iPhone Unlocking Solutions - Whilst maintaining warranty.....

ironman

ironman

ironman

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
8,416
Location
South Central L.A.
I've been looking into getting an iPhone for a while but i'm just not prepared to have £300 worth of phone flushed down the toilet because it breaks and I cannot get Apple to repair it. What solutions are there, if any, that let me use any simcard whilst maintaining a tamper-free (in Apples eyes) iPhone?

Also what is the difference between an unlocked and jailbroken iPhone? Can either be reverted to a factory condition? Can the iPhone become bricked if it's just jailbroken?

Cheers
 
Hi, there is TONNES of stuff regarding the iphone available with just one google search and way too much just to explain here.

An unlocked iphone is one that is able to use any network, a jailbroken iphone is an iphone the way apple should have made it from the get go with having the ability to install 3rd party apps etc. Both methods have a chance of bricking the phone but from what i can gather they are in the most cases a "restore" away from being ok.

Have a dig around im sure you'll get more info than you can handle in a very short time
 
Been reading a lot since posting the thread and apparently bricking can only occur when you "unlock" the phone as you are directly modifying the firmware, whereas jailbraking only tampers with the OS, fully restorable through iTunes.

It seems that you can jailbreak the phone and then use a hardware method such as turbosim/stealthsim to get around the network lock, so this shouldn't at all affect the firmware and also be updatable without risk of bricking. Anyone tried this method?
 
I have only jailbroken mine, not planning to do anything else unless is 100% rock solid + im on the £35 tariff and don't want to risk it with a dead phone
 
Just jailbreak and use a turbo sim or similar, its only £270 tho Gurdas. I bypassed and jailbroke mine after the works do and i was absoluty steaming, looking back it was a bad idea but it works a treat :D
 
JAMAL said:
Just jailbreak and use a turbo sim or similar, its only £270 tho Gurdas. I bypassed and jailbroke mine after the works do and i was absoluty steaming, looking back it was a bad idea but it works a treat :D
Click to expand...

Is this what you have done? How much was turbo sim, did you have to reprogram anything or modify the firmware at all?
 
I'm on o2 contract anyway matey so no need for a turbosim as it works with o2 but not other networks.

All i have done is bypassed activation and jailbroke it, iclarifieds guide was spot on :)

I'm sure that once you have jailbroken then your warranty is gone.
 
Last edited:
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=df42qbzg_2hr6trv&pli=1

That will tell you how to use the UK iPhone on ANY 02 or Tesco SIM, contract or PAYG.

To use a different carrier (e.g. Orange) then you either need to obtain a USA iPhone with firmware 1.1.1 preloaded, or get a TurboSIM and reprogram it.

Jailbreaking the phone using the first link can be completely reversed using iTunes to "Restore" it, however once you start modifying the baseband/firmware with the USA methods then you start to get a bit deeper in regards to "virginising" the phone before you can go get it repaired without worrying.
 
if your wanting to maintain a untamered phone

youll need a hypersim, fools the phone into thinking the simcard youve inserted is the one the networks locked to

its what im using in my iphone cost me £45
 
I jailbroke my phone and used anySIM when I got it a couple of months back. One question I have though (which I think I know the answer for) is there a way to upgrade my firmware to 1.1.2 and then jailbreak/unlock it again so my T-Mobile SIM still works in it?

It's currently on firmware 1.0.2.

Sorry for the thread hijack, but it seemed like a good idea rather than creating a new thread (considering we are on the subject)

Will offer any help where possible though! :)
 
theheyes said:
Quick question - you know that method of using a PAYG SIM sim on the iPhone, what happens to the contract with O2? Do you just phone up and cancel it?
Click to expand...

If you signed up to the iPhone contract then you're stuck with it for 18 months.

If you haven't bought the iPhone yet, then the contract is set up in iTunes. When you buy the phone, you're just buying a handset and that's it.
 
Ah right, cheers Justin. I was under the impression the phone came ready-activated. I'm waiting for a few more features to appear on the iPhone personally but a few people have been asking about unlocking one.
 
Yeah, reason I picked that method (I posted) is because I used it to jailbreak my brothers iPhone.

(Forgot to credit Justin, sorry :o.. thanks though!)

As for Phate..

I am not 100% sure, but I believe the 1.1.2 firmware can be used but you have to update a special way, not through iTunes.

If I recall there's a guide on how you downgrade to (in your case upgrade) 1.1.1 then upgrade to 1.1.2 using the TIFF exploit that was found in 1.1.1.

If you Google I'm sure you can find it, sorry I can't help further.
 
EVH said:
As for Phate..

I am not 100% sure, but I believe the 1.1.2 firmware can be used but you have to update a special way, not through iTunes.

If I recall there's a guide on how you downgrade to (in your case upgrade) 1.1.1 then upgrade to 1.1.2 using the TIFF exploit that was found in 1.1.1.

If you Google I'm sure you can find it, sorry I can't help further.
Click to expand...

Thanks pal, I've been reading a few things, and heard about virginising the phone, upgrading to 1.1.1, then 1.1.2, but there doesn't seem to be a sure way and a proper guide as of yet (or I just haven't looked hard enough)

No solid reason for upgrading, just would be nice. Might wait till 1.1.3 if the MMS rumours are true. Thanks anyway :)
 
JAMAL said:
I'm on o2 contract anyway matey so no need for a turbosim as it works with o2 but not other networks.

All i have done is bypassed activation and jailbroke it, iclarifieds guide was spot on :)

I'm sure that once you have jailbroken then your warranty is gone.
Click to expand...

That's pretty cool as i'm probably going to get an o2 simplicity anyway, once you have jailbroken it, will it become bricked if you update it to say 1.1.3? Also you should be able to restore it no? So that it looks like it wasn't touched?
 
gurdas said:
Can you explain the process you went through? Any reprogramming etc.?
Click to expand...

it just required downgrading then upgrading the firmware & jailbreaking

then slipping in the hypersim and cutting your normal simcard up

they do supply a recovering sim tho so your sim still works in other phones

the hypersim is a dual sim card solution tho, if you dont want a hypersim they also sell a single sim solution which requires a little cutting in 1 of the corners

they supply cutting templates etc
 
Jailbreaking an iPhone means getting access to the file system. As a result, this allows you to install third party apps, and also allows you to use any SIM card from the same network the phone is originally on (ie. If you buy an O2 iPhone, jailbreaking it means you can use any other O2 SIM card in it).

Unlocking an iPhone means that you can use any SIM card from any network, not just the original one. In order to unlock an iPhone you need to go through the jailbreaking process first.

Both invalidate the warranty, but a jailbroken iPhone can be returned to a factory state just by restoring the firmware from within iTunes. With an unlocked iPhone it's not quite so easy, although there are "virginizers" out there which attempt to restore them to factory settings.

Currently there is no known unlock solution for iPhones which have version 1.1.2 out of the box, however they can be jailbroken. If the iPhone comes with a version earlier than 1.1.2 when it's bought (There's none of these in the UK), then it's unlockable upto and including 1.1.2.

The TurboSIM isn't a true unlock; essentially it clones the original SIM card and transplants the details from your SIM ontop of it. It involves cutting up your original SIM card to install into the TurboSIM. Although the benefits are it'll work with every iPhone that can be broken, which includes all versions of 1.1.2.

1.1.3, due out soon, may be a different matter though. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom