions of the iPhone 5.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/
I believe 1428 GSM is the ATT one, 1429 CDMA is the Sprint and Verizon one, and 1429 GSM is the unlocked one. The ATT one has the least number of LTE bands (worst world LTE support), but it all depends on which bands you want.

They all have the same 3G bands (I believe), only LTE bands differ.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The Verizon and ATT versions have different LTE bands. Check which one you need and buy the one that has it. Not sure if China has LTE or what bands yet.

Also there are 3 different versions of the iPhone 5.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/
I believe 1428 GSM is the ATT one, 1429 CDMA is the Sprint and Verizon one, and 1429 GSM is the unlocked one. The ATT one has the least number of LTE bands (worst world LTE support), but it all depends on which bands you want.

They all have the same 3G bands (I believe), only LTE bands differ.

China doesn't have LTE, nor does most of the world. In fact, China has TS-CDMA or whatever for its largest network. You have to go with China Unicom to get 3G UMTS service, and even then it's horrible speeds.

You might be better off on China Mobile on EDGE according to many.