My husband and I have our fingers crossed that our permit will be approved...send us some positive energy! Beyond that, we're making our relocation plans. So far we've received shipping quotes from Bekins and Luker Bros. and we're looking into air freight as well.

Another thing we're wondering about is our phones. We're with AT&T now. When we move, they will release us from our contract and allow us to unlock our phones. Do any of you have an American iPhone that you use in CH? Will our apps stay on the phone? Will they work in CH (radio streaming, Pandora, etc)? Or would you recommend buying a new iPhone once we arrive?

Thank you!!!

Depends a bit on the phone - if this is an iPhone 3GS that you bought after last September, it can't be unlocked. Meaning it won't work ony any other network than AT&T. If it's an older model and you haven't upgraded the firmware through iTunes to 3.1.3, it can theoretically be unlocked and used with any Swiss provider. That voids your warranty, though.

I'd suggest buying a new one here - it's not that expensive if you buy it with a contract. You can still use your US iTunes account so you can use all the software you previously had without a problem. The next version of the iPhone should be released in late June - so perhaps you could get one of those.

Good luck with your relocation efforts!

You cant unlock newer 3gs baseband on your own, but at&t certainly can!
and your apps will work fine!

They can, but will they? I though AT&T won't unlock iPhones?

I was told that because we'll be leaving their service area, they will unlock it for us. We'll see what happens though! I've actually dropped my phone a number of times, so maybe having the newer version (I'm arriving late July/early August) wouldn't be so bad!

You could always just sell them and get new ones over here on the Orange network

1. Pandora will not work abroad unless you use a proxy/VPN or equivalent to hide the fact you are overseas.

2. My techie friend never saw an iPhone he could not jailbreak and unlock. Google '3gs devteam'. But don't use any fee-based service: the Devteam gratefully accepts freewill gifts and offerings, but their info is all free.

3. Be wary of frontier areas. Unless you block roaming, your iPhone can lock on to a French, German, etc. service. My daughter (who lives in France) sets her iPhone to 'Orange FR only' when she visits us on Lac Léman.

4. Be careful with AT&T. My sister-in-law found when she moved abroad that AT&T would not release her, and then -- worse -- that they'd forged her late husband's signature to the contract. When I intervened they agreed to cancel it, but instead sold the "debt" on to a collection firm. I had to threaten them to get them to stop harassment. But I'm sure they trashed her credit rating, not that it matters at her age.

No Pandora is a bit disappointing. I wonder if the Oregon Public Broadcasting will be the same...what a shame. No surprise though. ABC and NBC won't allow streaming of TV shows outside of the US either. And thanks for the info about roaming and AT&T. I have the fax number and address where I'm supposed to send our proof of moving overseas. I can see I will definitely need to follow up often in order to avoid a big debacle. Oof! So much to consider when moving.

Instead of Pandora, give the Radio Paradise app a try. It doesn't have the same functionality, but works here and is generally great music. Plus it is free. There is another one, FlyCast Mobile, that streams many radio stations (nice for catching games on sports radio) and is free.

Also no hulu.com, fox, abc, nbc is a bummer. Over the last year, even more sites block. However, try tvduck.com to find shows streamed here. Or search for VPN on the forum to find other ways.

Good luck with the move

With Hulu/fox/abc, can one set up a home network with a proxy? I know this is not exactly what the OP wants, but are people actually watching TV on iPhone?

If so, capture it on your home network, set up AppleTV, and then use MobileMe to synch with your iPhone. Might work.

fduvall

I do not watch TV on my iPhone! The only show I watch, actually, is Desperate Housewives. But we can buy that on iTunes while in CH and we're going to get the Swisscom Casa Trio package so we'll get lots of TV choices from the BBC which I love. I like all of my apps though -- Radio Lab, This American Life and so on. When I lived in Neuchatel before, I always wished I could stream TV shows on sick days. Other than that, not a big TV watcher.

As far as the iPhone goes, it might just be best to sell ours before we move and get new ones.

Isn't there a Slingbox app? I've just set up a Sky+ HD box and subscribed using our London address. With Slingbox in the UK and Slingcatcher in CH we also get access to our Virgin Media V+ box.

I am not familiar with Slingbox, but I'll look into it. Sounds promising! Although, I do not have a UK address, so maybe not.

Look at the various threads on this forum about Slingbox. It's a smallish red box you connect to the Internet and to your, or a friend's cable or satellite receiver. Or if you have no such access, to a commercial service (Google: 'siingbox service'). Such commercial services are not cheap but for TV addicts out of range of Astra and Hotbird it's one solution. With Slingcatcher you can connect your TV to the Internet and (depending on the upload bandwidth) receive quite a decent, if not perfect HD, picture.

Most of Switzerland should be within range of both Astra and Hotbird.

Subscribing to a VPN (such as vpngates.com) is another possibility: you can then watch iPlayer (UK) or US programs free. There are also free, ad-supported, VPN services such as Hotspot Shield.

Would you please post the fax number? I, too, have AT&T and a 32 gig 3Gs, and would like to get my iPhone unlocked when I move.

Thanks.