Questions about the iphone SIM card unlocking and jail breaking.

Question

I have a few questions about the first generation iphone. I would like to buy a first generation iphone and be able to use a different service besides AT&T such as t-mobil, verizon or cingular. I dont plan on buying a data plan. I would just like to use it as an ipod and a phone. I was planing on buying a 4gig one from ebay for about $300. I'm confused about jailbreaking and unlocking. Whats the difference? Are both needed to be able to switch to a different carrier? Does it have to be done to use a different SIM card? Should I buy one that has already been jail broken? Is it legal? If i wanted to switch SIM cards where could i get one? I also heard it was possible to get free wifi to serf the internet. Is that true? Again, i was not planning on purchasing a data plan, but do you have to to have one to serf the internet? What is wifi? Do you have to pay for it? Any info would help. Sorry for the long question

Answer 1

Ok, I answered your other question that you posted a week ago, but then when i tried to give you my email, i couldn't figure out how.  So, I will also answer this question again, but instead of my email, i will give you my myspace,  i don't want a bunch of spam in my email from all the other users who are bad people.  here's my myspace www.myspace.com/corizzle_g

and oddly enough, the person in that picture, is the person whose yahoo account i'm using.  funny stuff

Alright, I hope I haven't answered too late. I just bought my iphone (1st generation, not the 3g) and I have done TONS of research. So, the difference between Unlocking and jailbreaking is that unlocking will allow you to use the phone with another carrier. You can only use with a carrier that has sim cards, these are called gsm phones. So, in america, that is only Tmobile and AT&T. Unlocking with a program, (i used winpwn, to unlock it with windows) will usually jailbreak the phone as well. Jailbreaking means that you can use the phone with 3rd party applications, ones that are not certified by apple. If you try to switch the sim card, it will not work. So, unlocking is all you will need to switch carriers.

I unlocked mine myself, if you by it unlocked, you usually pay more, but, there are plenty of walkthroughs on how to do it yourself. I didn't really know what I was doing, but the program I used had billions of walkthroughs, especially on youtube, Youtube is your friend.

IT is NOT illegal to unlock a phone. Cellular carriers only lock their phones so that they only work with their network. This way you can't cancel your service with them and use that 400 dollar phone with another company. It is legal, and with most phones it is very simple to do. I use to have a razr with tmobile and just called and said I was going to canada and wanted to unlock it so i could use a go-phone card so i wouldn't be charged for roaming, they walked me through how to do it.

If you want to switch sim cards, you have to actually have a sim with a company where the service is enabled. As long as the sim has service, it will work.

If you do not get a data plan, then you CAN use wifi to get on the internet. The problem is that it is really hard to turn off edge (the internet used when there is no wifi signal). The phone will switch between wifi and edge to give you the fastest internet results. this could be bad if you don't have a data plan and it uses edge, you will be charged ALOT. Also, with tmobile, you can get the 5.99 tzones web plan and hack it on the iphone to give you essentially full internet without paying 20.00 bucks a month. I did this and its great. So far everything works, just slow. And places like starbucks have wifi, but some places will make you pay, so it is good to have edge. But the answer is NO, you do not need a data plan to search the web.

The ONLY way to use the phone with no sim card is to unlock it. The phone will have a picture saying plug in to itunes or something. So unless you unlock it, it will not work. If you DO unlock it, you do not need a sim card. You can still use it as an ipod and get on wifi. If you would do this, you would be better off getting an ipod touch. BUT, if you have a plan with a cell carrier that expires in a year, and don't plan on updating your plan, this would work fine as an itouch, just an expensive i touch. lol

I am actually on my friends account, so i will give you an email (from this account) with my email in it so if you have anymore questions, go ahead and email me.