Newbie Questions about iPhone Unlock/Jailbreak

[AndyD]

Hi everyone,

I’m after an iPhone 3G and trying to determine the best purchase method.

The main areas of focus are the O2 UK website and Ebay. I’m a little hesitant going for a handset on Ebay is case it shows some of the issues found through hacking.

Now that the iPhone is available on O2 PAYG I’m thinking this might be the safer bet in terms of having a working phone. I’m currently on an 18 month contract with Orange, so changing to O2 isn’t really a possibility so I’d be looking to unlock.

What are the risks involved with unlocking an iPhone? I’ve read the hacks FAQ and sticky on “New in iPhone world” so have a bit of a better understanding about Baseband etc, but just want a clearer idea.

How simple are these hacks and restoring the original baseband etc to allow firmware updates?

How does the activation side of the system work? I’ve read on the O2 website about activating with a valid sim. Can this be overcome through just using a jailbreak and unlock and never need to register the sim with the phone?

If anyone can help guide me in the right direction regarding all this stuff I’d appreciate it.

Thanks

Andy

 

[Stepper]

You can't unlock a 3G by jailbreaking it, you can buy one of them rebelsims things or whatever they are called, but you can't use quickpwn,winpwn etc to unlock the phone. You should just buy a 2G iPhone and unlock it....