Using the iPhone 4 in BsAS

[Hellek]

Forget buying phones here in Argentina. You won't believe how much they cost.
Example: http://www.personal.com.ar/personalblack/individuos/iphone.html
It is the old iPhone 3Gs, costs 475 USD with a 12-month contract of 50 USD/month.

I can't give recomendations on what is the best way to obtain an iPhone in the US if you are about to leave the country (since I am not from the US), but nevertheless I know for sure that it will be cheaper than getting it in Argentina.

 

[ghost]

At the risk of shooting myself in the foot and losing potential business, my advice is - don't pay someone to unlock your phone when you can do it yourself.

Here is the official jailbreaking site from the guys who develop the tools: http://blog.iphone-dev.org/
They play cat-and-mouse with Apple - they find exploits in the software/firmware to enable jailbreaking/unlocking, then Apple issues a patch and plugs the hole. It's been going on this way for years.

The way it stands currently is in Apple's favor - current iPhone 4's ship with iOS 4.02 or 4.1, for which there is no jailbreak available at this moment. This will change shortly, perhaps even within a few weeks.
If you already have an iPhone 4 and haven't upgraded (still have iOS 4.01), then you're in luck - you can jailbreak / unlock. [You have to jailbreak first, then you can unlock it to use the phone on other carriers.]

Whatever you do, don't pay any of those online leeches to give you an "unlock code" or anything similar. All of the tools are available for free on the net, but of course scammers are repackaging and selling them to unsuspecting users.

It's a byzantine process making sure you have all your ducks in a row and won't end up bricking your phone, but doing a bit of research online pays heaps of dividends in the end. And you'll end up with the best of both worlds - Apple's ease of use and great user interface, plus the openness and freedom of being able to install whatever software you choose to put on your phone, not just what Apple allows you to. There are a lot of useful (and free) apps available in the Cydia Store (which appears once you've jailbroken) that Apple wouldn't allow in the official App Store.
Besides, of course, being able to use the phone on any carrier of your choosing, which was your original question before I started rambling! Ahem.

How about unlocking an LG AT&T phone???

 

[rrptownley]

I've got my UK, jailbroken, iPhone 3g with a Personal pay as you go sim card in. Roaming internet doesnt work. Do I need a contract sim card?

 

[French jurist]

I've got my UK, jailbroken, iPhone 3g with a Personal pay as you go sim card in. Roaming internet doesnt work. Do I need a contract sim card?

Yes you do, and in order to do so you need a DNI.

 

[Hellek]

No you don't need a contract for internet.
Just send "act im7" to the number 152 to activate 7 days of internet (2gb traffic limit) for currently 19 pesos if you are using personal telecom with prepaid.

There is one more thing: You need the access point (APN) settings. I don't know how you do it exactly on the iPhone because I myself use an Android phone but I'll give you the settings, you have to find out where you enter them:
APN: gprs.personal.com
User: gprs
MCC: 722
MNC: 34
The last two should be auto-filled anyway. Any other fields I have are left blank. Look out with the APN name: it IS "gprs.personal.com" and NOT "gprs.personal.com.ar". It is without the ".ar" at the end eventhough their website ends with .ar.

Hope this helps. By the way, it works great in data-cards as well (the normal prepaid mobile internet offer of personal telecom would be 50 pesos per week for unlimited data. I prefer going with 2GB for 19 pesos per week).

 

[Napoleon]

You do realize that I can't see a thread about the iPhone4 without posting this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg

Good luck with the 3G and the WiFis.

 

[French jurist]

good to know it's possible getting internet without a plan, i didn't know that

 

[Quinn]

At the risk of shooting myself in the foot and losing potential business, my advice is - don't pay someone to unlock your phone when you can do it yourself.

Here is the official jailbreaking site from the guys who develop the tools: http://blog.iphone-dev.org/
They play cat-and-mouse with Apple - they find exploits in the software/firmware to enable jailbreaking/unlocking, then Apple issues a patch and plugs the hole. It's been going on this way for years.

The way it stands currently is in Apple's favor - current iPhone 4's ship with iOS 4.02 or 4.1, for which there is no jailbreak available at this moment. This will change shortly, perhaps even within a few weeks.
If you already have an iPhone 4 and haven't upgraded (still have iOS 4.01), then you're in luck - you can jailbreak / unlock. [You have to jailbreak first, then you can unlock it to use the phone on other carriers.]

Whatever you do, don't pay any of those online leeches to give you an "unlock code" or anything similar. All of the tools are available for free on the net, but of course scammers are repackaging and selling them to unsuspecting users.

It's a byzantine process making sure you have all your ducks in a row and won't end up bricking your phone, but doing a bit of research online pays heaps of dividends in the end. And you'll end up with the best of both worlds - Apple's ease of use and great user interface, plus the openness and freedom of being able to install whatever software you choose to put on your phone, not just what Apple allows you to. There are a lot of useful (and free) apps available in the Cydia Store (which appears once you've jailbroken) that Apple wouldn't allow in the official App Store.
Besides, of course, being able to use the phone on any carrier of your choosing, which was your original question before I started rambling! Ahem.

Just REMEMBER there is a DIFFERENCE between "unlocking" and "jail breaking":

Unlocking is simply making your phone available to be used with another service (for example, someone moving from the USA where the only option was AT&T to another country).

Jailbreaking is the process of installing a secondary operating system so that you can customize the look and feel of your phone. Using Cydia, and jailbreaking your phone, you can add wallpaper, use some apps that you wont' find in the Apple AppStore, etc.

NOTE, if you jailbreak your phone, you will still need to unlock it if you plan on using it outside of the country you bought it in (using the USA example again where there is only 1 service provided for the iPhone).

 

[MacDaddy]

How about unlocking an LG AT&T phone???

I really have no idea whether you could do this yourself or not. I'm guessing not. I would take it to a place that unlocks phones and have them do it. I found a place around Suipacha and Paraguay that unlocks phones quite cheaply - 30 pesos for a Nokia. I'll post the address once I find it.. we just moved, so my papers are all in boxes.

Unlocking is simply making your phone available to be used with another service (for example, someone moving from the USA where the only option was AT&T to another country).
Jailbreaking is the process of installing a secondary operating system so that you can customize the look and feel of your phone. Using Cydia, and jailbreaking your phone, you can add wallpaper, use some apps that you wont' find in the Apple AppStore, etc.

This is mostly true. Jailbreaking doesn't actually install a different operating system, it simply slightly alters the existing one. On the iPhone, you have to jailbreak before you can unlock. You can not unlock an iPhone without jailbreaking it first.

 

[domthegreat]

I already have a claro sim card i use with my normal cell phone here by buying pre-paid cards. So once i unlock my iphone, can i just cut the sim down to fit, and then keep using the pre-paid cards?