An iPhone 3G unlock around the corner for current firmware?

May 24, 2009 3:54 PM

I bought an almost new iPhone 3G to unlock to use on T-Mobile. It has the latest modem firmware (2.30.03) and bootloader, so (I believe) there is not currently an unlock available. My question: has there been any indication from the iPhone Dev Team that an unlock is forthcoming for recently sold iPhones with current firmware versions?

If I understand the situation correctly, the yellowsn0w unlock only works for 3G iPhones with modem and bootloader firmware from the Fall of 2008 and older. If there have been indications of an unlock forthcoming for the latest firmwares, I'd like to hang on to the iPhone. If not, I'd probably be better off selling it on eBay.

Please do not lecture me on the legality or morality of unlocking or jailbreaking my iPhone. Thank you!

posted by letitrain to computers & internet (12 comments total)

I'm not going to lecture you on morality, but maybe you want to weight the cost of eating that iPhone purchase vs. what your ETF would be on T-Mobile. If you want an iPhone and they'll ding you for $150, it might be worth it.
posted by Oktober at 4:02 PM on May 24

The latest updates from the Dev Team are on their blog: http://blog.iphone-dev.org/
posted by dunkadunc at 4:04 PM on May 24

Unlocking your telephone is neither illegal nor immoral, and anyone who lectures you about it is acting the fool or unable to distinguish between the desires of large corporations and morality. You have the right to do as you please to the things you own.

Having said that, you will probably have luck with the following procedure:
1. Jailbreak (QuickPwn will do fine)
2. Download the EvilPenguin/BigBoss baseband downgrader from the default Cydia BigBoss repositories.
3. Downgrade to 2.28.0 using that tool.
4. Unlock normally with Yellowsn0w.
posted by majick at 4:33 PM on May 24 [1 favorite has favorites]

Hate to burst your bubble, but T-mobile uses a nonstandard 3g frequency in the US, 1700mhz. AT&T uses 1900mhz IIRC. You can't hack a frequency, it is built into the hardware. If a phone doesn't have a frequency, it won't work on that network. A link
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 4:39 PM on May 24

majick, my iPhone (and I'm assuming all recently manufactured phones) has a more recent bootloader that is not compatible with the baseband downgrade. Otherwise your advice is spot on.

As for the lecturers, I tried to head them off but now will just ignore and flag.
posted by letitrain at 4:54 PM on May 24

Antidisestablishmentarianist, I'm aware of the 3G mismatch and I'm content to turn off 3G switching, but thank you.
posted by letitrain at 4:55 PM on May 24

The last firmware update was pretty meaningless compared to the unlockable 2.2.0 and it almost seems like its primary purpose was to prevent yellowsn0w, so I wouldn't be surprised if dev team waits until at least 3.0 officially comes out this summer to unlock the next firmware. Dev team seems like a really solid group, so they probably will unlock 3.0 but it may or may not be immediately.

If I didn't have a contract with either company I would just eBay it for someone who is willing to wait and just get AT&T and the new iPhone that comes out this summer. The money you get on eBay even as a used+locked phone ($400+) will be more than what you will pay up front to AT&T for a newer model phone if you are willing to sign a new contract. The new phones will probably be priced similarly as the current phones so you can look at it as $200 toward a better phone and then $200+ toward 2 years of phone service unless you really need to unlock.
posted by some idealist at 5:21 PM on May 24

I don't believe the 3G iPhone is compatible with T-Mo's 3G network anyway. You would be better off getting a 2G iPhone as those are easily unlockable.
posted by kasperj74 at 6:54 PM on May 24

[Please have the is-it-right-or-not sidebar discussion elsewhere if it needs to happen.]
posted by cortex at 9:08 PM on May 24

Thanks all. It's on eBay. I figure it's probably better to just look for another one that's unlocked or unlockable. Thanks!
posted by letitrain at 1:17 PM on May 25

I haven't tried this hardware hack, but the claim is $50 for a SIM card which piggy-backs with a non-ATT network's SIM card in the iPhone. Supposed to be 100% reversible by removing the piggy-back card.
posted by conrad53 at 5:23 PM on May 25

conrad53, I've heard that the piggyback solutions are flakey... you have to restart the phone, re-insert the SIM, etc every few hours. I'd prefer a software fix. Thank you, though.
posted by letitrain at 10:34 PM on May 25