Steps to take before jailbreaking iPhone

[iZeeshan]

I've been dealing with jailbroken iPhones for a while and I always run into some kinds of problems that I can figure out after some research and eventually fix my phone.

But I'm about to jailbreak my aunt's phone and she's not very, let's say, computer savvy. I just want her to have an easy way to restore/update her phone when and if she wants, without going through too much trouble, especially when iOS 5 comes out, she'll want to update to that.

Whenever I try to update or restore after jailbreak, I always get a 1089 error which has something to do with the way Apple signs it's firmware and the only way to fix it is through the DFU error business.

So, I've heard of some SHSH or Tiny Umbrella business. I'm using the latest firmware, 4.3.3, so I would like to know everything I should do before I do this.

Thanks in advance.

 

[iZeeshan]

Also, she's about to go overseas in Asia (Pakistan/India) for a couple of months and I was also wondering how I could unlock it for use there. As far as I know, it's a Virgin iPhone (Canada). She says it uses a sim card.

 

[hackthatphone]

How about telling us which phone you have? What modem firmware do you have?

Is getting a factory unlocked iphone an option? It eliminates all the technical headaches for your aunt. I can just see her being overseas, something happens, she finds someone with a computer who knows nothing about anything and offers to restore it for her.

I thought Canadian carriers offered unlocks?

 

[rrandyy]

I *think* the reason this happens is that TinyUmbrella changes your hosts file so that your computer cannot access Apple's servers. The reason it does this is so that your baseband is not updated and/or so you can run TinyUmbrella and load older SW that is no longer being signed by Apple.

How to avoid the problem:
1) If you never run TinyUmbrella on her computer, it will never be a problem.
2) If you do run TinyUmbrella, make sure you uncheck "Set Hosts to Cydia" AND select "Apply Changes" from the edit menu. You can confirm the host is not set to Cydia by closing TinyUmbrella then opening the hosts file and looking for any references to apple.com


Hopefully others can confirm this is the reason the problem you described happens.

 

[awadeee]

A factory unlocked iPhone would probably be your/her best bet. Depending on which iPhone she is using, it will probably either take a iPad baseband hack (3G/3Gs) or the Gevey Turbo SIM (iPhone 4). If she is traveling and something happens to her phone, you may be forced into offering her free long distance (THE WORST KIND) tech support, which is annoying.

As a general rule, I never offer to jailbreak or unlock phones for anyone, especially if they're not tech inclined. If a person is not geeky (for lack of a better word), usually there's no need for them to jailbreak.

Basically, sell her iPhone, buy a factory unlocked model, show her how to remove the SIM card, and forget all headaches. Just some friendly advice from someone in the know!

 

[iZeeshan]

Sorry, I thought I had covered everything. It's an iPhone 4, 4.3.3 and baseband 4.10.01.

The TinyUmbrella thing maybe true but as far as I can remember, I only got TinyUmbrella in the first place because I had gotten the 1089 model.

And yeah but they want to get it jailbreaked and unlocked for use, so I don't know what else to tell them. She doesn't have time to sell it and buy a new one so that wouldn't be an option at this point.

So basically I just want to know everything I have to do before I jailbreak it such as back up something or whatever so they can restore it by themselves if they want and how to unlock the phone. (something about Gevey sim?)

Thanks

 

[IrishVixen]

With that firmware, your only unlock option is to use a Gevey SIM. The regular and Pro models do not require a jailbreak, the Ultra does. Geveys aren't typically available in stores, so they'll need to order one online.

There is no software unlock for that baseband. Contacting the carrier regarding a possible unlock is their best option really.

 

[hackthatphone]

Do not send your poor aunt on international travel relying on a gevey SIM and having to mess around with it all the time to maintain a cellular connection. She does not need that headache.

 

[awadeee]

Since you're using an iPhone 4, your only options are either the Gevey turbo SIM or to beg your carrier for an unlock (depending on where you are located).

Like hack said, do NOT force your aunt to use Gevey. That is for nerds (like us) only.