Using iPhone in China/Jailbreaking?

[onilawliet]

I have an iPhone 4 and am getting ready to leave the US at the end of the month to take on a year long teaching position in Beijing, PRC. I am considering just suspending my contract with ATT for a year while I'm over there and simply using a Chinese phone, but when I've been there in the past, I've seen other foreigners and expats using their iPhones from home.

Does anyone know anything about preparing an iPhone for long term use in a foreign country, specifically China? My understanding is that I would need to jailbreak the phone and then purchase a Chinese sim card once there, but I'm not really certain. If anyone might have any help on how to approach this, I'd deeply appreciate the insight.

[tonton]

It's probably locked to AT&T. You can do a hardware unlock in Hong Kong for less than $50 if you stop here on your way up North. No idea where or how much if you do it in China.

[tonton]

If it's Verizon you're out of luck.