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Free the iPhone from AT&T
Acererak was one of several readers who noted that DVD Jon has released information on unbricking an iPhone. You sacrifice all cel phone functionality of course, but you have an iPDA that will work on your WiFi. Currently the hack is windows only but it doesn't look very complicated.
Why would you pay that much money for a PDA, when you can get other devies whose only purpose it to be a PDA for less?
This is Slashdot! Give me the latest gadget, bug, or OS project! This ain't english class so don't confuse the two!
Give me the chance to buy the device as the next-gen iPod!
Hopefully Apple will do so and we will have another round of lols.
fuck karma, I like saying the truth better
Why is it assumed that phone functionality must be sacrificed? Why can't another SIM be used?
So "unbricking" the iPhone means losing cell phone ability. What kind of unbricking this is?
How about a guide how to free my PC from Internet security vulnerabilities. By blowing up my modem with a hand grenade.
He has a real name and it isn't difficult either. Let's all say it, "Jon Lech Johansen." There, wasn't that easy?
It's called, cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. It's rather common with these, "I'm gonna git The Man" battles.
On the day of the iPhone launch Steve Jobs confirmed that OS X is also in "some iPods we've been working on."
> there are people who want an iPhone to use it as an iPod and WiFi device without having to enter into a 2-year AT&T contract).
Just wait a few months and get a bug-fixed OS X in an iPod video with the same screen and Wi-Fi and Safari and 100 GB disk.
Exemptions are allowed for 1) the educational library of a university's media studies department, in order to watch film clips in class; 2) using computer software that requires the original disks or hardware in order to run; 3) dongle-protected computer programs, if the the dongle no longer functions and a replacement cannot be found; 4) protected e-books, in order to use screen-reader software; 5) cell phone firmware that ties a phone to a specific wireless network; and 6) DRM software included on audio CDs, but only when such software creates security vulnerabilities on personal computers. You are allowed to unlock your cell phone no matter what Apple or AT&T think about it. They can't sue DVD Jon for breaking their bullshit attempts to control hardware that they have sold. The purchaser can do what they want with their own phone.
Whole article is at: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061124-828
No - it runs BSD (Mac OS X).
Unlocking would be misleading, as that could mean he's broken the SIM lock.
In order to justify his name he should do Blue Ray and HD DVD stuff. Does he have anything against Apple Computer and/or Steve Jobs?
I am much more looking forward to unlocking the iPhone so you can use it with any GSM card - including those up here in the great white north.
1. Buy the phone 2. activate it through Apple 3. Cancel the plan within 2 days
Like anyone can even know that
monthly fees from AT&T for all subscribers on the iPhone plans.
That's one of the many reasons Verizon told Apple to go pound sand.
You're saying people are already bricking their iPhones?
Technoli
Something else then. Someone gathered the activation codes. Either way, not unbricking.
v4sw6PU$hw6ln6pr4F$ck 4/6$ma3+6u7LNS$w2m4l7U$i2e4+7en6a2X h
Because we ACs don't get points to award.
Couldn't you just buy the iPhone and not activate it? Now all you slashdotters will be able to get girls phone numbers and have an excuse when you don't call them!
I'm interested in a hack that allows tunring my nano into a phone. Let me know when this happens...
Voice quality is quite good in the phone itself. The quality of network varies depending on your location. I've been in the Washington D.C. area and it was clear. In Toronto, roaming with Rogers has also been great.
I doubt that most will cancel their service.
-Stu
Looks like nanocr.eu is groaning under the ./ effect.
Other than this text, there is no discernible information contained in this sig.
Genius, so you take a phone and "unlock it" thus meaning it is no longer a phone.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Unlocking the iPhone will become trivial in the following weeks. However, what to do with the 2 year contract you signed at the time you bought it???
how long until
I'll take one!
We came,we saw, we kicked it's ass!
We don't even have their "service" here, not till 2012.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
would a voip webapp be feasible? then the iphone would be pretty cool even whitout gsm functionality
"Words of wisdom: drop that zero and get with the hero" -- Vanilla Ice
Well, he does have an interest in Apple products...
You forgot step 2... Pay $200 to get out of the contract you signed with AT&T.
Cancel within 4 days and you get the activation fee refunded; and since you are within 30 days there is no early termination fee.
Essentially you are buying a very expensive iPod/WiFi web browser.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Wow, way to comment without actually reading the source material! You have, IIRC(this may also depend on the state) 14 days after signing to cancel out of a cell phone contract for whatever reason(most people do it because they get crappy service in their area) without paying a termination fee.
Monstar L
No, if you cancel within 30 days there is no 150$ fee.
There doesn't appear to be anything windows-only about this hack. The Phone Activation Server is written on .NET. If this is anything like DVD Jon's other .NET programs, it will have no problem running under Mono in Linux. The only other part to the hack is to redirect a hostname to 127.0.0.1, which is also easily done in Linux.
;)
I'd be happy to verify this theory if someone wants to send me an iPhone
Freedom is the freedom to say that 2 + 2 = 4
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Did you know that "arguement" is actually spelled "argument"?
HTH
HAND
trust != like
It involves an elastic band, a free cell phone from the carrier of your choice (look around. They all have at least one model that's free) and your nano..
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
My hope is that the iPhone would bring into the limelight how restrictive all mobile phone service providers are. They do nothing but restrict progress and rip off the consumer. I think they're responsible for why phones in the US market lag behind the rest of the world in terms of technology. If US consumers had access to what's available elsewhere I think people would generally be less impressed by the iPhone.
To me the activities the US carriers engage in is just as bad if not worse than DRM. It's a big problem and unfortunately I don't see many people calling attention to it.
bork bork bork!
Seriously.
No to-do list? Check.
No copy & paste? Check.
Lousy web compatability? Check.
No video recording? Check.
Lousy camera? Check.
Did I mention Apple couldn't figure out CUT & PASTE? Check.
No removable memory card? Check.
Applications buggy and crash prone? Check.
Lets face it, the thing is a dog.
--> Fight tyranny and repression.... read
Feeling negative today?! Relax, eat a hotdog, drink a beer; it's independence day!
damaged by dogma
GP has offended apple by not reading source material !! omgWTF.
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
This sounds right.... :) ... Bastards...
What is hard to understand is, why they thought it was sensible to tie the phone to one network. Evidently they did not need to do this to generate sales. So why did they not simply allow people to buy and register with whoever they wanted? The margins seem to be high enough, the demand was there? What was the point? In fact, would they not have sold more if they hadn't locked it to one network?
Its true they control the customers' network choice. But why do they care which network he/she chooses? Does anyone have a simple explanation of this?
If there's wi-fi available I'll use my iBook thank you very much (it's always in my purse). If there's not wi-fi I want a cell phone with 3G.
To be precise, it's "OS X" (Apple dropped the Mac prefix on the iPhone according to the crash logs (http://daringfireball.net/misc/2007/06/MobileMail -2007-06-29-204206.crash)
It's from the movie. At the time, it was Mr. Garrison.
Here's the audio. It's from the movie: South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut (Animated)
The IPhone is going to be sold in other countries as well. AT&T isn't in every country so the phone will work with other configurations of carrier networks... what means the phone functionality configurations may be written somewhere and be changed.
I'd like to use the iphone as an ipod and a phone and save $20 /month on the data plan. (save $480 and not give up that much) Any hacks for that?
I think I saw that, anyways, you cannot get to iTunes with this hack.
I was scrolling through all the replies hoping someone had remembered this, I mean it wasn't all that long ago and there was a host of articles about it. Apparently, one can just get the phone, then go "sorry, switching providers, this coverage is not good and customer service is dismal" or something like that. It might take a small claims case to get the point across, but it is past time that corporations are knocked down a peg on what they claim to be able to do, as opposed to what the law really says.
Frankly, I think we need one more law, completely unbundle hardware from the telcos. There's no need and it is consumer unfriendly. Let the telcos compete on providing service, period. Let them buildout wireless and fiber to the premises. Get them out of the locked down locked out hardware business.
Bad car analogy time..how would folks like to buy a car that by "contract" would only run on one brand of gas?
Anyway, I hope people who buy this iWhatever try it if they want to, small claims court is quite cheap.
The public and the government broke up ATT for several good reasons, we need to keep the pressure on them and the rubber stamp FCC all the time or eventually we'll be right back where we started.
Well, it only rocks when I play the right MP3, but it does almost everything that the Apple phone does except connect with the cellular network. The webbrowser isn't as nice, but it's really pretty good. And it's only about $250 now. The Nokia 770 and 800 are also quite nice. I've seen the 770 for $140 these days. I have to agree. If you don't want a phone, there are many other choices that are pretty nice.
Will it get me the iPoon?
Dont you still have to sign a 2 year contract when you buy it? Sort of hard to 'free' yourself from that part. And with how most people that buy these things, in 2 years they wil lwant the new nice shiny model anyway, instead of releasing it from ATT.
( and last i heard, a "brick" was a totally hosed device, being tied to a single provider doesnt make it hosed, just restricted )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I don't see at all how this would be "of course". Why can't you simply install a different SIM card? I can see how you would "of course" lose the AT&T-specific subscription services but not "all cell phone functionality".
That just makes no sense whatsoever (except in the USA perhaps?)
Every expression is true, for a given value of 'true'
Comment removed based on user account deletion
the steps
1 call customer care and explain calling to request subsidy unlock code
2 explain paid full retail, or use for international calling
-(first get transfer to IPC/Fraud if 3 months serve if no international roaming enabled)
3 explained date purchased, price
4 *#06# give imei and model
5 write down date request made on
6 wait up to 1 week
7 follow up
The long winded version...
I worked for At&t wireless then , Cingular , and finally had to answer calls New At&t... Cingular (its all the same to me) unlocks phones for people that pass a credit requirement and enable the sim to work internationally. Its easiest to enable after 3 months of service otherwise you have to get apply for international service thought the fraud department.
They policy is to unlock phones if the full retail price was paid for the phone. That policy may have changed as of a month ago but I doubt it. Why don't some of you people call in just ask them to do it.
As a side-note the new At&t let up on their policy of not unlocking phones locked to what was At&t wireless. To qualify for(At&t assistance) unlocking those all you need is to verify the account, and it be in good standing or closed in good standing and the contract when that phone was purchased to be expired(can do it without asking for international service). Go-phones request for unlock code can be done after 3 months of service.
The reason that At&t locks the phones is subscription fraud. If they are locked then they can be used only on the At&t network and then they can be either shut down and also tracked if stolen (Every now and then a phone sold was not entered as sold and the account it was used with was shut down). As the system records both IMEI(phone) and ICCID(sim) for each call it becomes possible to catch people who do subscription fraud or claim to loose the phone for insurance purpose but still have it. It was interesting to search for ssn to check pending orders and people trying to order 16 new lines. I then call At&t subscription fraud department and have them check it out fraud after call is done before going to next call. Oh yeah, and I found most reps have not read thought the company policy to unlock the phones if they changed it recently or not so they may be a bit clueless in going about how to request unlock. *#06# gives you imei (its also under the battery on the box, and as well on the paperwork), you need model of phone. Turnaround time is 5 days they can email instructions if you give them email address. If the request is denied or delayed or you missed the call they will have either the unlock code or the reason in the notes. Follow up calls go a lot quicker if you tell them the date you made request for unlock code.
Wouldn't it be a lot simpler to just use 999-99-9999 as the SS# when signing up for AT&T, which allows you to buy a prepaid phone plan? Then you pay $30, get access to the iPhone, have no AT&T contract, and can even use it to make phone calls if the mood ever strikes you. You also don't miss out on the software updates and new features Apple has already said are coming, and someday when someone offer unlocking for $50 you can get that done as well.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
You get an iPhone without the phone part. Gee, DVD Jon, can you figure out a way to make my computer play tunes, but not do Excel or Word? If somebody can actually figure out a way to use it with another provider, great. Until then, there will be an iPod-only varieties in this configuration sure as shootin'.
go eat an Apple and masturbate in your own feces, fanboy
"Here's a tip: DON'T CLICK ON IT."
Is that anything like RTFM, or "write your own?"
"I think they are just criticizing the cellular provider of this PDA that has been a hype machine for the last year. "
Don't insult our intelligence. People WANT the iPhone without AT&T. Period! They're not going to get one without the other.
"The subject of what you are going to read is advertised in the topic. "
"iPhone","AT&T". What did we miss?
"Why did you click on it if it was obviously going to make you mad?"
Better question. Why can't you all clean up your act? It's not that it hasn't been mentioned before.
"Don't need to go around calling people idiotic for holding a legitimate discussion."
Pfft! Slashdot has some funny ideas what constitutes a "legitimate" discussion. Yes it's idiotic to complain about not having a choice when one does indeed have one.
They gave away the store with this AT&T deal.
I don't think Apple is that dumb. We know they have a 5-year exclusive for the iPhone on AT&T. But I really doubt they have a 5-year exclusive on any device that uses a mobile network. e.g. the iPod Mobile. It seems clear to me that Phase 2 is already in progress.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
They policy is to unlock phones if the full retail price was paid for the phone. That policy may have changed as of a month ago but I doubt it. Why don't some of you people call in just ask them to do it.
So, you are telling me that ATT is going to tell me how to use a Sprint SIM in an iPhone?
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
That question is just dumb. It would not be possible at all with sprint because sprint is cdma/EVDO and At&t is GSM/edge,hsdpa. It may be doable with t-moble sim. However At&t customer service will not help you set it up. We will just allow the phone with other carrier's overseas (voice). The real problem will be trying to get the data features to work. I have had mixed success getting other carriers phones working on At&t when At&t had not sold those phones before. If they had sold them before its as simple as going to the device tutorials and inputing the settings if I cant over the air program. If it is a unsupported customer owned and maintained (coam) device that we have not tested (losts of testing) and sold configured prepared documentation for then the best I can do is suggest trying settings on our website from a similar phone from the same manufacturer that we have sold. I found mixed results with getting other carriers (gsm)equipment work with At&t(data). I will not be surprised if someone manages to get it working on t-mobile or some other gsm service. www.phonescoop.com tells you what companies have supported and sold equipment. That tells you settings for said phone are easily available. Other then that dif carriers settings and menu will be organized differently. Here is the deal if the phone is unlocked you can make calls. Where you to call customer care and to try to get some phone working from sprint here is what I would tell you. If we had supported that phone
That question is just dumb. It would not be possible at all with sprint because sprint is cdma/EVDO and At&t is GSM/edge,hsdpa. ... [list of other non free trivia, failures and rudeness]
As if such a divide was reasonable and inevitable instead of anti-social and intentional. The spectrum belongs to everyone and things should just work. They would work if the spectrum were reasonably reallocated.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I'm still laughing at the "sticking it to the man" part. $600 dollars for the phone and you don't have all the functionality. Now who's sticking it to whom?
on Outlook 2003 (on Windows XP) with IPhone.
Yesterday I activated two Iphones for two corporate types who want to migrate (inspite of my suggestion to the contrary) from BB to Iphone just because of the cool gadget factor.
Was on hold with Apple's tech support first for 15 minutes, and then 2 hours regarding the problem and in the end there is no solution short of reinstalling XP.
This is the first time I had to deal with Apple tech support, but besides trying to relate to me as a geek, they were almost useless. The converstation went something like this: try all possible enable/disable combination of the Itunes plugins in outlook... blah... blah... blah... sorry it is not Apple's fault. I then asked about logs... response... we're not Windows people....blah...blah...blah...we have no idea about logs in Windows. In other words, thank you for joining the IPhone-on-MS-guinea-pig-program at the entry level price of $600.
Other than that, I can't type for shit on the keyboard, especially the u, i, o, p letters.
sorry just forget all that... sprint doesn't have sims
No. Sprint is going to tell me how do i Sprint SIM in an iPhone after throwing out AT&T SIM.
Anyway Sprint service is far better than AT&F crap.
(FYI: Sprint is CDMA, so no SIM is inolved.)
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
Hey CmdrTaco, real editors spell check AND proof-read. Get your SHIT together and you might stop embarrassing yourself some day.
In normal shops mind you, no need to go to Ebay for that. They are expensive, but that was to be expected.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Like Skype for Windows Mobile? Works great.
Da Blog
You cannot use the Youtube app if you unlock the iPhone functionalities (not the SIM) by DVD Jon's method. There seems to be another barrier to overcome.
No, that will not work at this time. The AnyPath messaging system used for the iPhone, which also happens to be used for all of AT&T/Cingular voice messaging, does not support third party applications getting messages off the AnyPath.
It was a bone thrown to AT&T so they could sell fat text messaging plans, or gather fat fees from people who go over their limit and end up paying per message.
Maybe someone with an iPhone can see if this works.
I can confirm that it worked with an earlier AT&T-only phone on the pre-Cingular version of AT&T Wireless (circa 2002 version).
The phone is the Siemens S46. The unlock technique is simple.
Find somewhere without a cell signal. In my case, this is a corner of my basement, as long as the phone is in an old coffee can.
Turn off the phone.
Remove the AT&T SIM card.
Replace with a different SIM card.
Turn the phone back on.
Confirm you have no signal.
Dial 911.
Because the phone, by law, MUST make 911 calls, even without a SIM, the phone will eventually unlock and seek other GSM signals. With this phone, the Siemens S46, you can then stop the outgoing 911 call, attach the T-Mo signal, and you're in.
There you go.