F.A.Q.
This page was put together by me for people who aren’t so “technically inclined” and want to unlock their iPhone to use on other networks. I’ve found many different walkthroughs with some good information, but most of them either skipped over stuff that they assume you know, had dead links to necessary software, or just flat out sucked.
There is a possiblilty of you bricking your phone (aka - rendering it useless) but, if you follow all the necessary steps, you will do just fine.
But, like every other page on the internet that wants to tell you how to do it, I am not responsible for your phone. If you fuck it up do NOT freak out on me, because - you fucked up on one of the steps obviously.
Okay now, when I started out I was just as confused as anyone that found this site, so I’ll explain everything I know to the best of my knowledge (and update as I have time, lol)
Jailbreak - The purpose of “jailbreaking” your iPhone is to allow the installation of 3rd party applications. By default, you have no access to the file system in order to install anything. It is easily reversible and very easy to do. It’s actually about 4 less steps than actually unlocking a phone. If you want to install any games or applications on your iPhone, you NEED to jailbreak it.
Unlock - The iPhone comes from the factory locked to the AT&T network. You need to unlock it before you use it on any other GSM network. It is a pretty easy process, as long as you take your time and don’t screw up. Personally, I don’t think jailbreaking or unlocking SHOULD be necessary, but Apple decided to hop in bed with AT&T. Apple, you whores. Which, I guess, if you ask me, was pretty dumb of apple to do. It seems they’re dumping money and patches into trying to keep it locked to AT&T rather than to bring us the newest necessary features and security patches.