[FAQ] Unlocking iPhone 3G

[gbadude]

Okay, so given the imminent release of unlocking tool via Cydia for iPhone 3G, I'm sure there'll be a ton of threads popping up asking all sorts of stuff about unlocking. So here's my best try on answering all the questions.

1. What is significance of unlocking?

Unlocking means you'll be able to use your iPhone with any carrier you want. For the 3g, this means you won't be signed into a 2 year contract if you activate through iTunes. The only time you'll be in a 2 year contract is if you buy the phone at it's subsidized price through an official retailer (ATT/Apple). Please do remember that if you want to use iphone 3g on tmobile, you won't be able to get 3g speeds, you'll only be able to get Edge.

2. When will the unlock be available?

The ETA is within the next 5 or 6 hours. Supposedly before 12:00AM PST. It may be sooner or maybe a little bit later. But for sure within the next 24 hours, you'll be able to unlock your iphone 3g.

3. How do I unlock my phone?

First, you'll need to have a jailbroken phone that has cydia installed. When the unlock is released, you'll download the program via cydia and run the program. It does not require you to rejailbreak your phone like the first iphone. Again, you do not have to restore and rejailbreak your phone.

4. Which basebands are unlockable?

Every baseband will be unlockable. Looking at devteam's website as well as other reliable sources, the most current baseband (02.28.00) will be unlockable. So if you've upgraded to 2.2 software without using a custom firmware, there's nothing to worry about. You'll be able to unlock your phone just fine. Granted, all previous announcements has said that the latest baseband will not be exploitable, so there is a very slight chance that it's not. But again, unlocking 0.28.00 is a very recent announcement (past 2 hours), so I'm inclined to believe that it willl be.

Edit: According to the latest information available, the DevTeam is now advising iPhone users to upgrade to the latest baseband, as only version 02.28.00 will be supported by the software unlock. Proceed at your own risk until further information becomes available.

5. How do I jailbreak my phone

Mac: Quickpwn
Windows: Quickpwn

6. Should I use Quickpwn or Pwnage?

Personally I would suggest using Quickpwn. The main reason for using Pwnage was to create a custom firmware that preserved your baseband, leaving it unlockable. However, due to recent turn of events, you don't need to preserve your baseband, since 02.28.00 should be unlockable. There's been a lot of speculation that jailbreak via Quickpwn is more stable and less degrading on performance. I've personally done both, and prefer Quickpwn because it does seem like my phone runs better, plus it only takes 10min at most.

7. Whats the name of the program to look for in Cydia?

The name of the software is "yellowsn0w".

Hopefully this answers most of your questions. If you have more feel free to ask.

[Icecold420]

good tips. Thanks for taking the time to write it all out.

Hopefully this stops at least one repeat thread?

[Seti-Alpha 5]

The Dev Team website states:

GOLDEN RULE: If you have a 3G iPhone and want potential soft unlock in the near future do NOT use QuickPwn

Are you absolutely sure this rule no longer applies?

[teride]

The Dev Team website states:
Are you absolutely sure this rule no longer applies?

This does apply until the new jailbreak/unlock software is available tonight.

[Seti-Alpha 5]

This does apply until the new jailbreak/unlock software is available tonight.

That's what I thought. Seems like I remember them saying they'll have the jailbrake/unlock packaged together in one program and to avoid using current pwnage tools.

[onyxgrapple]

What is a soft unlock? What's the difference?

[ej3ffrey]

i wonder if people with 2.28 have better phone reception than the old basebands...

[stoln05]

haven't seen this posted yet but the dev team now said the update will only work for the 02.28 baseband... Darn gotta update now =\

[gbadude]

haven't seen this posted yet but the dev team now said the update will only work for the 02.28 baseband... Darn gotta update now =\

Yeah what a turn of events. Went from being totally unlockable less than a day ago to being the only baseband unlockable. But then again that is for the best seeing as how the latest baseband included some fixes and improvements. Nonetheless awesome job to dev team. Hopefully one of the mods will update my post soon.

[stoln05]

They have finally released the program... Refer to the blog for the source and repo

[rockyjr]

Read point 3 under random.

[cpreasha]

Sweet Goly Misss Molly. I just unlocked my 3G 16 GB iphone to work with Centennial Wireless. This is Christmas all over again. Thanks DEV team. How do I make donations.

[McLaren_F1]

Sweet Goly Misss Molly. I just unlocked my 3G 16 GB iphone to work with Centennial Wireless. This is Christmas all over again. Thanks DEV team. How do I make donations.

They Do Not take donations.

http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/4174...ns-to-dev-null

[cpreasha]

Well they should. I can't believe the wonderful job they did. I'm so ecstatic.

[CellPhoneFetish]

i cant find the yellowsn0w app in cydia did they change the name of it? or do i have to add a different source that i dont currently have? any help is appreciated.