What 3GS iOS/Baseband is Safe to Unlock These Days?

[groove-agent]

Hey all,

My 3GS died and I'm looking to purchase a used 3GS to replace it. A coworker has one that's locked to a different carrier and I'm wondering what iOS and baseband is safe to unlock these days.

Thanks in advance!

 

[danny_w]

Sorry I can't help but would like to know the same thing. I bought an unlocked 3GS a while back and now want to go to iOS 5 if possible.

 

[awadeee]

Any baseband that comes with a firmware over 3.1.3 is not unlockable, you will have to use Redsn0w to upgrade to the iPad baseband (6.15.00) which is unlockable, however you will no longer able to be restore to iTunes firmware. You will have to use custom firmware made a la Sn0wbreeze (Windows) or pwnagetool (Mac). If you could give me some details about what firmware and baseband you have, I can definitely give some insight to how to unlock and whether or not it's possible!

Your firmware can be found at: Settings > General > About > Version. Your baseband is located on the same page and is "Modem Firmware".

 

[groove-agent]

Any baseband that comes with a firmware over 3.1.3 is not unlockable, you will have to use Redsn0w to upgrade to the iPad baseband (6.15.00) which is unlockable, however you will no longer able to be restore to iTunes firmware. You will have to use custom firmware made a la Sn0wbreeze (Windows) or pwnagetool (Mac). If you could give me some details about what firmware and baseband you have, I can definitely give some insight to how to unlock and whether or not it's possible!

Your firmware can be found at: Settings > General > About > Version. Your baseband is located on the same page and is "Modem Firmware".

Thanks for your reply. His 3GS has firmware 5.16.05 and is sitting at iOS 5.1. I know that 5.1 cannot be unlocked but is it still possible to manually downgrade it to 5.01?

Thanks again.

 

[eastercat]

You have to have the blobs in order to downgrade the ios. No, you can't get them now either. IIRC, 3GS can downgrade to ios 4.1, but you still keep the same bb.
You want a bb of 5.13 for an unlock without having to resort to the ipad bb. Unfortunately, the ipad bb doesn't work with ios 5.x.x. I don't know about the success rate of people who downgraded to 4.1 and then installed the ipad bb.
YMMV.

Thanks for your reply. His 3GS has firmware 5.16.05 and is sitting at iOS 5.1. I know that 5.1 cannot be unlocked but is it still possible to manually downgrade it to 5.01?

Thanks again.

 

[groove-agent]

You have to have the blobs in order to downgrade the ios. No, you can't get them now either. IIRC, 3GS can downgrade to ios 4.1, but you still keep the same bb.
You want a bb of 5.13 for an unlock without having to resort to the ipad bb. Unfortunately, the ipad bb doesn't work with ios 5.x.x. I don't know about the success rate of people who downgraded to 4.1 and then installed the ipad bb.
YMMV.

Hi thanks for your reply.

So are you saying this 3gs can be downgraded to 4.1 without the blobs? If so, then I should restore to 4.1 then jailbreak with ipad baseband then unlock?

 

[eastercat]

You can downgrade the ios to 4.1. Once done, you should be able to apply the ipad bb without any negative effects. However, this isn't my phone. I've only just recently became aware of the bad voodoo that results from mixing the ipad bb and 5.x.x.
There should be more information in the archives. Now that you know what to look for, it should be easy to search for.

So are you saying this 3gs can be downgraded to 4.1 without the blobs? If so, then I should restore to 4.1 then jailbreak with ipad baseband then unlock?

 

[groove-agent]

Thanks for the info. I think with my old 3GS (RIP) I was able to manually restore to 4.2.1, then 5.01, jailbreak and update baseband and unlock although I'm not 100% sure what order I did it in or the exact procedure.

I might just look for an already jailbroken phone just to be safe. Otherwise, hopefully my friend who is selling me the locked phone will sell it to me cheap enough I can afford to lose the money if I can't unlock it.

You can downgrade the ios to 4.1. Once done, you should be able to apply the ipad bb without any negative effects. However, this isn't my phone. I've only just recently became aware of the bad voodoo that results from mixing the ipad bb and 5.x.x.
There should be more information in the archives. Now that you know what to look for, it should be easy to search for.