AT&T iPhone Unlocking Process Detailed, Successful for Some

[hinchesk]

Originally Posted by wassupdoc

OK here is the logic that I don't understand.

If I am an AT&T user in good standing with a contract after buying the 4s I am either required to complete the contract or pay the ETF right?

So why not make us happy and unlock the phone now so that I can use it overseas with local sims, since even if I want to break the contract I will end up paying the ETF. There is no way AT&T won't get their subsidy money back for the iPhone.

The only reason to make this difficult is so that AT&T can continue to gouge us for international roaming.

I think it would have been better if they unlocked all users phones 90 days after buying the phone as long as the contract is in good standing - like verizon.

You hit the nail on the head there. The contract/ETF is how AT&T makes sure they subsidy is covered... and should be the only way they're allowed to do it by law.

However, they use the network lock anyway, saying it's about the subsidy but it's not... it goes much further than that. It's being used to force customers to continue to use AT&T as their carrier. It's anti-competitive and shouldn't be legal... but it is in many countries... for now.

At least AT&T isn't charging $50 to unlock like Rogers is... kudos to them.

[Huracan]

Got an iPhone 4 unlocked. Couldn't unlock an iPhone 4S (for obvious reasons, but I had to try). Still have to unlock another iPhone 4. Didn't have the phone and IMEI at hand. That shouldn't be a problem, as that iPhone 4 was purchased before the one I got unlocked.

So far I am a happy customer. I had been waiting for this day for quite long. I mean, the day of being able to have a legal iPhone unlock path. Obviously it would be even better if one could get it unlocked after 3 or 6 months of the account being in good standing. However, this is good enough for me at this point. This gives me a path towards having an iPhone 4 just for use when traveling. Now, I just need to wait for the next iPhone to upgrade and free one of the iPhone 4 as I said, just for travel.

PS: I have to acknowledge that I don't have an immediate need to unlock the phone, just being proactive and having been caught in the unlock euphoria

[Gangalanga]

Originally Posted by unlimitedx

customer service rep says i need to wait until june until they can unlock my iphone 4 which i got on launch day in june 2010. any one else get a different response? i already was eligible for upgrade to 4s in feb and have done so, so the 4 is no longer used.

I upgraded to the 4S in October and gave the iPhone 4 to my dad. I called yesterday and afer 20 minutes of checking, yes 20...the tech support guy said he submitted the request but was not sure if it would go through. I called my dad, he did the reset and restore and Voila... unlocked.

[ghostface147]

Originally Posted by coolweirdo

if i pay the etf will i have to forfeit my att service

No. You're not ending your service, you're just "buying out" your contract. Your rates will remain the same month to month.

[joemc72]

Originally Posted by joemc72

I'm wondering now. Been in chat for nearly 30 minutes and not even a 'Still working on it..." message from the person in chat...

Well, had to restart chat. Hopefully the second time is the charm...

[britboyj]

Here's a cool one -

I bought my 4S in October with my Mum's upgrade. Swapped SIMs, called AT&T, swapped devices on the lines and "4G" data plans. She got my old iPhone 4.

I was worried AT&T would say that the phone was purchased under contract and wouldn't unlock until its contract was paid off. Not because it doesn't make sense (it doesn't, they're still getting the money via my Mum and her iPhone 4) but because they're AT&T.

Fortunately I chatted today and got the attached! Basically once MY CONTRACT on MY PHONE NUMBER runs out I can unlock WHATEVER PHONE IS ATTACHED TO IT.

June 24th, here I come!

[Tinmania]

No problem unlocking my iPhone 4, which I still have after switching to 4S back in October.




Mike

[terraphantm]

Originally Posted by goosnarrggh

Trouble is, you'd probably have to remember to repeat this trick each and every time you re-synched your iPhone to iTunes, because otherwise you'd probably find yourself with an iPhone that keeps on re-locking itself.

Not possible. The unlock happens during the activation process. At this point, iTunes send the iphone a 40-bit key that allows it to activate any SIM. This 40-bit key is unique per every iPhone. While it's not impossible to brute-force 40-bits, I think the baseband locks itself after a few failed attempts. The iPhone dev-team investigated this a long time ago; other countries have had official unlocks for much longer, so they investigated the whole process back when the iPhone 3G was new.

[Tinmania]

Originally Posted by britboyj

Here's a cool one -

I bought my 4S in October with my Mum's upgrade. Swapped SIMs, called AT&T, swapped devices on the lines and "4G" data plans. She got my old iPhone 4.

I was worried AT&T would say that the phone was purchased under contract and wouldn't unlock until its contract was paid off. Not because it doesn't make sense (it doesn't, they're still getting the money via my Mum and her iPhone 4) but because they're AT&T.

Fortunately I chatted today and got the attached! Basically once MY CONTRACT on MY PHONE NUMBER runs out I can unlock WHATEVER PHONE IS ATTACHED TO IT.

June 24th, here I come!

That is weird I had the exact situation and they unlocked my iPhone 4, also purchased at its launch, without issue. I felt they should since my contract doesn't actually end this June. I have a new contract for the 4S that goes to October of 2013 and I was free to do whatever I wanted with my 4.

If I were you I'd try another chat session to see if you have better success (not that June is all that far away).

Autumn Reese: Hello, Mr. White. I will be happy to assist you with unlocking your iPhone 4. I will also review your account to ensure that you are getting the best value for your money.
Michael: OK thank you
Michael: do you need the IMEI?
Autumn Reese: You are welcome. Please send me the IMEI for your iPhone. The IMEI can be found by going to Settings > General > About on the phone.
Michael: 01 ###### ###### 4
Autumn Reese: Thanks. Did you purchase this iPhone from AT&T?
Michael: no from Apple
Michael: sorry didnt see u replied
Michael: OH WAIT!!!
Autumn Reese: That is okay. Was the iPhone purchased with a two *year contract? Or, did you pay full retail price for the iPhone?
Michael: no i got the iPhone 4 from Walmart!!!
Michael: it is my 4S that i got from Apple.
Michael: i paid $299 from Walmart
Autumn Reese: Thank you for that information, Mr. White. I am checking if your iPhone is eligible to be unlocked at this time. Please allow me a moment to do this.
Michael: ok thanks
Autumn Reese: Thank you for your patience. Your iPhone is eligible to be unlocked. I am submitting the unlock case request for your iPhone now. Do you have an e*mail address available that we can send the instructions to complete the unlock process to?
Michael: yes
Michael: @@@@@@gmail.com
Autumn Reese: Thanks. I have submitted the iPhone unlock case for your phone. The case number is ##########. Please allow 5*-7 business days for your unlock code to be obtained. You will receive an e*mail to complete the unlock process once the unlock code has been retrieved.
Michael: Thanks!

Michael

[albertxp06]

Just chatted with AT&T and a case was submitted for unlocking an iPhone 4. Didn't pay ETF, contract still not up. I simply gave them the IMEI number, waited a few minutes, they told met the case was submitted, and I was done!

Just have to wait a few days to see if it really worked

[SkippyThorson]

Alright, I have a question -- I have the original iPhone 2G with an AT&T Sim Card. I've obviously gone through the 2-year contract with that phone and have since moved on to an iPhone 4.

Wouldn't backing up and restoring through iTunes effectively "lock" the phone so that it can not be used? Not necessarily a "lock", as in locked to a carrier. Instead, "locked" as in 'it is now an unusable brick, stuck at the lock screen, which you can't use until you re-authenticate it in iTunes'.

How can I be sure that while my off-contract phone is useable, it will remain so (just carrier-unlocked) after the fact?

(I once restored an iPhone 3G to resell it, which locked the thing to the home screen, rendering it useless to anyone that just wanted to play with the thing. :roll eyes: This is why I'm cautious...)

[iPhoneMBAUser]

Originally Posted by albertxp06

Just chatted with AT&T and a case was submitted for unlocking an iPhone 4. Didn't pay ETF, contract still not up. I simply gave them the IMEI number, waited a few minutes, they told met the case was submitted, and I was done!

Just have to wait a few days to see if it really worked

Same here. They did not even asked about my account, just the IMEI and email add. I did not get any email from them though, not even a confirmation that a ticket has been opened on my account.

[bedifferent]

Have an old jailbroken and unlocked 3GS I was going to sell. Called AT&T yesterday, the rep was great. She was well informed, took about five minutes, sent me a text on my 4S and said an email will be sent around the 13th with instructions. Figured I could get more for it on eBay as an official unlocked device.

[andre178]

So in theory, you can go to SAM, deactivate your gevey Iphone 4, plug in your friends ATT phone, activate it (to register the IMEI on the ATT servers). Then within 24 hours or so (to give the ATT server time to register it), have your friend call in/ chat the ATT rep for unlocking it? This in theory should work right?

[Tinmania]

Originally Posted by SkippyThorson

Alright, I have a question -- I have the original iPhone 2G with an AT&T Sim Card. I've obviously gone through the 2-year contract with that phone and have since moved on to an iPhone 4.

Wouldn't backing up and restoring through iTunes effectively "lock" the phone so that it can not be used? Not necessarily a "lock", as in locked to a carrier. Instead, "locked" as in 'it is now an unusable brick, stuck at the lock screen, which you can't use until you re-authenticate it in iTunes'.

How can I be sure that while my off-contract phone is useable, it will remain so (just carrier-unlocked) after the fact?

(I once restored an iPhone 3G to resell it, which locked the thing to the home screen, rendering it useless to anyone that just wanted to play with the thing. :roll eyes: This is why I'm cautious...)

The original 2G iPhone will soon not work on AT&T so I am not sure they would unlock one at this point.

I have one too that I can't seem to part with so maybe I'll give it a try too. Right now it is just a spare iPod.



Michael

[terraphantm]

Originally Posted by iPhoneMBAUser

Same here. They did not even asked about my account, just the IMEI and email add. I did not get any email from them though, not even a confirmation that a ticket has been opened on my account.

Same here - I've been waiting a bit over 24 hours now.

[victorbla]

Originally Posted by miles01110

Call the customer support line. They ask you questions about your account, so you can't really have someone else do it for you.

The problem is that I bought my iPhone at the Apple Store without a contract (full price). Do you know if AT&T unlock no-contract (full price) iPhones?

[Imola Ghost]

I'm currently eligible on my wife's iPhone 3GS on software 5.0.1.

Does this mean I can update it to the latest 5.1 software before or after the unlocking?

If so, should I update before or after the unlocking?

[britboyj]

Originally Posted by Tinmania

The original 2G iPhone will soon not work on AT&T so I am not sure they would unlock one at this point.

Source for this?

[goosnarrggh]

Originally Posted by terraphantm

Not possible. The unlock happens during the activation process. At this point, iTunes send the iphone a 40-bit key that allows it to activate any SIM. This 40-bit key is unique per every iPhone. While it's not impossible to brute-force 40-bits, I think the baseband locks itself after a few failed attempts. The iPhone dev-team investigated this a long time ago; other countries have had official unlocks for much longer, so they investigated the whole process back when the iPhone 3G was new.

My assumption was that the aforementioned reverse-engineering effort would ultimately have resulted in a program that sits in-between iTunes and the Apple servers, intercepting all the "phone home" requests, perform any necessary cryptography to impersonate an authentic response from Apple's servers, and give iTunes a response that tricks iTunes into thinking that the phone was legitimately unlocked.

Having made that assumption, I proceeded to point out that the user would have to make sure to intercept every such "phone home" from the iPhone to Apple's servers; otherwise, the true response from Apple's servers would have been allowed to slip through and cause the iPhone to become re-locked.

I presume that you are confirming that it has been determined to be impossible to reverse-engineer the protocol and cryptography that would be involved in impersonating a legitimate response; I defer to your experience on that point.

However, I believe that the statement I originally made -- based on the hypothetical assumption that it could be possible to undertake such a reverse-engineering project -- still stands: If such a magical hack were ever discovered, it would still be incumbent on the user to make sure that hack was always applied every time the iPhone called home, or else the hack would be easily defeated.

[sterlingindigo]

Success! If I wasn't a daily (sometimes hourly) reader of MacRumors, I would never have known about this very sweet deal!

[terraphantm]

Originally Posted by goosnarrggh

My assumption was that the aforementioned reverse-engineering effort would ultimately have resulted in a program that sits in-between iTunes and the Apple servers, intercepting all the "phone home" requests, perform any necessary cryptography to impersonate an authentic response from Apple's servers, and give iTunes a response that tricks iTunes into thinking that the phone was legitimately unlocked.

Having made that assumption, I proceeded to point out that the user would have to make sure to intercept every such "phone home" from the iPhone to Apple's servers; otherwise, the true response from Apple's servers would have been allowed to slip through and cause the iPhone to become re-locked.

I presume that you are confirming that it has been determined to be impossible to reverse-engineer the protocol and cryptography that would be involved in impersonating a legitimate response; I defer to your experience on that point.

However, I believe that the statement I originally made -- based on the hypothetical assumption that it could be possible to undertake such a reverse-engineering project -- still stands: If such a magical hack were ever discovered, it would still be incumbent on the user to make sure that hack was always applied every time the iPhone called home, or else the hack would be easily defeated.

Your hypothesis is based on an incorrect assumption of how the process works. AT&T sends the request to Apple - Apple adds IMEI to a whitelist. When said iPhone is plugged into iPhone, it sends a request to Apple for an activation ticket. If the iPhone's IMEI is in the whitelist, Apple responds and gives an activation ticket with the "unlock code" embedded in it.

There's nothing to intercept, because the query sent from the local computer is the same whether or not the phone is unlocked. If you had access to whatever computers AT&T sends the requests from, then you could probably figure out how to spoof an official looking request. But at the same time, if you had access to those computers, you could probably have just sent a request yourself.

Hypothetically speaking if you were able to obtain the 40-bit key that the baseband looks for to unlock itself, then yes, you could have something that sits between Apple and iTunes, and send the unlock that way. But getting that key is not a simple matter.

[yaredna]

Tried to go the online chat route:

All representatives are currently assisting other customers. At this time, our average wait is 43 minutes and you are # 323 Thank you for your patience. A representative will be with you shortly.

[Tinmania]

Originally Posted by britboyj

Source for this?

http://gigaom.com/broadband/is-att-s...works-as-well/

http://www.tuaw.com/2012/04/09/dear-...ing-my-iphone/

http://www.khsltv.com/mostpopular/st...m4y5grB6A.cspx



Michael

[Imola Ghost]

Just got the 3GS unlocked.

Now...does anyone know of a way to "VERIFY" the unlock to a potential buyer? I took a photo of the message saying it was unlocked in iTunes but wanted to know if there was another way to prove to someone that was interested in buying it?