3GS Carrier unlock fails...

[revnja]

Hi all,

I've had some troubles recently getting a carrier unlock to work on my 3GS. The phone was originally jailbroken and unlocked with blackra1n/blacksn0w. After about 2 days, my phone was displaying 'No Service' at my house but when I drove downtown my signal came back and I was receiving data as well. Everything was good. I'm in rural Alaska at the moment for work (and I really rely on this phone to get from place to place) and now I am getting 'No Service' again.

I restored the phone to factory defaults and ran blackra1n again. The carrier unlock worked for a little bit and then I was back to 'No Service'. At this point I was frustrated, so I used PwnageTool to create a jailbroken firmware and installed blacksn0w from Cydia. My carrier unlock worked again, but only for about a day and then I was back to 'No Service' yet again.

The phone has been able to perform very well when the carrier unlock actually works -- unfortunately, it only lasts a matter of hours.

Concerned that it might actually be the signal from the tower that is weak, I swapped SIM cards with my friend who has an unlocked 3G and he gets great signal and is able to function on the wireless network very well.

What steps would you recommend for unlocking my phone? Jailbreaking isn't the problem, it's just the carrier lock that is giving me headaches (and I depend on the unlock because I am on GCI, an Alaskan carrier).

I have an iPhone 3GS with 3.1.2 and the 05.11.07 baseband. My 3GS serial starts with 87920 -- I'm not certain on the bootloader version. I'm using a Macbook with Snow Leopard to do all the jailbreaking. Is there another carrier unlock available that will work on this firmware/baseband combo? I've been trying to narrow it down to one specific cause, and I am having no luck. If someone could shed some wisdom on the situation, I would be very grateful!

Thanks

EDIT: I forgot to mention one important bit of information, when my phone has the SIM inserted, a lot of the time it will show one bar of signal and no carrier name. It will also do this after a fresh restore before activation.

[Robertleehadley]

I have the same problem, except I can't get service no matter what...please help us!

[ianbroste]

GCI GSM Wireless Coverage Areas

I think your problem might just be that you're in the bush. Coverage just isn't very good here. I'm not even sure if GCI has 3g up here. Is your friend on GCI too?

[revnja]

It's not coverage. GCI doesn't have 3G up here yet, and I don't think that would have any affect. My friend uses AT&T with his iPhone, but it is unlocked. When he puts my SIM in, he gets a great signal and is able to make and receive calls. Same goes for when we're in Anchorage or Palmer (much bigger cities).

I think he used redsn0w for his jailbreak and ultrasn0w for the carrier unlock. I'm wishing it was available for 3GS 05.11.07 because so far, blacksn0w has barely worked for me

[ianbroste]

Oh I think I misunderstood your first post. I thought when you put your friends sim in your phone worked good. Try turning off 3g and also did when you unlocked did it have the correct carrier settings?

[revnja]

Yeah, 3G was turned off. and carrier settings were set to the appropriate ones (ones that I have verified working before on this phone)

Well, I tried restoring using the official Apple IPSW from within iTunes and then blackra1n/blacksn0w. I got service for about 5 minutes and notifications came through that I had new voicemails. Then my service died again, and reset back to 'No Service'...

[nagyg]

I have the same problem, but it does not occur as often as you describe, so I can live with it. After Blackra1n the phone worked just as before the jailbreak. The problems started when I unlocked with Blacksn0w. In addition to "No Service" I also get the Wifi connection problem every now and then. I don't know of any other unlock for the 3Gs 3.1.2 bb05.11.07 in I don't think anything is in the works.

[revnja]

Even after I do a factory restore, my phone has one bar of signal and no carrier name when it's at the activation /emergency call screen, which is a little suspect. When I first got this phone and unlocked it, it worked great for about a week and has just been degrading from there.

Okay, so I am home now. I have tested the phone with my friend's AT&T SIM, and it works wonderfully, five bars of signal on both Edge and 3G, so that helps to rule out a hardware problem with the radio. I am home now and my carrier reads 'Extended Area' with only one bar of signal, and I can't seem to make calls...

[nagyg]

When I first got this phone and unlocked it, it worked great for about a week and has just been degrading from there.

Same here! Thats the weird thing that everything seems to be working great for a while and then the problems start ....

[revnja]

Interesting development -- when I left my house this morning I had five full bars of service and could make calls and access data. The signal would degrade down to 'No Service' and back up to five bars periodically.