Talk:United Kingdom/@comment-72.227.168.40-20130203195712/@comment-92.28.96.105-20150908035201

Yes - US smartphones generally work in the UK. But check to make sure it's unlocked with your US network. Unlocking in the US is different than any other country because the phone has 2 locks on it - a domestic lock and an international lock. Because so many people travel at least once internationally during the life of the phone, many US networks now start the phone internationally unlocked. And if you ask, most carriers are quite happy to unlock it for you if it was locked internationally (since they know you'll pay your monthly rate to them while you're gone and you'll still be with them when you get back). This is all you'll need to be able to put UK sims in it.

As only a note of interest: the domestic lock is only there for competitive reasoins in the US (i.e. - the carriers view of it would be that it makes sure you pay off the apple or other subsidy that helps make the phone look so cheap at time of purchase, but since most carriers played all sorts of games to delay or never unlock domestically until Pres Obama's 2014 law made that illegal, I think reality was a bit more manipulative of the carriers than that). Now if you insist and continue to escalate the call, you should be able to unlock any phone domestically and internationally in the US with any carier once you've completed your contract period. This will allow you to sell it anywhere in the world as a fully unlocked phone.