Buying a phone for someone else

Hi, I have a friend in Trinidad that wants me to buy her a phone here in the U.S. and send it to her because it is way cheaper here than in Trinidad. Is this even possible? Are there any good options for making this possible to do without getting charged on my plan? (AT&T) Thanks!!

---

› See More: Buying a phone for someone else

If you purchase a telephone from AT&T without a subsidy, you will have to pay full price. In addition, the phone would be locked to AT&T. It would have to be unlocked to use with a carrier in Trinidad. There are two carriers in Trinidad. Digicel uses the same frequencies as AT&T in the United States. The other carrier, Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd (TSTT), uses 1800 MHz. You should get a quad-band GSM phone. Another source would be to purchase from a reseller such as Amazon without a contract. The phone would be unlocked already. GoPhones from AT&T are less expensive than those sold for contracts but they would have to be unlocked also.

You have to be concerned about export controls with certain phones. There may be restrictions on sending the phone to a foreign country and the foreign country might also have restriction on the import of the phone purchased in another country for use in that country. Customs duties might wipe out the savings.

I would not recommend trying that as the way they tie into the system could be different then what we do here (ie not work). Also, the reasons just posted.