A FEW FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Q: Do you ship to Norway?
A: Absolutely. I have and I will. Is it still in EU? : ) Seriously though, if your country isn't mentioned among the countries I ship to, please contact me to find out if I can and how much it will cost.

Q: What is GSM technology and what does it mean to me?
A: GSM technology is nothing new (anywhere except the U.S.) The technology is an alternative to CDMA technology used by such companies as Alltel, Cellcom, Cellular South, Cricket Communications, MetroPCS, Sprint PCS, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless. It's estimated that 82% of the global mobile market uses GSM. It's used by over 2 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories. It enables subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world.
The ubiquity of the GSM standard has been advantageous to both consumers (who benefit from the ability to roam and switch carriers without switching phones) and also to network operators (who can choose equipment from any of the many vendors implementing GSM). GSM also pioneered a low-cost alternative to voice calls, the Short message service (SMS, also called "text messaging"), which is now supported on other mobile standards as well <data quoted from wikipedia>
What this means to you is that you can use a GSM phone (provided it works on your destination's frequencies) around the world. Also, you are not limited to "plans" and can buy "pay-as-you-go" services (read one of the Q/A below.)

Q: Will the phone work in my city/country?
A: If you can get a GSM service in your area, iPhone will work for you. For a complete list of GSM providers and their service area maps please select your country when you visit this page: http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml

Q: How do I get mobile service in the U.S. if there is no contract involved? What are my choices when it comes to service providers?
A: There is a big difference between a "service contract" and a "service plan". Contract is when you sign up for a particular plan that you can't get off of, upgrade/downgrade for a period of time (usually 1 or 2 years). If you do, you get penalized. This is how U.S. mobile providers have worked for years. A "hot" phone comes out - people get "hooked" with a contract. So being on a contract is different form just being on a "plan". Plan you can upgrade, downgrade or get off of at any time as you please. This is all good news. The catch is that iPhone uses the "new" GSM mobile technology. This technology has been around in the rest of the world for over a decade now, but is new (though growing) thing in the U.S. For now, this narrows down your choice of providers. Many big companies such as Verizon and Sprint use a different technology (called "CDMA") that is not compatible with the iPhone. You can't use their service with the iPhone. The two major GSM providers in the U.S. are T-Mobile and AT&T. But if you have an UNLOCKED phone, even if you go with one of the two, your options are much better. You can sign up for the minimum plan if it works for you. All you need to get from them is a small plastic card (so called "SIM-card") that will assign you a phone number and "tie" you to the service provider. It gets better. You are not limited to "plans". If you don't want a monthly charge, you can get a "pay as you go" plan. Under such plans (this is how it's done almost everywhere else but the U.S.) you will be charged per minute and at a higher rate (say, 10 cents a minute), but, if it suits your calling pattern, you may save yourself a pretty chunk of cash. Visit: www.myrateplan.com/wireless_plans/ and plug in you ZIP. Then select between single, family, or pay-as-you-go plans. It will bring up all of your choices. When you click on service provider logo, there will be a table with the rates and plan specifics. Make sure it says "GSM" (not "CDMA") in the "digital network" row of the table.

Q: Will I have to get a "data plan" in order to be able to use my iPhone?
A: The answer is "no". You can use the phone on any GSM plan. That said, in North America "data plan" may be something worth considering when you are buying a "smart" phone. The key question here is "are you planning to take advantage of data services available through the Edge technology?" Just like a laptop, iPhone will use the Wi-Fi technology whenever it's available (like "hot-spots" at Starbucks or your home or office wireless network). While using Wi-Fi you don't have to worry about paying anything extra to your mobile provider. However, if you want to use internet/email/youtube (or anything else on the iPhone that requires internet access) while out of a Wi-Fi network, the phone will take advantage of the Edge technology. There is a special indicator next to the service provider logo up on top of the iPhone screen that lets you know if your phone is currently connected using Wi-Fi or Edge. The Edge technology is usually a bit slower than the Wi-Fi, but works okay. The deal is that w/o a data plan providers will charge you per kilobyte of data transmitted/received with your phone using Edge, since you will be using their towers. This may be okay if you use Edge occasionally. If you use it heavily, though, you are better off adding a data plan: those kilobytes add up pretty fast, trust me, especially with youtube and other data-intensive services.