[climbskiroverguy]

Alright I bought a broken iPhone, and just got my iPhone 3G replaced today from apple, apparently you can't unlock it?

What is my game plan on this, do I jailbreak it? Or should I not even bother.

Should I get a sim unlock? Is that the only way to allow me to use this phone with T-Mobile?

Can I downgrade? how do I check my bootloader?

Really I'm lost and I really don't understand any of this.

[blkcadi]

1. If you have an iPhone 3G (second generation, white or black back)
1. If you bought your iPhone DURING or BEFORE December 2008
 Have you upgraded the firmware to the latest (2.2.1, or higher, such as the 3.0 beta) via iTunes?
1. NO: You (most likely) have the 5.8 (aka 5.08) bootloader (BL). You can jailbreak it using QuickPwn and unlock it using yellowsn0w (available from Cydia or the Installer.)
2. YES: Your bootloader may have been upgraded to 5.9 or higher.
 Follow the instructions (posted elsewhere, or use THIS wiki) to check your BL version (and do this: ) If, after checking, you find that you have BL 5.8, you got lucky, and the information from bullet 1.1.1 applies.
 If you find that you have BL 5.9 (or higher), see item 1.2.1 below.
2. If you bought your iPhone AFTER January 2009
1. You (most likely) have the 5.9 (aka 5.09) or higher bootloader (BL). yellowsn0w will not work on this BL, as the exploit found in 5.8 was closed in 5.9 and higher. You can still jailbreak the phone using QuickPwn, but you cannot use it on another carrier UNLESS you get a SIM adapter.
2. If you have an iPhone 2G (first generation)
o You can upgrade it to the latest firmware, use QuickPwn to jailbreak it, and unlock for use on other GSM carriers.
BOTTOM LINE:

If you have the 5.9 (aka 5.09) or higher bootloader, don't bother posting a question asking how to unlock it (free or otherwise) for use on another carrier besides AT&T! The short answer is YOU CAN'T. The slightly longer answer is that you CAN use it on another carrier IF YOU PURCHASE A SIM ADAPTER (that does NOT "unlock" the iPhone, it merely FOOLS it into thinking whatever SIM you use is a "real" AT&T SIM, even though it's not.) There are many of these available; I'm not endorsing one over the other, but it appears many people have been happy with the one available from unlockediphone.info for $37.95.

And for the people who ask (not as commonly, but I saw a thread posted just yesterday asking this question again), no you cannot use the iPhone on Sprint (CDMA), Verizon (CDMA), AllTel (CDMA), Nextel (iDEN), or MetroPCS (CDMA or in some places TDMA), PERIOD. The iPhone (2G or 3G) is a GSM phone, and thus will only work on a GSM NETWORKS (AT&T, T-Mobile, et. al)

[LastSonOfKrypton]

Nice post Blkcadi!

You definitely deserve a thanks for such an awesome post but, your wiki link needs renaming. The ad stuff MMi uses is going over top of it and not letting the user go to the wiki page you were linking.

[blkcadi]

wiki fixed, thanks for the heads up.
I pulled most of this info from another post, just kept it cause I thought it was helpful.

[LastSonOfKrypton]

Originally Posted by blkcadi

wiki fixed, thanks for the heads up.
I pulled most of this info from another post, just kept it cause I thought it was helpful.

Thread subscriptions are like the candy...Life Savers

Mmmmm Wintergreen

[climbskiroverguy]

Will the phone be able to be unlocked anytime in the near future with the 3.0 update? when is that supposed to come out?

[LastSonOfKrypton]

Originally Posted by climbskiroverguy

Will the phone be able to be unlocked anytime in the near future with the 3.0 update? when is that supposed to come out?

No one knows when the official 3.0 release is or wether the dev team can find an exploit in the newest baseband. You're guess is as good as anyone else's. I hope everyone gets lucky and they find a permanent unlock but that's so unlikely at this point.

I'd get a sim card adapter thing if you really need the unlock.

[climbskiroverguy]

Do the sim card unlock adapters work well? I've heard mixed reviews?

[HotStuff2]

Originally Posted by blkcadi

1. If you have an iPhone 3G (second generation, white or black back)
1. If you bought your iPhone DURING or BEFORE December 2008
 Have you upgraded the firmware to the latest (2.2.1, or higher, such as the 3.0 beta) via iTunes?
1. NO: You (most likely) have the 5.8 (aka 5.08) bootloader (BL). You can jailbreak it using QuickPwn and unlock it using yellowsn0w (available from Cydia or the Installer.)
2. YES: Your bootloader may have been upgraded to 5.9 or higher.
 Follow the instructions (posted elsewhere, or use THIS wiki) to check your BL version (and do this: ) If, after checking, you find that you have BL 5.8, you got lucky, and the information from bullet 1.1.1 applies.
 If you find that you have BL 5.9 (or higher), see item 1.2.1 below.
2. If you bought your iPhone AFTER January 2009
1. You (most likely) have the 5.9 (aka 5.09) or higher bootloader (BL). yellowsn0w will not work on this BL, as the exploit found in 5.8 was closed in 5.9 and higher. You can still jailbreak the phone using QuickPwn, but you cannot use it on another carrier UNLESS you get a SIM adapter.
2. If you have an iPhone 2G (first generation)
o You can upgrade it to the latest firmware, use QuickPwn to jailbreak it, and unlock for use on other GSM carriers.
BOTTOM LINE:

If you have the 5.9 (aka 5.09) or higher bootloader, don't bother posting a question asking how to unlock it (free or otherwise) for use on another carrier besides AT&T! The short answer is YOU CAN'T. The slightly longer answer is that you CAN use it on another carrier IF YOU PURCHASE A SIM ADAPTER (that does NOT "unlock" the iPhone, it merely FOOLS it into thinking whatever SIM you use is a "real" AT&T SIM, even though it's not.) There are many of these available; I'm not endorsing one over the other, but it appears many people have been happy with the one available from unlockediphone.info for $37.95.

And for the people who ask (not as commonly, but I saw a thread posted just yesterday asking this question again), no you cannot use the iPhone on Sprint (CDMA), Verizon (CDMA), AllTel (CDMA), Nextel (iDEN), or MetroPCS (CDMA or in some places TDMA), PERIOD. The iPhone (2G or 3G) is a GSM phone, and thus will only work on a GSM NETWORKS (AT&T, T-Mobile, et. al)

WOW...thanks for ripping off MY work, and claiming it as your own. You could just as easily have pointed him to MY thread with all that info.

loser.

[confucious]

Why don't you post a link to your original thread if you're so worried about it?

Presumeably it was posted before FuzzyBB was released as that's a far easier method of finding out your BL.

It doesn't matter when the phone was bought, only when it was manufactured. BL 5.09 came in week 29 of 2008. The 3rd digit of the s/n is the year and the 4th and 5th are the week number unless the first 2 digits are 5K in which case it's a refurb and AFAIK there is no way of telling the original manufacture date but FuzzyBB will check and display the BL and if it's 5.08 will downgrade your BB.