Before You Activate your iPhone, Read This!
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Blog: Apple and AT&T are demanding subscribers to reveal their social security numbers.  How safe is that?
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Dignity restored for $111.87 Analysis Friday was one of life's great days: I returned my iPhone. I was tired of Apple's adult-proof keyboard. I was tired of AT&amp;T's piddling wireless network. But most of all, I was embarrassed that I'd bought the thing in the first place.â¦
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Apple released an update for iTunes on Friday in preparation for the iPhone. Version 7.3 allows the user to activate their iPhone service through the application.
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Blog: AT&T and Apple are both banking on the iPhone, but will people switch subscribers to get it?
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Hacker Jon Lech Johansen, known widely as &quot;DVD Jon,&quot; has cracked Apple&#39;s iPhone activation, or so he claims, meaning that iPhone buyers will be able to activate and use the new handset without having to commit to an AT&T wireless contract. Johansen announced his feat in a blog post entitled &quot;iPhone Independence Day.&quot;
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When they purchase an iPhone, customers can use iTunes on a Mac or PC to activate their new phones in the comfort and privacy of their homes or offices instead of waiting for activation in a store. With iTunes guiding them through the simple steps of choosing a service plan, authorizing their credit, and activating their iPhone, they can complete the activation process in minutes. Following activation, new iPhone customers can again use iTunes to easily sync their phone numbers and other contact information, calendars, email accounts, web browser bookmarks, music, photos, podcasts, TV shows, and movies with iPhone.
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I'm guessing that if people showed up this early, desperate to be the first people in the States to get their hands on the iPhone, they'd be shooed away. From Crave, CNET's gadgets blog.
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(InfoWorld) - Two claims of unlocking Apple's iPhone have surfaced in recent days, and a third is set to be announced Saturday. One blogger, George Hotz, on Friday posted a step-by-step tutorial for unlocking the iPhone that involves both hardware and software modifications. His blog also includes photos of an iPhone he said is unlocked and shows T-Mobile as the service provider. At another site, iPhoneSimFree.com, a company claims it can unlock iPhones through software only. A screen image with an item about the company on Engadget.com also shows an iPhone displaying the T-Mobile name. In addition, John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, said his Belfast, U.K., company will be posting software on Saturday that iPhone users can download to unlock their handsets to work with any SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card on any network they choose. The software should hit the Web at www.iphoneunlocking.com between noon and 2 p.m. Eastern Time, he said. The iPhone is based on GSM, the most widely used cellular technology, but today, the hot phone is sold only in the U.S. and locked into AT&T's network. Unlocking would allow iPhone owners to break the required two-year contract with AT&T and choose their own GSM carriers. More importantly, it would allow people outside the U.S. to own and use the highly prized device. With an unlocked GSM phone, it's possible to change carriers by putting in a different SIM card. Uniquephones' McLaughlin said 450,000 users already had signed up at iphoneunlocking.com, which the company set up soon after the iPhone was released for people interested in having their iPhones unlocked. The Web site was not active at the time this story was written, but it should be reactivated Saturday with options for users to access the unlocking software, he said. McLaughlin plans to charge between $25 and $50 for the software, but users who had already signed up will have access to the code at either a 25 percent or 50 percent discount. Uniquephones will let people anywhere in the world download the software. The company already unlocks phones from many manufacturers, including Nokia and Motorola. There were about eight locks that Uniquephones engineers had to break in the iPhone software to come up with the code that will unlock the phones, and engineers in several countries had been working around the clock since the phone's release to do so. McLaughlin declined to go into great detail but said one of the most difficult locks to break was contained in the handset's electrically erasable programmable read-only memory. There also was a lock in the handset's permanent phone memory as well as other places in the iPhone's software. In the end, it was an engineer in Russia who came up with the software for unlocking the phone, McLaughlin said. McLaughlin claims he is using his iPhone on the Vodafone network in the U.K. He added that both Vodafone's network and the T-Mobile U.K. network allow iPhone users to download data faster on their iPhones than AT&T Wireless's network does. Although almost 100 percent of the iPhone's features work even when the handset is unlocked and using another carrier's SIM card, the Visual Voicemail feature will only work on AT&T's network because of the way the feature is designed, McLaughlin said. Visual Voicemail lets users easily view the messages that have been left for them. The iPhone has been a hot target for unlocking since its June 29 launch, both because of its advanced design and features and because AT&T has an unusual long-term exclusive relationship with Apple. It's common for U.S. mobile operators to lock the phones they sell, but in some cases, they will later unlock the phones free or for a small fee. On its site, iPhoneSimFree.com says it will start selling individual per-unit licenses for its unlocking software starting next week. The company will also accept inquiries for bulk purchases of 500 or more licenses. Hotz, who wrote that he is soon heading off to college, isn't offering to sell his technique but is auctioning on eBay what he claims is the world's second unlocked iPhone.
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The hooplah. The stories. The comment Apple's iPhone goes on sale in the US this evening. The queues have formed, and limits placed on how many of the handsets punters can take away with them. What is all the fuss about? Find out by reading Register Hardware's most popular iPhone stories...â¦
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Apple Inc. on Monday warned iPhone owners who have used unauthorized programs to unlock the cellular service feature of their handsets that they may end up with a phone that doesn't work after the company's next software update for it.
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And recapture some valuable screen real estate and a portion of your sanity. defaults write com.apple.Dock no-glass -boolean YESkillall Dock Screen shot. Thanks to Mark Johnson for the tip.
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Blog: After some flase starts unlocking an iPhone now seems to be a reality.
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How badly do you want an iPhone? Would you pay US$1,500 to buy one? How about $300 for someone to wait on line for you?
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A member of iPhoneSimFree, another group that claims to have unlocked the iPhone, answers some questions.
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Want an iPhone but don't want to use AT&T?  A UK company says it soon will offer a service to help owners unlock their iPhones for use with other cellular operators.
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Have iPhone customers won the freedom to tinker with their cool new handsets? Maybe, if you have the skill to do it yourself. But we don't yet know if you're legally entitled to get help.
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(InfoWorld) - For some cell phone fanatics, the iPhone is love at first sight: a cool touchscreen, a slim design, promising simplicity. The only thing standing between you and that dreamy device is your contract with another carrier. Is there a way to break the relationship without paying a penalty of $150 or more? Yes. First, in a few situations, you can dump or suspend a contract without enduring too much hassle: You can end a contract early without paying fees if the carrier makes changes that have a significant negative effect on your service or your subscription rate. For example, if your carrier raises its fees for text messaging, you can use that as your get-out-of-jail card. Still, you'll have to plead your case to the carrier -- it won't let you go that easily. You'll need to convince the company that the change applies to you and that it has seriously and negatively affected your service. Carriers will also suspend your wireless service during active-duty military deployment. That doesn't free you from your obligation entirely, but it's better than paying for something you can't use at all. In the most extreme situation, a contract is terminated if the customer dies -- though this circumstance does put a crimp in the deceased's future iPhone enjoyment. Trade it in Another way to lose your current contract is to transfer your account to someone else. How do you find that someone? Either on your own (through a network of friends or by posting an ad at a community site such as Craigslist.com) or via an online trade-in service such as Cellswapper.com and Celltradeusa.com. These sites provide a place for people to buy, sell, or trade their wireless contracts. "Consumers see the account transfer as a fair resolution," says Eric Wurtenberg, co-founder of Celltradeusa.com. "With our service, people can get a provider that works better in their area, and the carrier gets someone to fulfill the contract. Our core customer has always been and will continue to be the person who wakes up one morning and finds the service doesn't work in his apartment, or a college student who finds the phone doesn't work on campus." Good time for a deal? With the upcoming release of the Apple iPhone on AT&T, the number of people buying AT&T contracts on Celltradeusa.com has increased by about 33 percent in the past two months, said Wurtenberg. "We see equipment envy as increasing the demand for our service." Likewise, Adam Korbl, co-founder and CEO of Cellswapper.com, says that "thousands of potential Apple and AT&T customers have recently flocked to Cellswapper to get out of their contracts and be ready to sign with AT&T when the iPhone launches at the end of the month." If the iPhone is a little too expensive for your tastes but you still want to upgrade your phone, this might be a good time to pick up a used smartphone on the cheap. "We have seen that in order to get the iPhone, people are not only selling their used phones, but even willing to give them away as incentive for someone else to take over their contact," Korbl says. "Many people are offering great phones and big cash incentives just to break free of their contract in time for the iPhone." For example, in a recent search on Cellswapper, I found the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic offered for free (a brand-new version costs $150 at T-Mobile's site) for assuming a three-month contract on T-Mobile at $50 a month. Not bad. In addition to throwing in your old phone or offering a cash incentive to entice people, Wurtenberg advises you to gather up all your contract information and have it with you when you post your service plan on the site. "You need the original date of the contract," he says. Make sure your account balance is up to date, too. And provide detailed descriptions and pictures of your phone if you're including it in the sale. Finally, try to respond quickly to buyers' questions. "These things go a long way to finding someone to take over your account," Wurtenberg notes. If there's a match, the seller pays $20 at Celltrade or $15 at Cellswapper. Then the buyer and seller go through the process of formally transferring the account in the carrier's records. With most mobile operators, this can be done by phone or at the carrier's retail store. Typically, transferring your contract means losing your current phone number. On Verizon, for instance, the phone number carries over to the new customer because the number is tied to the previously existing contract, says Verizon spokesperson Brenda Raney. To port your current phone number to another carrier, you must be have an expired contract or you must pay a penalty to break it, according to Raney. Still, if you're determined to dump your contract, getting a new number is a fair trade-off. Before switching to a new carrier, evaluate your predicament, recommends Wurtenberg. "Do your homework by asking friends and neighbors how they like their wireless service." If you want to get rid of your old phone completely, recycle it. Sites such as Collective Good accept cell phone donations. Or trade in your old phone for a few bucks or for a gift certificate to a retail store. Web services such as CellforCash, GreenPhone, and ReCellularTradeIn will offer you cash or a gift card in return for your handset. For a cash trade, check a few sites to see whether their offers differ significantly. There are no set prices for used phones, so it's best to determine which site will make the best offer. For more information on donating cell phones, read "Dialed In: Cell Phone Recycling" and "Tips & Tweaks: Recycle PCs, Notebooks, and Components." Before relinquishing your old phone, remember to wipe your data off of it. For tips on how to proceed, read "Privacy Watch: Wipe Your Cell Phone's Memory Before Giving It Away."