Its been a tough few months for those of us on that other 95% of the planet that isnt inside the borders of the United States. Escaping iPhone news has been next to impossible, with no relief to be found in the form of announced launch dates in any other country.
iPhone on Rogers
The good news is that the situation has been changing over the past few months, and having been subjected to continuous scrutiny since the late June launch, its mostly a solved problem. This afternoon saw a watershed moment when the first freely available open source iPhone unlock hit the scene.
What this means is that, with the minor exception of the visual voicemail feature, the iPhones entire feature set is usable on any compatible carrier, anywhere in the world. (Compatible in this sense meaning GSM and not CDMA networks. In Canada, that means Rogers/Fido. Outside of North America, GSM is fairly common.)
But the methods that enable this are ever-changing, and the general process isnt for the faint of heart. If youre worried about owning a useless chunk of $400USD plastic, this isnt for you. If youre worried about legal formalities, youd best avoid it. If you have any reservations at all, best stop reading now. That being said, heres how you too can have your own iPhone, no matter where you are on this planet.
There are basically three steps to follow, each of increasing difficulty.
Buy an iPhone
This parts easy. You can walk into an Apple Store next time youre in the US and simply throw down cash and walk out with it, the same way youd buy an iPod. You dont need to sign up for service or enter a contract to get it. As far as Apple is concerned, establishing a relationship with AT&T is entirely up to you. (This is how I did it).
Obviously the geography is a factor however, so you may need to pursue the other option. Check craigslist or eBay. With the recent price drop, there are a lot of sellers looking to recoup their losses, so youre not likely to find many good deals at the moment. Over time the prices will presumably even out a little. But if you cant make it to the US any time soon, youll have to buy through someone else, which means paying at least some markup.
Activate It
Activation is an iPhone-specific concept. A brand new iPhone is pretty but useless in order to even see the basic menus and included applications, you need to first connect it to AT&T and activate it by attaching it to a contract.
This ones a bit harder to crack, but again there are some choices. If you have a mailing address in the US (via a sympathetic friend or family member), you can sign up for pay-as-you-go service through AT&T. This basically means a charge to your credit card, and credit toward a US phone number you can use while youre in the country. Handy if youre in the country a lot, and it also has the side effect of activating your iPhone. Though, make sure to read the terms of service to find out what youre getting into.
Thats probably the easiest choice, but there are other methods which completely bypass AT&T. Even if you do it that way, youre most likely going to need one of the other software methods as backup while unlocking the phone later. There are a bunch of applications and processes out there that will make short work of the activation process. Some are described here, others you might need to do a bit of googling to find. Which one you use depends on your platform and your comfort levels, but Id recommend doing some research and familiarizing yourself with the latest methods, as things are still changing fairly quickly.
If you stop here, youve activated everything except the phone. iPod, Safari, calendar, mail it all ought to work over wifi at this point. Which is cool enough, sure, but if you want the whole enchilada, you need to keep going.
Unlock It
The standard practice amongst North American wireless carriers is SIM locking consumer phones to their respective networks. In many (most?) other countries this is relatively unheard of, but since the iPhone originates on this continent, its relevant to the discussion. Historically, unlocking a SIM locked phone to work with any carrier is usually possible, though its not always easy, or even officially-sanctioned by the manufacturer.
Anyway, the iPhone has no official unlock method as of yet. In the past few weeks, some hacks have surfaced that allow unlocking. When I say hacks, I mean hope you like soldering. Then there was the slightly less intrusive TurboSim method which basically became unavailable after they (rapidly) sold out. But what most people have been waiting for is a less invasive software-only unlock method. A service launched early this week that was offering just that, for the low low price of a hundred bucks. But its moot now.
The various gadget sites were ablaze with iPhone news this afternoon. It first came out around 4pm my time (GMT -8) that a free software hack was about to be released. Then came the files, and then finally instructions and confirmation from multiple sources that yes indeed, this was the real deal.
Right now, the most current method of unlocking the iPhone involves some pretty serious command line hacking. If you dont already know what ssh and chmod do, hold off. (If you do, even then you might want to hold off. It does work, but its a bit hairy around the minicom part. )
Theres work happening toward a much more automated unlock method that should make the process a snap. Given the speed at which things are happening at the moment, itll likely be available within hours of this post. Monitor Engadget or Gizmodo for the latest.
iPhone on Rogers
The good news is that the situation has been changing over the past few months, and having been subjected to continuous scrutiny since the late June launch, its mostly a solved problem. This afternoon saw a watershed moment when the first freely available open source iPhone unlock hit the scene.
What this means is that, with the minor exception of the visual voicemail feature, the iPhones entire feature set is usable on any compatible carrier, anywhere in the world. (Compatible in this sense meaning GSM and not CDMA networks. In Canada, that means Rogers/Fido. Outside of North America, GSM is fairly common.)
But the methods that enable this are ever-changing, and the general process isnt for the faint of heart. If youre worried about owning a useless chunk of $400USD plastic, this isnt for you. If youre worried about legal formalities, youd best avoid it. If you have any reservations at all, best stop reading now. That being said, heres how you too can have your own iPhone, no matter where you are on this planet.
There are basically three steps to follow, each of increasing difficulty.
Buy an iPhone
This parts easy. You can walk into an Apple Store next time youre in the US and simply throw down cash and walk out with it, the same way youd buy an iPod. You dont need to sign up for service or enter a contract to get it. As far as Apple is concerned, establishing a relationship with AT&T is entirely up to you. (This is how I did it).
Obviously the geography is a factor however, so you may need to pursue the other option. Check craigslist or eBay. With the recent price drop, there are a lot of sellers looking to recoup their losses, so youre not likely to find many good deals at the moment. Over time the prices will presumably even out a little. But if you cant make it to the US any time soon, youll have to buy through someone else, which means paying at least some markup.
Activate It
Activation is an iPhone-specific concept. A brand new iPhone is pretty but useless in order to even see the basic menus and included applications, you need to first connect it to AT&T and activate it by attaching it to a contract.
This ones a bit harder to crack, but again there are some choices. If you have a mailing address in the US (via a sympathetic friend or family member), you can sign up for pay-as-you-go service through AT&T. This basically means a charge to your credit card, and credit toward a US phone number you can use while youre in the country. Handy if youre in the country a lot, and it also has the side effect of activating your iPhone. Though, make sure to read the terms of service to find out what youre getting into.
Thats probably the easiest choice, but there are other methods which completely bypass AT&T. Even if you do it that way, youre most likely going to need one of the other software methods as backup while unlocking the phone later. There are a bunch of applications and processes out there that will make short work of the activation process. Some are described here, others you might need to do a bit of googling to find. Which one you use depends on your platform and your comfort levels, but Id recommend doing some research and familiarizing yourself with the latest methods, as things are still changing fairly quickly.
If you stop here, youve activated everything except the phone. iPod, Safari, calendar, mail it all ought to work over wifi at this point. Which is cool enough, sure, but if you want the whole enchilada, you need to keep going.
Unlock It
The standard practice amongst North American wireless carriers is SIM locking consumer phones to their respective networks. In many (most?) other countries this is relatively unheard of, but since the iPhone originates on this continent, its relevant to the discussion. Historically, unlocking a SIM locked phone to work with any carrier is usually possible, though its not always easy, or even officially-sanctioned by the manufacturer.
Anyway, the iPhone has no official unlock method as of yet. In the past few weeks, some hacks have surfaced that allow unlocking. When I say hacks, I mean hope you like soldering. Then there was the slightly less intrusive TurboSim method which basically became unavailable after they (rapidly) sold out. But what most people have been waiting for is a less invasive software-only unlock method. A service launched early this week that was offering just that, for the low low price of a hundred bucks. But its moot now.
The various gadget sites were ablaze with iPhone news this afternoon. It first came out around 4pm my time (GMT -8) that a free software hack was about to be released. Then came the files, and then finally instructions and confirmation from multiple sources that yes indeed, this was the real deal.
Right now, the most current method of unlocking the iPhone involves some pretty serious command line hacking. If you dont already know what ssh and chmod do, hold off. (If you do, even then you might want to hold off. It does work, but its a bit hairy around the minicom part. )
Theres work happening toward a much more automated unlock method that should make the process a snap. Given the speed at which things are happening at the moment, itll likely be available within hours of this post. Monitor Engadget or Gizmodo for the latest.