SynApps The Open Source and Gadget blog

Update 4: The dev team finally did it - at least for the 3G. There is some progress for the 3Gs also, but this will probably take some time.

I got 2 iPhones 3G from the UK Apple store, because you buy those without signing a contract (well, as an additional "complication", you have to be a UK citizen). Following the usual procedure of unpacking, pwnaging, I found that  these phones came with baseband 02.30.03 which, as of today, is not unlockable; jailbraking works though. As result you get an iPhone that can use a wireless LAN, but no GSM net.

Already totally pi**ed  I bought  a couple of Rebel SIM cards. The manufacturer  claims, that there is not need to cut the original SIM, but I found this not to be true. In fact you have to use a rasp to make to upper part of the  SIM thinner, or cut a notch, so that the Rebel chip has some more space. Also make sure to use some thin tape to "smoothen" the surface of the SIM/Rebel/Tray combo (check out the videos on the Rebel site) . Otherwise the combined SIMs may jam in the tray, making it very hard to get it out again. In case you have to break the SIM cradle, don't ask Apple for replacement - go diretly to ebay. Also, be careful when messing around with the SIM card; I somehow broke mine without noticing and obviously wasn't able to get the phone part to work.

Back to jailbraking; if you're on a Mac running Leopard, you have to downgrade the USB support for DFU mode to work - the  Dev Team article has the details. Don't forget to restore the original version once you're done; otherwise Kernel panics may be the result.

In my case restoring the modified iPhone firmware using iTunes 8.1 ended in error 1600. If that happens to you, don't panic and try this.

Before getting the SIM to work in your iPhone you need to make sure, that the SIM has no pin, and that the "mobile network" is set to your provider (instead of "automatic selection").

After rebooting the phone you should see the provider logo, at least for a short time. If it randomly disappears go to Cydia and remove the yellowsn0w package. This small background program takes care of removing the SIM lock on older baseband versions but seems to mess with the Rebel SIM/new baseband combination.

You're almost done. Since the iPhone now thinks, that it is roaming, enable Data-Roaming in Settings/General/Network and make sure that the APN is set correctly for your provider.

So, is it worth the effort ? No, I don't think so. If you're in Germany you can get an unlocked iPhone from T-Mobile. Other countries have or will have similar offerings. Having an official phone also helps using the latest firmware without worrying. Also note, that a new version of the iPhone will be released soon - and you always want the newest gadgets, do you ?

Update: After enabling 3G the phone does not receive any voice calls, SMS works. Besides that, things work as expected. I checked the Rebel site and ordered a programmer for the latest and greatest Rebel Firmware. Stay tuned ....

Update 2: iPhone refused to work outside of Germany (sucks !). Even resetting stuff in a second phone didn't help - but it was an old handset, so maybe that was the problem. Programmed the Rebel SIM with v61i and the 3G prob is gone.

Update 3: Hold your breath - it looks like we'll get a software unlock soon