I’m new to this community, but I’ve heard of Fairphone from Vox, a news site in North America. It seems very neat, and I want to be a part of the movement!
Are there any suggestions for how I might be able to get my hands on the Fairphone 3 from Canada? I’m considering multiple options:
Using Parcl which seems to be a third party shipper to forward it from the Netherlands:
Does anyone have experience using either of these options? What are some common pitfalls I should prepare for? Or do you recommend waiting until an official International Shipping solution is found?
Context: this is only my second non-Apple phone (first being my current Pixel 2) and I am excited by the challenge and reward to using something I can actually understand the guts of. (I’m an engineering and physics student)
I have no idea considering Parcl, but ordering from one of the resellers seem to be the most secure way in comparison. Vireo seems to be delivering to Canada.
@bryanluu You can order it from Vireo in Germany, but don’t order it online before emailing them, as the shipping option on the website says 29.9EU, but they told me they will send it via Fedex, and it costs 90.
I would definitely go through them, so you don’t experience my frustration.
Or just for another couple of weeks or so, so I can let you know how it works with Canadian Carrier, to avoid any possible hassle of returning back.
Thank you @May_Malek. So you didn’t get to use Vireo then? I saw your thread and I would love to hear how other Canadians are finding their phone. It seems like a process to get one here!
At the time I purchased the phone l, didn’t know Vireo would send it to Canada, as I contacted Fairphone, and they told me they don’t know any reseller, and the only option is to ask a friend, so I stopped my research, and ordered from Vireo, to send it to my cousin in Germany. I checked the C section in the country list and didn’t find Canada and I was almost sure they won’t send it here. But apparently they send it to Kanada!:-)))
My cousin them sent it to me, but it seems that the DHL( not same as DHL Express, as you can see from my thread, I learnt it in a very hard way) is a way worse than our beloved Canada post! There were so many unfortunate things happened to me, but as soonas I get it (), I will update you.
Hi and welcome to the community. Fairphone only ships to Europe for now. So you’ll need a contact over here. I"m Canadian and living in The Hague. I can help if you like. Where in Canada do you live?
Hi @Suzanna_Multhaupt, I’m from BC but I study in Madison, Wisconsin in the US.
I’m almost finished ordering from Vireo, thanks to @May_Malek 's suggestions, but I want to make sure that the phone is usable here in North America. Does anyone know if the phone will support American SIMs (AT&T)?
For the Fairphone 2 this is rather well known: there is no 4G service in the USA, but AT&T 3G and T-Mobile 2G/3G networks are supported. The FP3 supports a few more bands than the FP2, so it can only get better. I think other forum users from the USA would like to hear about your experience once you get the phone.
This is not really related to Canada however, Canada has some usable 4G networks. It is better to move this discussion to a different place if you need any more info on the USA.
@May_Malek, my Fairphone has arrived! I’m waiting until Xmas before I open it, but for planning’s sake, how are you approaching protecting the screen? Are there custom screen protectors out there compatible for the fairphone?
But you know, that you loose the chance to return it, if you don’t like it.
You at least should open it to check, if everything is alright.
Not, that I have any realy concerns or something to suspect.
It’s just a general caution, that I would apply here as well as everywhere else.
@bryanluu, I totally agree with Bert, I would open it to make sure battery and everything else is intact and works properly.
I got one from Vireo when I ordered it, but I also ordered the TPU one from Amazon, it takes 3-4 weeks to get shipped, but it’s a a cheap and easy option, rather than a custom made one.
In case anyone else checks this out before ordering - I confirmed with Vireo that their shipping was indeed 90EUR rather than the 30 their site shows. However, I just ordered from Clove in the UK (which just seems to have been added to the list; it wasn’t there last time I looked), and it only charged me ~20GBP. Will see if they contact me to say “oh hey, it’s actually more”, but…
As an update - Clove’s shipping cost was as advertised, and it got to me in Canada from the UK in 3 days! Duties/taxes were about $45CAD, for reference of anyone else looking to get one shipped here. Anyway, at the end of the day, Clove ended up being about $50 CAD less than Vireo, taking shipping, exchange, etc… into account. It came very quickly and they were very good and easy to deal with.
Oh my, I’m sorry for the super late reply! Everything was smooth and dandy, although since I upgraded to Android 10 there have been a few bugs (which I can talk about in a separate post). Either way, I think that’s not related to the localization or being in Canada.
