Filed under: iPhone
Engadget announces first full-software iPhone unlock
Very late last night, I chatted with Ryan Block of Engadget. At that time, he was happily engaged in making calls on his iPhone using a T-Mobile SIM. Today Engadget announces a full iPhone software-only unlock. According to Ryan, this unlock comes courtesy of iPhone SIM Free.com. I haven't personally tried out the unlock but Ryan writes that he can confirm "100% certainty that iPhoneSIMfree.com's software solution completely SIM unlocks the iPhone, is restore-resistant, and should make the iPhone fully functional for users outside of the US".
So what does this mean? It means that the iPhone just went International. You can use any SIM on the iPhone using tools like iASign and iActivator, and with the same limitations: namely no Visual Voicemail or YouTube video (at least not without a hack) and your minutes and data are charged per the plan associated with the SIM. Also the phone number seems to go MIA in iTunes, which lists it as "N/A".
The unlock adds a new option to Settings. See the picture at the top of this post. Ryan says you'll be able to use this to select your preferred network and avoid roaming. A new EDGE network settings appears in General > Network, allowing you to enter your carrier's access point name and username/password.
Is this method restore and upgrade resistant, as the iPhoneSIMFree guys claim? Ryan factory-restored his iPhone with the 1.0.2 firmware and the unlock stuck around.
The iPhoneSIMFree site is pretty light on details. They write that they intend to launch the unlock as a commercial product for both individual and bulk purchase sales.
Bottom line: is this for realsies? Ryan and Engadget says absolutely yes. They are standing by their tests.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Fabio P said 12:07PM on 8-24-2007
YEEEEEEEEEAHHHHHHH
thanks erica :D
was worth the waiting
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Bryan Smith said 12:10PM on 8-24-2007
Does this then mean that I can use my already Cingular activated SIM in the iPhone and retain my current plan?
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HT said 12:14PM on 8-24-2007
^^
Same boat as you
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sigmathguru said 12:24PM on 8-24-2007
This is stupid. Who wants to use a phone that has half of the luxuries missing. Good luck with the data bill that you will get from the other carrier.
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James Donevan said 12:26PM on 8-24-2007
I hope they have another web address on hand... that iphonesimfree registration will last about as long as it takes Apple Legal to type it.
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larry Friedman said 12:26PM on 8-24-2007
@ 2 & 3
You could always just add the $20 iPhone data/SMS plan to your existing plan.
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Deven said 12:27PM on 8-24-2007
I wonder how long it will hold up...
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Timothy Chaten said 12:29PM on 8-24-2007
Anyway to get Sprint to work with this - is there a way to generate a sim card?
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Dave said 12:32PM on 8-24-2007
Very cool. Although I thought geohot was the first to unlock the phone (hardware unlock, mind you, but still). They mention cost, I wonder how much that will be?
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Zach said 12:34PM on 8-24-2007
The iPhone being chained to AT&T is all that is keeping me from buying one (after having three different carriers, I refuse to leave T-Mobile as it 's excellent).
I may go the hacked-iPhone route, but I want to wait a few months to see what problems emerge.
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Randy said 12:37PM on 8-24-2007
Could they actually sell it, or would Apple/ATT come down on the with some dmca thing?
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PSM said 12:41PM on 8-24-2007
I find it surprising that they want this to be a commercial product. Is this really completely legal, and there's nothing Apple can do about it? Most hacks and patches to add functionality to phones that the carriers have disabled are not only free, but usually eventually wind up having to be distributed underground and not posted openly on the web. If this is safe from Apple/AT&T interference, then great. It would just surprise me.
I also continue to be impressed at the work the iPhone community is doing. I don't want one yet, but when I do it will be because the community made it an attractive purchase, not because of the way it came from the factory.
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djfred said 12:44PM on 8-24-2007
That would be awesome if it's true. Too bad it doesn't come from a more reliable source. Saying "Ryan and Engadget say absolutely yes" these days carries about the same weight as Bush saying "we're winning the war". I'm on the same fence as sigmathguru as to whether the satisfaction of sticking it to ATT is worth having a crippled iPhone but seeing as how they're completely evil I think I'll give it a shot.
@Timothy Chaten No, theres no way to get it to work with Sprint as they're on a completely different standard and don't even use SIMs.
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Rae Whitlock said 1:01PM on 8-24-2007
Meanwhile, there's an apparently unrelated story on CNN about a kid who unlocked his iPhone with a different method.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/08/24/iphone.unlocked.ap/index.html
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Michel said 1:19PM on 8-24-2007
they want to go commercial ??
they're crazy
apple can shutdown them with DMCA laws. (it's not a law only for copyrighted musics)
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justinph said 1:23PM on 8-24-2007
Unlocking your phone is legal and allowed for at least the next two years:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061124-8280.html
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Sam said 1:37PM on 8-24-2007
So could someone use a Helio SIM and have a completely prepaid iPhone?
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Johnny Thrash said 1:41PM on 8-24-2007
You just can't please all the people all the time I guess.
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HT said 2:12PM on 8-24-2007
larry Friedman
6. @ 2 & 3
You could always just add the $20 iPhone data/SMS plan to your existing plan.
I have a old Cingular NA one rate plan, using it in canada with the international data package $20/25mb (ouch)
The iphone data plan doesn't apply to old cingular plans like mine, or does it?
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Greg said 2:14PM on 8-24-2007
You can't use Sprint or Helio (Sprint) on your iPhone.
Helio and Sprint both use CDMA instead of GSM, which is what the iPhone uses for their network reception. The two are incompatible and there is no way to make them compatible.
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