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Oh... I'm an idiot

C

cameronjpu

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 24, 2007
1,385
88
I've had an iPhone 3GS for a while now just for use as my travel phone. Unlocked, jailbroken, running 4.1.4 or something ancient.

Today I got fed up with the out of dateness of it (I only use it a couple weeks a year, so generally I just leave well enough alone) and decided to update with the new JB update to 5.1.1. THEN I realized that I only really care about unlocking the phone, not so much about JBing. Though I do like the MyWi, really I need to be able to put a foreign SIM card.

Now, I've backed up my blobs or whatever through Cydia, and I now have my phone with 5.1.1 and Cydia on it. I checked and my baseband is 05.16.05.

Can anyone tell me if I've just ruined my iPhone for what I use it for? And if not, what's my next step? How do I unlock it from here? Hope I didn't ruin my phone!

Thanks!
 
justinwebb said:
they can try to unlock it for you if its not on any current contract
Click to expand...

So is the answer that no matter the fact that I saved whatever those SHSH things are, that this phone cannot be unlocked? ATT is not known for their willingness to unlock iPhones as far as I know.
 
cameronjpu said:
So is the answer that no matter the fact that I saved whatever those SHSH things are, that this phone cannot be unlocked? ATT is not known for their willingness to unlock iPhones as far as I know.
Click to expand...

It was all over the news and there is a huge thread here dedicated to it already. AT&T started unlocking all iPhones not under contract a few months ago, all you have to do is call
 
AT&T is now unlocking iphones not under contract. Shocking, I know. And since you must have been away from the world for a while, they also have color TVs now too :D
 
cameronjpu said:
So is the answer that no matter the fact that I saved whatever those SHSH things are, that this phone cannot be unlocked? ATT is not known for their willingness to unlock iPhones as far as I know.
Click to expand...
They recently changed their policy and now they'll unlock them as long as they are not under contract. This is the best option because you won't have to worry about accidentally locking with future firmware updates.
 
Europa13 said:
They recently changed their policy and now they'll unlock them as long as they are not under contract. This is the best option because you won't have to worry about accidentally locking with future firmware updates.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I guess I must have known that because I definitely keep up with things, but I totally forgot to the point where I can't remember ever knowing it :)

Whew that's fortunate. Thanks for those who helped. For the one who called me dumb because i don't know what the blobs are for? Thanks for being a nerd stereotype.

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Shockwave78 said:
U mad bro?
Click to expand...

Yeah. No need to roll your eyes on a forum where people ask questions. If you're only here to make others feel dumb for their lack of knowledge, go somewhere else. He gives the actually helpful people a bad name.
 
SHSH have no bearing on your baseband at all, and there is no way to downgrade. So might as well give ATT a call since its your only option at this point. Not a moron but a hard lesson to learn i guess and i'm sure you arent the only one. Just be nice to the rep and see what they can do for you
 
labman said:
nah just a few months behind on jb/ul news ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah I got my phone the way I needed it then stopped following the news. Should have left well enough alone but I wasn't happy with the performance and wanted ios5 features. If they're freely unlocking I should be fine. I'm still a customer and one of their best so I'm sure they'll do it for me if they're doing it for some.

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nwmtnbiker said:
Didn't imply anything like that just was trying to help. I mean you called yourself a "idiot" in the thread title which surely you are not.:confused:
Click to expand...

Ok sorry short trigger. The eye roll sets me off on these forums where nerds often go just to make themselves feel smart at others' expense. If that wasn't intended then I'm sorry.
 
cameronjpu said:
Yeah I got my phone the way I needed it then stopped following the news. Should have left well enough alone but I wasn't happy with the performance and wanted ios5 features. If they're freely unlocking I should be fine. I'm still a customer and one of their best so I'm sure they'll do it for me if they're doing it for some.
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Click to expand...


people are even getting there still under contract iphone 4 and 4s unlocked so if you do stike out try again. tell them exactly that you want to use it as a travel phone I'm sure they'd rather help you then if you were going to tmobile
 
Your best option is to get AT&T to unlock it.
Your only other option is to install the iPad 6.15 baseband for unlocking but it does mess up your phone on stock restores so read up on it.
 
Did an online chat with ATT and the guy said he would need to "open a case" for my phone and that I would get an email (when was unknown) telling me whether I'd be able to unlock and how to do it if so. Weird that they can't do it immediately but I guess someone has to look at my account and see if I'm a good customer.... ugh. Thankfully I pay them a lot, so they consider me a good customer. Thanks for the help.
 
cameronjpu said:
Did an online chat with ATT and the guy said he would need to "open a case" for my phone and that I would get an email (when was unknown) telling me whether I'd be able to unlock and how to do it if so. Weird that they can't do it immediately but I guess someone has to look at my account and see if I'm a good customer.... ugh. Thankfully I pay them a lot, so they consider me a good customer. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

That's what always happens. Sometimes you get an email in a few hours, sometimes a few days, sometimes not at all. But when you restore in itunes, it will be unlocked.

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/09/att-iphone-unlocking-process-detailed-successful-for-some/
 
Just to update, for the next guy who is in the same situation:

About 12 hours later I got an email from ATT saying that my problem had been resolved and if I had any more questions, to call them. Totally generic. So I looked around and apparently I needed to now restore the phone and let it activate. When the restore finished, iTunes reported that my phone was now unlocked. Restored from my iCloud backup, re-jailbroke, and now I'm all set! Hopefully it holds true when I step on foreign soil next time! If I knew someone on TMO I could test it, but I really don't.
 
cameronjpu said:
Just to update, for the next guy who is in the same situation:

About 12 hours later I got an email from ATT saying that my problem had been resolved and if I had any more questions, to call them. Totally generic. So I looked around and apparently I needed to now restore the phone and let it activate. When the restore finished, iTunes reported that my phone was now unlocked. Restored from my iCloud backup, re-jailbroke, and now I'm all set! Hopefully it holds true when I step on foreign soil next time! If I knew someone on TMO I could test it, but I really don't.
Click to expand...

It will stay unlocked and will recognize any GSM carriers sims.
 
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