Dear all,
I tried to search for information on this, but wasn't successful - please forgive me if it's already been covered elsewhere...!
I moved from the US in early 2010, and cancelled my AT&T iPhone contract then. In between, I've moved around a bit, and never bothered trying to sort out my Iphone. Now I've landed in Zurich for at least 2-3 years, and would love to be able to use my iPhone 3G over here, with a Swiss carrier.
It has been much longer than the 2 years of 'locked to AT&T' that my US-contract specified, so I thought it would be a piece of cake to get it unlocked...
However: AT&T refuses to unlock it, Apple refuses to unlock it, none of the Swiss companies I talked with (Orange, Swisscom, Sunrise) could do anything about it either.
Is there any way to do this, or should I just give up & get a new phone? ($$$ over here in CH!).
Cheers!
The only way to get it unlocked is to jailbreak it and then unlock it. Find out what version iOS you are using and google on how to jailbreak and unlock. From what I understand there is a permanent unlock available for the 3G.
go to iclarified.com
click the red star in the corner, do jailbreak first then unlock.
For the record, and to help anyone else in a similar situation
With the help of this site and others, I did the following
- Checked with ATT to just to see if they might make an exception and unlock my iphone 3gs for me (nope)
- Used the software from iClarified to jailbreak and unlock the phone. This took maybe an hour and some leaps of faith. My phone is now 'tethered', meaning I have to connect it to the computer and run some software if I ever have to reboot it. But it worked, and no problems using the ATT SIM card, iTunes, etc.
- Marched straight to the Sunrise store at the airport when I landed and got a 20 fr prepaid card, and added the flat 250 mb data plan.
Everything is working great. Now if only the apartment search were so straightforward . ..
With few adjustments, I have pretty much the same story as the OP. Locked Iphone 3gs with AT&T and no one willing to unlock it. I want to do the same but my only problem is that I don't know my firmware or system version. The phone is pretty much locked in DFU mode (fancy name for that screen showing the iphone cable as asking to connect to Itunes...).
Does anyone know what to do from this point?
Thanks!
So the process is relatively simple. The difficult part is finding the product you need to make it work... The process is called "hacktivation" using a Phone Book Sim card. This type of sim card is used to transfer contacts between one phone and another and have a universal code that can be used on any phone, therefor allowing you to "hacktivate" your iPhone without an AT&T Sim. In the states you can buy them at Wal-Mart or Radio Shack. Here in CH i would assume that one of the common mobile shops would carry them, but if not you can do a search on google for "Phone Book Sim Card" and hopefully you should find one either here or in Germany here is an Amazon.com option for one (
http://www.amazon.de/Phonebook-Karte...8665148&sr=8-1 )
After you acquire this you should be able to Get your phone out of DFU Mode and check the firmware/baseband and go forward on the unlock with the information on www.iClarified.com
Here is a video and more info about "Hacktivating" your iPhone - http://www.iphonehacks.com/2010/07/h...rrier-sim.html
If you cant get a hold of a Phone book sim i can post you my AT&T sim and you can use it for the activation.
NOTE: Once you hacktivate your phone do not upgrade the firmware (which iTunes will prompt you to do), since some BB`s are still not unlockable.
Good luck!
For the record, updating: US iPhones with ATT can be unlocked if you've had the phone for at least one contract period. Unlocking is through ATT, not Apple. Just call in.
My phone (a 4s) isn't ATT, but a Japanese provider that refuses to unlock their phones as well (Softbank.)
I purchased the Gevey card ( http://www.gevey.com/ ) which seems to have good results.