Unlocking a US 3G iPhone?

Hey Davin. I’m not sure if you can… A friend tried tirelessly with no luck (although this was at the end of last year). He even bought some little chip thing from China to fix on the sim card, which was supposed to help in some way!?… He had successfully cracked his 2G but could never open the 3G. I’ll drop him a line though and see if he ever managed it.

Thanks James. Don’t European iPhones all come unlocked? Maybe I’ll get mine in Romania instead. I did find this though: http://www.unlockediphone.info/ and this: http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/staying-in-touch-internationally-on-the-cheap/?em

I think all Euro iphones are locked to O2. Same deal as with AT&T in the US.

No, all european iPhones are not locked to O2 but you invariably have to take out a subscription somewhere if you want one at a reasonable (?) price. You can now buy new unlocked ones from http://www.technikdirekt.de although I wouldn’t pay 700 euros for such a limited phone. If you have a valid EU VAT number and live outside Germany, technikdirekt will make you a VAT free sale.

Well, this guy Matt Gross who writes the Frugal Traveler column for the NY Times unlocked his older generation iPhone that he bought in the US and uses it all over Europe:

http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/staying-in-touch-internationally-on-the-cheap/?em

Yeah, as I said my friend was able to unlock his old iphone but not his 3G. I guess they upped the security on them. Did send him a message though so i’ll let you know when he responds. Have you considered getting the older version?

Well, James, how important is 3G actually? Apparently it provides internet speeds twice as fast as 2G. . .

What do you make of this then? For $37.95 they claim you can unlock your 3G iPhone: http://www.unlockediphone.info/

James,

I just heard back from NY Times writer Matt Gross and he sent me this link:

http://www.iphonerat.com/iphone/how-to-unlock-iphone-3g/

it’s not a problem, i unlocked my Canadian iphone 3g using software purchased online. 15 mins and you’re set. Although of course i forget the website, it’s english though. only problem is i had to have a friend pay for the info in toronto as i was in ukraine and they do not accept online payment from eatern europe. surprise surprise. although you’re in romania, it may work now that you’re EU…

Davin,

Don’t bother with anyone who charges to unlock the phone, you can do it for free. The software is free, so anyone selling it is actually selling free code and people are paying for it :0)

http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/67797811/dont-eat-yellowsn0w

Both the 2g and 3g phones were hacked long ago, Apple cannot fix the vulnerabilities so it’s possible to keep on unlocking them, no matter what new OS comes out.

I recently met someone using an unlocked 3G iPhone here in Canada…purchased from the online Hong Kong Apple Store…when he was visiting HK.

Apple HK ~ “iPhone 3G purchased at the Apple Online Store can be activated with any wireless carrier. Simply insert the SIM from your current phone into iPhone 3G and connect to iTunes 8 to complete activation”.

Unfortunately, the website also states that it will only ship to HK address. Perhaps there’s a way around this…or at least worth looking into for anyone passing through HKG.

Beware the price…the handset is not subsidized in HK…therefore $$$. Anyone have experience with this??