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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.

41 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by HouseArrest420 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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!
    1. Re:Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by Simon+(S2) · · Score: 5, Funny

      hy 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? Because of the "I" prefix.
      --
      I just don't trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn't die.
    2. Re:Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by thebrieze · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Cool factor, User Interface, Wifi, Almost full featured browser, Full screen, Video player.

      Granted its still an expensive, but there isn't another device that does all of the above with quite as nice a user interface, and which has quite as much cool factor.

    3. Re:Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by appleguru · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not just a PDA. It's a SWEET solid state iPod... In fact, it;s currently the only flash based iPod that can play videos; and it has a kickass screen and touch interface to boot... the iPhone is apple's best ipod to date. While the price may seem high, there is clearly a demand for an iPhone-like iPod, and I imagine one at a lower price point than the iPhone will be released soon. Time will tell if the new ipod has any connectivity features built in (wifi, bluetooth, etc), but I hope so!

    4. Re:Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by niceone · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, because you get to have a cool iPhone.

      This mod has a couple more advantages for the slashdot crowd:

      1) you won't have to talk to people.
      2) it makes it harder for 'them' to track you

    5. Re:Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Tapwave Zodiac :)

      Cool factor > Still looks cool to this day!

      User interface > Yup its pretty nice touch screen interface

      Wifi > With an SDIO card yeah

      Almost full featured browser > yup got that too

      Full screen > tis a pretty big screen

      Video player > hardware mpeg4 decoder built in :D

      plus it plays emulators and has tonnes of over features :)

      f*ck the iphone get a Zodiac off ebay now!

    6. Re:Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by Minwee · · Score: 4, Funny

      Cool factor, User Interface, Wifi, Almost full featured browser, Full screen, Video player.

      I think the phrase you are looking for is "prosthetic eNis".

    7. Re:Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 3, Funny

      iPeen

    8. Re:Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by Bemopolis · · Score: 5, Funny

      YEAH! Someone should find a way of making the iPhone work without having to sign a 2-year contract with AT&T. Even if they have to sacrifice the cellphone functionality. I sure hope that when someone does that it becomes a story on SLashdot. Of course then, I'd probably have to respond to someone too dense to Read The Fucking Title.

      --
      "I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
    9. Re:Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nokia N700 or the new N800 does all of that.

      No it does not play DRM locked iTunes music but it does everything else including play doom.

      Oh and it's been out for far longer than the iPhone.

      does it have the yuppie metrosexual iconic look? No but in a way kinda, every time I use mine with my phone (BT data) or for other reasons (far bigger screen than the iphone so movies rock and makes websurfing very tolerable) I get tons of questions about it.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    10. Re:Yeah make it worthless, then I can afford one!! by Sparks23 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I admit, from toying with one that a friend picked up, the N700/800 tablets look quite nicely usable. They do not, however, look like something I can slip into my purse, or the pocket of my jacket, for easy transport as a phone. (Especially as they need a Bluetooth phone to use for GPRS connectivity, and don't do normal GSM calling.)

      I haven't taken the plunge and enslaved myself to AT&T for an iPhone, but I know that my desire for it is a tradeoff of several things. Windows Mobile just plain feels like I'm fighting with my PDA most of the times (I will spare you my rant on the astonishingly poor UI design of the Connection management screen in WM5), and most of the more-usable PDA-type devices are, like the N700, just too darn BIG to carry around conveniently for me, especially if I also have to carry a phone with me.

      So all flashy 'woo' factor aside, the iPhone seems to have a very usable interface, do most of what I actually want from my PDA-phone (with, alas, the exception of IM... what were you THINKING, Apple?) and would fit in my jacket pocket much more conveniently. It's just that (ugh) AT&T requirement that's kept me from taking the plunge; T-Mobile's been fairly good to me.

      --
      --Rachel
  2. Why "Of course"? by l-ascorbic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why is it assumed that phone functionality must be sacrificed? Why can't another SIM be used?

    1. Re:Why "Of course"? by jonwil · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The iPhone almost certainly contains a network lock (where it will refuse to talk to any SIM card that isn't from AT&T)

      The interesting question would be if you could use any AT&T SIM card in the iPhone after activating it with this hack (or if not whether the hack could be changed so that becomes possible). If so, this allows you to completely avoid the "lock-in contract" by obtaining whatever the "I already have a suitable phone and I just want an AT&T SIM card with no lock in contract" plan is.

    2. Re:Why "Of course"? by mzwaterski · · Score: 4, Informative

      The iPhone doesn't use SIM cards.

      It doesnt? http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305 746
    3. Re:Why "Of course"? by russ1337 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I personally think it is fair that a telco wants you to sign up for a 2 year contract when they give you a subsidized phone, especially when they want to give you an expensive phone at (what appears to be) a bargain.

      What I think is a little unfair is paying full price for the device and being locked in for 2 years to a company that appears is not subsidizing the phone. AT&T must have wanted the lock-in for them to justify spending money on the extra services the iPhone offers such as video mail, which they would have made money on anyway if they were first to market or offered the best service.

      In a truly competitive market the iphone would be free to connect to any telco (and because the phone meets FCC requirements they should not legally be allowed to turn the customer away). Problem is, the Telco's are too accustomed to locking down their services and features and couldn't bear the customer having a choice.

      IMHO of course.

    4. Re:Why "Of course"? by l-ascorbic · · Score: 3, Informative

      Pretty much all phones in the UK are sim-locked. It's legal to get it unlocked by a slightly dodgy bloke on a market stall for a tenner though.

    5. Re:Why "Of course"? by LearnToSpell · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Here's a choice: DON'T BUY IT.

      Jesus. /. drives me nuts sometimes. Everybody wants an iPhone for 99 cents, with 10,000 free minutes a month, unlimited texting, unlimited bandwidth, and a personalized letter from Steve Jobs thanking them for making a difference in the world. How the fuck is any of this unfair? There are other phones. There are other PDAs. Want a competitive market? Get Samsung to make a hot phone, and hook it up to another network. Talking about how you don't have a choice is truly idiotic.

    6. Re:Why "Of course"? by K8Fan · · Score: 4, Informative

      Which begs the question - if this hack unlocks it, does it also remove the sim lock? And if not, could it.

      This hack doesn't do anything about the phone part of the iPhone. All he did was patch around the activation step and fool the rest of the iPhone into thinking it has already been activated. But I'm pretty sure that someone will take the software apart and figure out how to use it as a standard quad-band GSM phone via the SIM card. The question is if it will have web access via the carrier's data network...and if it would be any faster than AT&Ts EDGE system. The real tragedy would be losing the very cool "Visual Voice-mail". I wonder if Asterisk could be made to serve a Web 2.0 emulation of it?

      --
      "How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
  3. Right by suv4x4 · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Right by arivanov · · Score: 4, Informative

      If I understand the idea correctly this allows you to use it without activating it and having a mandatory contract. This does not remove the SIM lock though. If a hack comes out to unlock the SIM lock these two will make a total unlock possible. Anything else aside, this allows you to use the iPhone for something without registering for 2 years contract while you are waiting for the second hack.

      The latter is only a matter of time, after all you do not expect a device with a general purpose OS where everything runs as root to last long, do you?

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/
  4. Unlocking a Cell Phone is LEGAL by MCSEBear · · Score: 5, Informative
    From Ars Technia -- November 24, 2006

    The newest list of exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is out, and the Register of Copyrights is recommending six exemptions this time around. If you've been hankering for the legal authority to remove Sony's rootkit or to unlock your cell phone, then this will be big news. If you were hoping for the ability to make backup copies of your legally purchased DVDs, you're (still) out of luck.

    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/20061124-8280 .html
    1. Re:Unlocking a Cell Phone is LEGAL by MCSEBear · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's just a function of the fact that telecoms have buckets full of money and congress-persons like buckets full of money.

      You notice that congress never said telecoms can't reduce consumer choice by locking cell phones. Instead, the head of the copyright office decided to make an exemption to the DMCA to cover unlocking cell phones. Perhaps the telecoms forgot to offer the head of the copyright office enough buckets full of money. Heck, I suppose it's even possible that this official is honest and has the consumers best interests in mind.

      Sadly, the US totally lacks a political party that is willing to protect consumers when there is the possibility of gaining access to said buckets full of money. There was a lot of talk about network neutrality from the Democrats before they took control of congress. Now that they are in power and those buckets full of money are in the offing, they seem to have suddenly shut the fuck up about the importance of network neutrality. Sigh. Libertarians, anyone?

    2. Re:Unlocking a Cell Phone is LEGAL by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's not a legal thing, it's a commercial thing. SIM locking makes a lot of sense and is one of the features that allowed for such a massive and fast rollout of ubiquitous GSM communications. Essentially it means the providers can heavily subsidise the price of the phone, making an advanced piece of electronics extremely cheap (and therefore affordable to lots of people), while still turning a profit. Everybody wins. But without locking, subsidising such a phone is equivalent to simply giving away money - so robust locking (a form of DRM in a way) is pretty important if you value everybody having a mobile phone. As phones usefulness is very much related to how many people have them, I'd say that's pretty important, especially as many countries now have laws around how long a phone can remain locked for and on some contracts (like mine) after you've had it for a year you own the phone and can get it unlocked.

      Now, in this case, there are some things that aren't really clear. The first is how much AT&T are subsidising the cost of the phone. My Sony Ericsson W800i, which is now about 2 years old and has most of the features (if not the nice ui) of the iPhone cost me 30 UK pounds when I bought it on contract (locked for a year), which is about $60. But the high end iPhone costs 10 times that. I can well believe it's more expensive to make, as it's newer, has a nicer screen etc, but is AT&T subsidising the cost at all? If they are then I guess Apple have serious problems with the manufacturing price. If they aren't doing so then the original rationale for allowing locking (which is otherwise an unwarranted distortion of the free market) disappears, and it should be looked at closely.

    3. Re:Unlocking a Cell Phone is LEGAL by MCSEBear · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't think Sim locking makes sense to any reasonable person. Now if a provider wants to subsidize the cost of a cell phone and then make me reimburse them for ONLY the cost of said subsidy if I cancel my contract early, that makes perfect sense.

      In any event, AT&T is not subsidizing the cost of the iPhone in any way. Locking the iPhone to their network when they are not paying any portion of it's cost for the consumer is just plain evil. Apple, by extension, is also guilty.

    4. Re:Unlocking a Cell Phone is LEGAL by jack_csk · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Perhaps others have already told you - the Telecoms don't have to sim-lock the phones they sell to earn the profit. Instead, the Telecoms just have to bind the customer with a contract.

      In other words, the sim-lock defendings are nothing but BS from the Telecoms. They just don't want to admit that they are so greedy.

  5. Unlock?? by brunes69 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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. Re:Unlock?? by Zebedeu · · Score: 3, Funny

      You're right!
      The iPhone is totally useless without this "Visual Voicemail" feature!

  6. Or... by dwightk · · Score: 5, Informative
    --
    Like anyone can even know that
  7. Re:Why is DVD Jon focused on Apple? by Aladrin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He earned his name long ago. He has no need to 'justify' himself to anyone, and he certainly doesn't owe us anything. He can do whatever he damned well pleases, and you should be thankful for anything that happens to help you, instead of disrespecting him for the stuff that doesn't.

    --
    "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  8. Well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm interested in a hack that allows tunring my nano into a phone. Let me know when this happens...

  9. Re:A better idea by Magneon · · Score: 3, Informative

    You can't use it for anything at all without activating it... ...without this hack.

  10. Re:DVD Jon is really asking to be sued again by yellowcord · · Score: 3, Informative

    Who's taking a loss? Apparently the mark-up on the 8 GB version is 55%.

  11. Re:Why is DVD Jon focused on Apple? by suv4x4 · · Score: 5, Funny

    He earned his name long ago. He has no need to 'justify' himself to anyone, and he certainly doesn't owe us anything. He can do whatever he damned well pleases, and you should be thankful for anything that happens to help you, instead of disrespecting him for the stuff that doesn't.

    Showing your gratitude means you're weak. You gotta hate things. Hate Windows, hate Oracle, hate IBM, hate Intel, hate RIAA, hate Exxon. Hate the government, hate DVD Jon. Hate some guy who made a million by selling pixels on his home page and so on.

    It's a survival technique. Now, of course, I kinda like Linux. I contributed a brightness adjustment to the "paste" icon in the KDE file manager, so by extension this puts me in the same group with the guys who created the Linux kernel.

    But I'm not gonna tell you I like Linux. I'll just instead tell you you're an idiot for not using Linux, otherwise it means I'm weak.

  12. iPhone shuffle by Elsapotk421 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'll take one!

    --
    We came,we saw, we kicked it's ass!
  13. voip by metroplex · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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
  14. Re:Why is DVD Jon focused on Apple? by suv4x4 · · Score: 5, Funny

    In order to justify his name he should do Blue Ray and HD DVD stuff.

    Totally agreed. And he better do it quick, I'm on the phone talking with the head of the Name Giving Commission, and they're seriously considering taking his name back.

  15. Re:Or... Not by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 3, Interesting



    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.
  16. The service providers are the problem. by MaWeiTao · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  17. Re:Its very hard to understand this by mla_anderson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Should be pretty obvious why they have the network lock: visual voicemail. Visual voicemail is a major change to the carrier's voicemail system, to get a network to agree to make the change Apple has to agree to the lock-in.

    For me, the visual voicemail is the big win for the iPhone, the ability to have random access to voicemail is great. The other features are pretty, but visual voicemail is what makes me drool.

    --
    Sig is on vacation
  18. Re:Its very hard to understand this by cuzco · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Visual voicemail is cool but, it hardly justifies such an odius 5 year AT&T lock-in. I'd would gladly give up visual voicemail for an iPhone that could be used with any provider. Think about that. Apple can't sell an iPhone that works with any other provider FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. That's an eternity in the tech industry and in 5 years, you better believe that all other major phone manufacturers will have easily surpassed the iPhone in terms of elegance and ease of use. Apple isn't going to sit on their thumbs for the next five years but they showed other phone manufacturers how to make a simple elegant device. They gave away the store with this AT&T deal.

  19. Why risk it? by NMerriam · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --
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