How to 'œsafely' update (not restore) your unlocked iPhone 2G to OS 2.0.1 (update 1)

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 05 August 2008 16:18

Your IT - Mobility

Geohot, (George Hotz) the original creator of the hardware unlock, explains that the iPhone 3G has a secure bootrom (read upgraded hardware) which is preventing the old unlock baseband tricks from working.

Geohot explains things in much more detail at the link above, if you’re interested it’s worth reading, as are some of the comments to his blog posting.

However the iPhone Dev Team said a week ago that “We are able to execute unsigned code on the baseband in order to circumvent a security check, which then allows us to flash the baseband to an earlier version.  Of course, this isn’t a 3G unlock (as yet) but it is a demonstration of our ability to hand-control the baseband.”

Now that Apple has released OS 2.0.1 for the iPhone 3G with a new baseband, it might negate some of the iPhone Dev Team’s hard work in figuring out how to unlock the 3G baseband anyway.

But as the iPhone 2G baseband is meant to be untouched, it is still unlockable (and the OS jailbreakable) with the PwnageTool and WinPwn – at least with iPhone OS 2.0, as work continues apace on upgrading the PwnageTool to work with 2.0.1.

There are ads on the Internet promising that those “Yessim” and “TurboSIM” type solutions can unlock the iPhone 3G to work with any 3G carrier.

However the iPhone Dev Team specifically recommends against using these solutions, saying that it could be illegal to stuff around with mobile phone identification on your network, and given that many people have said that the Yessim card add-on to your existing SIM card seems to work at first, but that the 3G networks they connect to seem to “realise” the Yessim is getting in the way, and then locking Yessim users out.

I’ve not been able to test this myself, and there are reports that it works just fine, so clearly YMMV (your mileage may vary) with any Yessim solution.

So far, the only way to truly “safely” unlock the iPhone 3G is to pay for an unlocked model if the carrier(s) in your country allow such models to be sold.

In Australia, some carriers such as Optus, Telstra and Virgin Mobile will offer to unlock the iPhone either on payment for a specific amount of money, or after a specific amount of time.

Australian carrier Telstra charges an AUD $150 unlock fee, but some Telstra customers who have purchased the iPhone 3G “outright” from Telstra have reportedly challenged the unlock fee and say that Telstra has subsequently unlocked the iPhone 3G for them free of charge, although others have simply been willing to pay whatever the unlock fee is for faster iPhone 3G freedom. 

The iPhone unlock wars continue, with many iPhone 3G owners patiently waiting for Episode VI: Return of the iPhone 3G Software Unlock.

Until then, iPhone 2G owners are in unlock heaven with the AppStore providing third party app heaven, while iPhone 3G owners hoping and praying that the force is with the iPhone Dev Team and hackers like Geohot.

Once they are successful, if they are successful, balance will have been restored to the force... until the Apple Empire Strikes Back with the new iPhone OS 2.1, with iPhone users harbouring “a new hope” that it will contain the lost “cut, copy and paste” of the master OS X operating system, amongst other features.

So, upgrade or not upgrade, it is up to you, but do not try to upgrade... for there is no try. Unless you play Australian Rugby League!