vB Easy Archive - at&t sim in another person's iphone?????

Pages: 1

at&t sim in another person's iphone?????
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: bmx1

ok so i've got kind of a weird question. my stepdad is a at&t customer with just some old v551 motorola phone. he was given yes given an iphone by a lady he works with who took it from her son after he proved he couldn't stay out of trouble in school with it. my stepdad wants to use the iphone but putting his SIM card in just makes the phone say something like, invalid SIM connect to itunes to register. now the question........if he just connects it to itunes and goes through the regular registration, will it work? also, i think the "kid" bought it on his own AT&T account (with money from his parents) and since his mom pretty much took it from him, what if the kid reported it stolen? will connecting it to itunes still allow my stepdad to use it? thanks for any info you've got on this weird situation.

Posted by: BornInBremen

the iPhone has to be unlocked to use any SIM in it other than the one it came with. Period. Putting in any other SIM will result in an invalid SIM error.

Posted by: bmx1

it's got 1.0 firmware. so if i use anysim to unlock it then he'll be able to use his card? and if that will work, what firware do i need to start with to use anysim on it?

Posted by: BornInBremen

Upgrade it to 1.1.1 (not 1.1.2), then follow the easy no-PC needed instructions at UnlockThatIPhone.com. Seriously, takes like 15 minutes. All you need is WiFi access.

You'll need to manually download the 1.1.1 firmware. Look in the stickies, there's links for it in there.

Posted by: Haas_Dave

Quote:

Originally Posted by BornInBremen

the iPhone has to be unlocked to use any SIM in it other than the one it came with. Period. Putting in any other SIM will result in an invalid SIM error.

Not true, otherwise once the SIM goes bad (which has happened to others) then the iPhone basically locked. AT&T can give one a new SIM card (if needed) to iTunes activate an iPhone. AT&T and Apple just 'suggest' to use the included SIM card.

OP:
If your stepdad's SIM is a recent one (an AT&T one that has the 3G logo on it), it should cooperate with iTunes [re]activation, but YMMV.
I'd suggest getting a new SIM, just in case. Unlike what BornInBremen says, there are no 'specific' AT&T SIMs for the iPhone.

As for the 'stolen report' scenario, I'd ask that as a general 'if my phone gets stolen' question in the AT&T HowardForum.

Posted by: bmx1

his SIM card is a current one i guess b/c it has the 3G logo on it. so if i upgrade to 1.1.1 which i have on my phone and saved on my pc, then unlock it, it'll work with his SIM? if so should i use anysim or unlockthatiphone.com?

Posted by: Haas_Dave

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmx1

his SIM card is a current one i guess b/c it has the 3G logo on it. so if i upgrade to 1.1.1 which i have on my phone and saved on my pc, then unlock it, it'll work with his SIM? if so should i use anysim or unlockthatiphone.com?

If you unlock it, then definitely. As for where to get an unlock tool, I don't know who unlockthatiphone.com really is (or if they are affiliated with something like iphonesimfree.com referred to as IPSF around most sites), I'd suggest finding an IPSF affiliate.

IPSF's not-free unlock tool works well (IPSF has managed thus far from bricking updates).
AnySIM should also work fine but I'd worry about subsequent iPhone updates (AnySIM 1.0 for example bricked phones updating to 1.1.1).

Posted by: bmx1

ok so sounds like if i unlock it, i should be able to make it work for him. plus he likes all the 3rd party apps i've put on my jailbroke phone so i guess i'll be doing that on his.
but what about if the son has reported it as stolen? how will that affect him using the phone?

Posted by: celtictech

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmx1

but what about if the son has reported it as stolen? how will that affect him using the phone?

I think that since he is a kid, he is not old enough to sign a contract so the account should be in one of his parents names. So they have the right to take the phone away from him if they want.

Posted by: Haas_Dave

bmx1, remember to tell your stepdad to have some sort of data plan (or turn off data) on his account so he doesn't receive excessive data usage charges.
I'm sure you know that, but it's always a good thing to say when doing these sorts of things...

Posted by: bmx1

^^^ true. thanks.