Is it 100% necessary to jailbreak the 3gs before unlocking any sim network?

jonnyb · Dec 29, 2011

Hey guys,

My sister got the newest iPhone for xmas, and i got her old iPhone 3gs 5.0.1 (9A405) newbootrom. Thing is I dont want to go to the network she uses, from my research it looks like Ive to jailbreak then unlock? is that correct? I'm very cautious about jailbreaking because I dont actually know what the reprecussions are

tintbob · Dec 29, 2011

I'm in the uk and the first iPhones were on O2 only... I brought my friends 3G and she jailbroke it for me so I could use it on orange... Had no problems in over a year of using it, couldn't ( or wasn't sure) update the software on iTunes but iTunes worked fine syncing etc

Thomasjtsi · Dec 29, 2011

Chances are if it's already been updated to 5.0.1 the baseband has been updated as well. What modem firmware is it on?

jonnyb · Dec 29, 2011

Hey bob,

Yeah thanks thats exactly what I want, Orange is the equivalent of Meteor here in Ireland and the phone is currently on o2 so Im in the same position i guess. After its jailbroken do I need to do anything else to unlock it do you know?

jonnyb · Dec 29, 2011

Hi thomas,

it on 05.16.05.... will it make a difference?

Thomasjtsi · Dec 29, 2011

Well in order to unlock the device & use on a different carrier you have to jailbreak first.

nightwinger5 · Dec 29, 2011

Now that there is an untethered jailbreak for the 3GS 5.0.1 you can change your base band with red snow while jail breaking g I see no reason not to

anup756 · Dec 31, 2011

Well, if you are on O2_UK, you can actually ask O2 to officially unlock the phone for you. It's FREE.... and simple... you just have to connect it to iTunes.. that's it!!

All you need is to fill the online form (it's there in O2 website, search for it) for unlocking and give your phone details. I did the same and my 3GS is now officially unlocked. And no extra fees.. Only drawback is that you are cut-off with some bonus service that they provide.. like free data plan.. etc...

Ok here it is...

https://www.o2.co.uk/apps/help/help?qid=1&q1=2&route=unlocking&case=Handset Unlocking Form

itfidds · Jan 5, 2012

nightwinger5 said:
Now that there is an untethered jailbreak for the 3GS 5.0.1 you can change your base band with red snow while jail breaking g I see no reason not to

Hi,

I have an iPhone 3GS which was brand new, locked to Vodafone UK and not activated - it was a replacement phone, but I am no longer using Vodafone as I have moved to Spain.

Well, like a fool, I attached to iTunes and allowed it to update to the following: -

Version: 5.0.1 (9A405)
Model: MC637B
Modem: 05.16.05

I could not activate the phone without the original SIM so, having purchased an unlock solution online, I used Redsnow 0.9.10b3, Corona and Ultrasnow which appears to have unlocked and activated the phone.

However, it will not connect to a network and is continually searching. If I turn of "Automatic Carriers" it comes back with "Unable to load network list".

As a beginner in jalibreaking and unlocking am I missing a step or is it the baseband which is the problem?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

anup756 · Jan 6, 2012

itfidds said:
Hi,

I could not activate the phone without the original SIM so, having purchased an unlock solution online, I used Redsnow 0.9.10b3, Corona and Ultrasnow which appears to have unlocked and activated the phone.

However, it will not connect to a network and is continually searching. If I turn of "Automatic Carriers" it comes back with "Unable to load network list".

As a beginner in jalibreaking and unlocking am I missing a step or is it the baseband which is the problem?

Well, my guess is that the problem is with the corona untether update. I've heard of this problem from many users. What you need to do now is restore the iPhone again and jailbreak it using the new redsn0w and do not apply corona untether. It's not needed for new Redsn0w as it is already untethered. Also, if you do not have original carrier SIM then you need to hacktivate the phone. So, select the activation option in Redsn0w and jailbreak.

having purchased an unlock solution online

What do you actually mean by this?

Keep in mind your Modem Firmware version- It's new so you cannot actually unlock it (unless you have officially unlocked it). You'll have to install iPad Baseband. But DO NOT update to iPad baseband if your phone is new (if you have purchased after Nov 2010). This will actually break your baseband chip and you cannot repair it without changing this chip. I've experienced it and really you don't want this

. You MUST keep this in mind!!!

Hope this helps!!

Thanks
Anup

itfidds · Jan 6, 2012

anup756 said:
Well, my guess is that the problem is with the corona untether update. I've heard of this problem from many users. What you need to do now is restore the iPhone again and jailbreak it using the new redsn0w and do not apply corona untether. It's not needed for new Redsn0w as it is already untethered. Also, if you do not have original carrier SIM then you need to hacktivate the phone. So, select the activation option in Redsn0w and jailbreak.

What do you actually mean by this?[/COLOR]

Keep in mind your Modem Firmware version- It's new so you cannot actually unlock it (unless you have officially unlocked it). You'll have to install iPad Baseband. But DO NOT update to iPad baseband if your phone is new (if you have purchased after Nov 2010). This will actually break your baseband chip and you cannot repair it without changing this chip. I've experienced it and really you don't want this . You MUST keep this in mind!!!

Hope this helps!!

Thanks
Anup

Hi Anup,

First off thanks for the response - it's much appreciated.

I paid $19.95 to an online company that supplied details of how to use Redsn0w, corona and Ultrasn0w to activate and unlock the phone.

When you say restore, do you mean use iTunes to restore 5.0.1 (9A405)?
Then jailbreak and activate with Redsn0w_win_0.9.10b3?
And upgrade the baseband? How? And to what?

As you may be able to tell I am an absolute novice at this so any help (like step-by-step instructions) would be gratefully received.

Thanks again

anup756 · Jan 7, 2012

itfidds said:
Hi Anup,

First off thanks for the response - it's much appreciated.

I paid $19.95 to an online company that supplied details of how to use Redsn0w, corona and Ultrasn0w to activate and unlock the phone.

When you say restore, do you mean use iTunes to restore 5.0.1 (9A405)?
Then jailbreak and activate with Redsn0w_win_0.9.10b3?
And upgrade the baseband? How? And to what?

As you may be able to tell I am an absolute novice at this so any help (like step-by-step instructions) would be gratefully received.

Thanks again

It seems you paid for something that's always free. Jailbreaking IS and WILL BE always free.

Anyway, in your case, I need to know your modem firmware so, goto Settings>General>About> and tell me your modem firmware version along with the Serial Number. Since you are unlocking using Ultrasn0w and since you are in iOS 5.0.1 my guess is that EITHER you have preserved your baseband and upgraded to iOS 5.0.1 OR you have installed iPad Baseband in your iPhone. So, it's important to know what you have actually done.

For Step-by-step instructions iClarified.com is the best place to go.

For you :

But first let me know what you actually did before going through the restore process.

Thanks
Anup

itfidds · Jan 9, 2012

anup756 said:
It seems you paid for something that's always free. Jailbreaking IS and WILL BE always free.

Anyway, in your case, I need to know your modem firmware so, goto Settings>General>About> and tell me your modem firmware version along with the Serial Number. Since you are unlocking using Ultrasn0w and since you are in iOS 5.0.1 my guess is that EITHER you have preserved your baseband and upgraded to iOS 5.0.1 OR you have installed iPad Baseband in your iPhone. So, it's important to know what you have actually done.

For Step-by-step instructions iClarified.com is the best place to go.

For you :

Windows: iClarified - iPhone - How to Perform an Untethered Jailbreak of Your iPhone 3GS (Windows) [5.0.1]

Mac OSX: iClarified - iPhone - How to Perform an Untethered Jailbreak of Your iPhone 3GS (Mac) [5.0.1]

But first let me know what you actually did before going through the restore process.

Thanks
Anup

Again, thanks for the response.

Details for the phone: -
Version: 5.0.1 (9A405)
Carrier: T-Mobile UK 11.0
Model: MC637B
Serial No.: 87140NQKEDG
Modem: 05.16.05

First off, I connected to iTunes wihich updated the phone to 5.0.1

Then I used Redsn0w 0.9.10b3, installed Cydia then installed Corona and Ultrasn0w.

Using Redsn0w was identical to the steps from iClarified.

So my prblem at the moment is that I get "No Service" when 3G is disabled and "Searching" when 3G is enabled.

Any further assistance will be warmly welcomed...

anup756 · Jan 10, 2012

itfidds said:
Again, thanks for the response.

Details for the phone: -
Version: 5.0.1 (9A405)
Carrier: T-Mobile UK 11.0
Model: MC637B
Serial No.: 87140NQKEDG
Modem: 05.16.05

First off, I connected to iTunes wihich updated the phone to 5.0.1

Then I used Redsn0w 0.9.10b3, installed Cydia then installed Corona and Ultrasn0w.

Using Redsn0w was identical to the steps from iClarified.

So my prblem at the moment is that I get "No Service" when 3G is disabled and "Searching" when 3G is enabled.

Any further assistance will be warmly welcomed...

I am really sorry to say that since you have mistakenly upgraded the iOS to 5.0.1. It upgraded the iPhone baseband too and this baseband is currently not unlock-able. One solution would be to install iPad Baseband using Redsn0w while jailbreaking, but in your case, your phone model is new so upgrading the baseband to iPad's baseband would crash your baseband chip and hence the phone would be unusable.

The serial number actually can be decoded to find your phone's exact build date. It is in this format: xxYzzAAAAAA where xx is factory code, Y is year and zz is week. In your case, 87 is phone's code, 1 is year (2011) and 40 is the week (40th week). So, 40th week of 2011. Remember, any phone models made after November/December of 2010 is likely to have the new baseband chip which when upgraded to iPad's baseband will crash.

So, I would suggest you this:

Goto this website (since you were in Vodafone UK) and fill the form: Vodafone UK - Help - Unlock Code Request Form
Wait till you get an e-mail with unlock instructions (actually it's easy, you just need to connect your phone to iTunes and viola!). It might take a week or so to get this email.
In the meantime, uninstall ultrasn0w from Cydia.
Then, restore your iPhone with iOS 5.0.1 using iTunes. After a complete restore, it will ask you to connect the phone to iTunes for activation. But, since you don't have the original SIM you can either wait until Vodafone unlocks your code or use the iClarified's guide to jailbreak and activate the phone.
If activating through jailbreak, don't install ultrasn0w or corona untether. Just jailbreak your phone using Redsn0w 0.9.10b3 with cydia option (and no iPad Baseband!!). Your phone should be activated and you can use it as an iPod for a time being .
When your phone is officially unlocked and when you get the confirmation e-mail, connect your iPhone to iTunes and it will be officially unlocked.

Hope this works!!

anup756 · Jan 10, 2012

And one thing, if you actually paid for official unlock before then why don't you do this first: Restore your iphone with iOS 5.0.1 in itunes and check to see if iTunes unlocks it for you. Follow these steps from above: Step 3 > 4 (At this stage, iTunes might activate and unlock your phone if your phone was officially unlocked before) > 5 > 1 > 2 > 6.

If you use the link above, Vodafone might charge you for unlocking your phone. But, I am not sure.