Ways to unlock your IPhone

Since then the iPhone has been launched in the market, there are many searches going on regarding unlocking an iPhone. Hackers and technical professionals are trying to find ways to unlock the iPhone and accordingly Apple is trying to close the loopholes. Smart hackers are keep trying to find new loopholes and creating loophole to provide unlocking services in terms of money. 

There are some techniques which are easy to use and can be done by yourself, as well as there are some techniques which can only be done by experts, where some of the techniques are no more working. As it is legal to have your iPhone unlocked in US, but there are some techniques which can void your phone’s warranty. Here, the techniques are listed below, among which you can judge, which method is easy and devoid of risks. Let’s get started with some knowledge of technical jargons used.

Baseband: Baseband is the firmware embedded in a chip that is responsible for functionality of cellphone signals, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Baseband and iPhone Firmware (OS) are two separate components. The SIM lock is installed in the baseband chip.

Firmware: It is the OS (Operating System) software installed in the iPhone. To know your iPhone firmware version, connect it with iTunes and you can see the its version and every other details in the summery TAB.

Unlocking: iPhone provided by the service providers are SIM locked. It means you cannot use the phone in any other network. Unlocking the iPhone enables it to use other carriers.

Jailbreaking: You can only install apps and games only from Apple’s app store through iTunes. Jailbreaking refers to reprogramming your iPhone’s firmware to install applications from third party sources. Jailbreak is basically done by using third party applications.

Unlocking Using Ultrasn0w

If your phone is jailbroken, then you can easily SIM unlock your iPhone using ultrasn0w. Ultrasn0w is a third-party application developed by iphone dev team that is free and is used to unlock network locked iPhone. However, this is software based unlock where a series of steps to be followed in order to unlock using Ultrsn0w with a condition that it should be jailbroken before unlocking. The guide to unlock using Ultrasn0w can be found in their blog.

For those business persons who regularly visit different countries and like to use local SIM and don’t want to carry on with a long term contract of their carrier, it is good to install ultrasn0w and have their phone unlocked. The only limitation to ultrsn0w is that, it cannot unlock CDMA-based cellular phones provided by Verizon and Sprint. 

Also who have unlocked their iPhones from AT&T to T-Mobile using ultrasn0w, cannot use T-Mobile 3G services as it uses different frequencies than AT&T. However it supports T-Mobile 2G EDGE network. Unlocking CDMA iPhones are different from that of GSM phones. If it's iPhone 4S - then it supports both CDMA and GSM and thus can be unlocked. To unlock CDMA phones, IMEI unlock method and GEVEY Ultra S unlock method can be used.

GEVEY SIM unlock

There are certain basebands which Ultrasn0w will unable to unlock such as Baseband 02.10.01, 03.1.01, 04.10.01 etc. GEVEY SIM based unlock is also known as hardware unlock, another iPhone unlocking technique that does not need jailbreak. However, in this way you can never update your handset as well. The reason is that hardware unlock is attached inside your handset, and they can sometimes damage your iPhone SIM holder voiding its warranty. Still it’s good unlocking techniques that unlock iPhone from any carrier without voiding its warranty.

IMEI unlock method

It is one of the simplest, safest and inexpensive IPhone Unlocking solution also known as factory-unlock or permanent unlock method. IMEI unlock can be done by yourself in just few steps without having any expert knowledge and without voiding the iPhone warranty as it don’t need any software changes. There are a few IMEI unlocking service providers who charge a minimum amount of unlocking fee and can guide you to factory-unlock your iPhone.

You just need to provide your iPhone IMEI and the carrier name and after a couple of hours, you can be able to permanently unlock your iPhone through iTunes. 

These guys contact Apple server that take care of the entire iPhone IMEI database through a secure connection. In contrast, if you find IMEI unlocking method quite expensive, there are other alternative such as hardware unlocking namely GEVEY SIM unlock.

A Word of Caution

Unlocked/ Jailbroken iPhone are considered warranty lost by the Apple customer service. If you have unlocked or jailbroken iPhone, you must restore its original firmware before going to any customer service center. Any software or hardware hack applied to the phone can make it (sometimes to the PC) useless if mistaken in the process. So, choose wisely which way you can safely unlock your iPhone. Do share your experience with us to let know the people the successful way of unlocking.

Don’t Pay Extra: Buy a New iPhone or unlock your iPhone

There is a buzz around since a couple of months that the Apple’s iPhone 5 finally hits the market with tons of advanced features, which made the iPhone lovers more excited to get their hands on the new iPhone 5. According to a market survey by strategy analytics in 2011, 93 percent iPhone fans are selling their existing smart phone or iPhone and switching to iPhone 5.People having sufficient money can afford the new iPhone 5. But for the people who want to own an iPhone at a lower budget, this is the best time to buy an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4s, as most companies are offering their attractive services at a competitive package. 

Reason behind the network lock.

Many telecom service providers offer phones at a discount price to their subscribers, in return they want their customers to pay in contract for using their services for a specified time period, usually between a year and three.

It’s a marketing strategy by the company to reimburse the cost of the phone within the period of the contract. Suppose for an example, if a user signs up with T-Mobile for 2 years, it will provide an iPhone 4S for $100. If the Apple Iphone Unlocking, a user might get the iPhone at discounted price and stop paying the monthly bill (thus breaking the contract) and start using the phone with another service provider or even sell the phone for profit. So, the telecom operators lock the phone to restrict users doing such.

Things to consider before unlocking your iPhone

§  How the iPhone can be unlocked? – Apple Unlock using its IMEI number. Every phone has an IMEI number (dial *#06# to know your IMEI number) which is unique 15 to 17 digit number. IMEI number is used to identify locked and unlocked phone information which is stored in the Apple server.

§  Are jailbreak and SIM unlocking different? – Never confuse SIM unlock with jailbreak as jailbreak is only used to download additional unofficial applications, themes and extensions. Unofficial software is used for jailbreak which cannot unlock network lock and it’s free but voids warranty. Whereas SIM unlocking can be done by using official iTunes and does not void any warranty.

§  Does it void warranty? – When it comes to warranty, technically unofficial SIM unlocking like using Gevey SIM and jailbreaking the iPhone using some unauthorized software voids its warranty and won’t be able to get Apple support anymore. However official unlocking using iTunes will not void any warranty and would be able to upgrade iOS and get Apple support for lifetime.

Choosing a best iPhone unlocking service provider.

Once the warranty of your iPhone is void, you cannot get Apple’s support anymore. So choosing the factory unlocking services of a trusted company can be helpful to retain the warranty of your phone. There are various major companies providing unlocking service, but it is wiser to do some research and hunt online for a reputed company. A reliable company unlock iPhone 4 using Apple’s IMEI system and cover the firmware and baseband of iPhone.

Want to own an iPhone: Choose the service suits you the best.

There are four major cellular service providers and it’s quite a tougher job to choose a carrier due to their competitive nature. Every carrier affirm their services to be best in certain aspects such as faster, cheaper, largest, great in customer service and so on.  However, choosing a better service provider depends upon personal preferences. Sometimes carrier competitors offer cheaper services to attract customers. But as the iPhone you own are locked to their network, you are not allowed to experience the cheaper services of other networks.

IPhones are the smartest phones until now that everybody wants to have it in their hands. Buying an iPhone unlocked from Apple store is quite expensive so, people prefer to buy an iPhone from their preferred service provider. This way they can get an iphone Unlock at low price in terms of a contract for a year or two.

According to the surveys on the cellular service providers conducted every year, you can figure out which carrier is the best for you. However, you would like to choose plans according to your requirement of data usage and calls, considering the cost of plan and the quality of services. Based on a recent market research of 4050 consumers from 8 major areas, indicates that, AT&T is considered the low scoring cell-phone carrier in the U.S. It’s been allegedly reported that AT&T subscribers are unhappy as there in an increase in percentage of subscribers leaving in a month. Since a long ago AT&T was the only national phone company, when they had a monopoly on the American consumers and they stuck it to everyone, every day. Apple imposed competition between major carriers in other markets except in U.S, which is always better for the consumers. Though AT&T offers best phones and better coverage as well as it has largest selection of smart phones, but it’s not great in terms of customer service reputation.

As the new iPhone 5 has been launched, it’s been said that T-Mobile may not getting iPhone this year. However, T-Mobile has started offering their 3G services at a cheaper price with unlimited data plans to increase its customer base and T-Mo now supports iPhone 5 baseband as well. While iPhone 5 is available with AT&T, T-Mobile offers more attractive packages on unlocked iPhones. So, it’s the right time to explore the iPhone 5 features with high-speed unlimited data. As said in our previous article, the iPhone unlocking is legal until your records are in good condition. IPhone 5 can be permanently unlocked using simple steps without jailbreaking or voiding any warranty. Get your Apple iPhone 5 unlocked and start using its features in your own preferred carrier.