Unlocking an iPhone

[LowLife.]

Ok, so my dad has just upgraded to the iPhone 4 and has kindly given me his 3gs. Now, the problem I have is that it is locked to o2. I know that o2 offer the free unlock service, but I believe it takes 14 days?!

So, I don't really want to wait that long. Is there any way I can do it myself? I don't have an o2 sim card so can't even get past the 'emergency call' screen.

Any help?

 

[_Logie]

There is Jailbreaking as an option, but in all honesty I would just wait the 14 days. I don't see a point nor would advise you to go down the route of a Jailbreak.

Wait the 14 days, get an official unlock and it'll be better and it'll be good. Jailbreak unlocks can be iffy sometimes from what I hear.

 

[LowLife.]

Oh right, I didn't realise the JB unlocks were 'iffy'.

When I was living in Leeds, you could get phones unlocked at the local market. I might give this a try!

I don't want to wait to weeks to start using my iPhone!

 

[_Logie]

Lol you've waited this long mate, another 2 weeks won't hurt. Plus the 2 weeks may just be a maximum time, could be a few days or even hours.

Honest advice; go down the legit road and get it done by O2. Dodgy Jailbreaks and local market unlocks won't really be of any use to you if it breaks it tbh.

 

[LowLife.]

Aye, I suppose your right. I just need to get the account information off the old man now!

Ffs.

 

[_Logie]

Be lucky you have one, I swapped my 3GS for a BB Torch because the missus wanted one and now I'm stuck on a BB Curve 3G. Got me some brownie points though and I'll get the iPhone 5 when it's out.

 

[RoryW]

O2 only take 3 days to unlock now apparently. It's what they told me last week when getting a 3GS unlocked for a friend. Only took 2 days too.

 

[Andy.]

It has all changed over here (Holland) recently, as all providers are offering the iPhone on contract, and unlocked, they now unlock them automatically. You just have to stick your non working SIM in it, plug it into iTunes and leave it for an hour. The phone then receives and update and becomes unlocked.

Might be worth trying?

 

[Sym0n]

Yeah O2 took all of two days to turn it around on my 4 a few months ago, I'd definately recommend an official unlock over any other method. Although I still believe that all iPhones need to be jailbroken, I had hoped that iOS 5 would change my mind but the f**king spotlight search alone opening when I'm trying to get to the task manager is more than enough for me to jailbreak. Plus iOS 5 lock screen notificiations just aren't good enough compared to what LockInfo does.

 

[jonzz]

Jailbreak and unlock it yourself. Takes 20 minutes.

 

[Sym0n]

Not really that simple is it.

 

[_Logie]

Yeah Sym0n it really is that simple. Few clicks and you're done.

 

[Tom]

Its not simple. At all.

Most people rely on their phone. Say you buy and iphone 4 thats locked to o2 to use it on tmobile.
iOS 5 comes out and the baseband is impossible to unlock with a jailbreak, you now have a locked o2 phone thats useless to you.

Always try to use the official unlock routes. Saves pain in the future.

Especially as delta updates are on the cards and jail breaking will get a lot harder.

 

[Sym0n]

Don't forget that there hasn't been an available JB unlock since baseband 06.15.00 or close to it. So yeah it's really not that simple.

Currently OTA updates don't work on JB iOS 5 devices, although I'd guess that Apple will change that if they can...and then the JB devs will change it back. Another thing to note, the A5 chip so far hasn't been exploited on the iPad2 and as that will no doubt roll to the next iPhone you'll be s**t out of luck there as you won't be able to JB at all.