US iPhone will not work in UK on O2 unless hacked

[thesheep]

I have an iPhone that I use in the US with AT&T's 'GoPhone' plan (no contract). When I go back to the UK, I want to switch, get an O2 SIM and use it there.

I emaild O2, who said I would not be able to do this, as the US iPhone will not operate with an O2 SIM.

Not sure if this is widely known, but it might help someone.

Of course I can hack it, which may be what I do. Either that, or sell it on Ebay and buy another one in the UK.

 

[SPQR]

You can downgrade from 1.1.1 to 1.0.2, then re-activate using your GoPhone SIM and then unlock using iPHone SIM Free.

To Downgrade:

STEP 0: DOWNGRADING TO 1.0.2 (By NerveGas, Pumpkin, Edgan, drudge, dinopio, asap18)

Certain steps must be run prior to upgrading to v1.1.1. If you have already
upgraded to v1.1.1, follow these steps to downgrade back to v1.0.2.

1. Make sure you have a copy of the v1.0.2 firmware handy. It can be downloaded
here: http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite...70821.vormd/iPhone1,1_1.0.2_1C28_Restore.ipsw

2. With the iPhone turned on, hold down the POWER and HOME buttons
simultaneously for ten seconds (until the screen goes dark). Then release
POWER while CONTINUING TO HOLD DOWN HOME for another 15 seconds.

At this stage, the iPhone WILL APPEAR TO BE POWERED DOWN, but it is actually
in a special type of recovery mode allowing software downgrades. If you
see the "Connect to iTunes" icon, you've placed the phone into the wrong
recovery mode, and will need to try again.

3. While continuing to hold HOME, launch iTunes. You should be prompted to
restore your iPhone. If your iPhone instead boots up, then you powered it
down instead of putting it into downgrade mode, so give step 2 another try.

Once iTunes is up, you can now release HOME. You will be prompted to
restore your iPhone (if you are not, try step 2 again). Hold down the
OPTION key (or SHIFT if you're running Windows) and click RESTORE.
You will then be prompted with a file selection window allowing you to
select a firmware file. Select the 'iPhone1,1_1.0.2_1C28_Restore.ipsw'
file you downloaded in step 1, and begin the restore.

4. After the restore is complete, you'll be told that the process failed, and
the iPhone will be in recovery mode. This is normal. Grab a copy of
NullRiver's Installer.app from http://iphone.nullriver.com/beta/ and
attempt to install the Installer.app. This will cause your phone to boot
again, however the installation of Installer.app will fail (it's OK).

5. Congratulations, you're now back at 1.0.2.
_________

Once at 1.0.2 you can use iNdependence to install the IPSF code (once you've paid for the thing)