“I’ve found a way to activate a brand new unactivated iPhone without giving any of your money or personal information to AT&T NSA. The iPhone does not have phone capability, but the iPod and WiFi work,” Jon Lech Johansen (aka “DVD Jon”) reports via his “So Sue Me” blog.
Full article here.
Daniel Eran writes for RoughlyDrafted, “Interested in getting the iPhone to work in ways Apple never intended? Here’s a look at what’s involved in making the iPhone a mobile service-free iPod, and conversely, using it with other service providers, both here in the US and internationally.”
Full article here.
That was quick!
So now it’s the iPod of my dreams, except for the small capacity. But if I wait a few months, Apple will probably start selling something like this with no need for hackery.
So how long before Apple blocks this hack? By the end of the day?
now give me ichat
Considering that the original iPod was $499 in 2001 dollars, and did MUCH less, this is not a bad deal
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trying it now, I will report later on
DVD Jon — You da man !
The original iPod was actually $399, but yeah, this does so much more that it’s not even funny.
And this hack will magically disappear when iPhone software version 1.0.1 comes along…
Hack is only good from a PC.
That’s so stupid! Just wait for the G6 iPod and pay less. Common sense says the G6 will have the features of the iPhone minus the phone. This is just so retarded.
I laugh at anyone who does this! Ha! Ha! Your a dumb ass!
The next iPod will very likely be a much more specialized device with 32+ GB of memory and new bells and whistles. In that way you can carry a cheap phone + the new advanced iPod. The only question is what will be its feature set.
When is Apple going to hire DVD Jon?
Just what I’ve always wanted – a cell phone that CAN’T MAKE PHONE CALLS.
It only plays music and gets me access to the internet via WiFi.
Oh, yea, and it CAN’T MAKE PHONE CALLS.
What’s the point? This is just silly.
I dont care that this hack exist. What is the point because the 8GB doesnt hold many movies and songs. It great for a phone as far as its ipod feature but i bought it as a phone for the impressive phone features.
Nice – but the real challenge is to allow it to make calls through other GSM networks. The next step after this is to put your own JavaScript widgets on the front panel.
There seems less ‘hacking’ than the AppleTV – I assume this is because you can’t mount the iPhone in disk mode, nor place the drive in a computer.
I’m sure this will come once someone works out how to access all the system files via Bluetooth.
The link to DVD Jon’s website is down – you will get the message “This Account Has Exceeded Its CPU Quota”
The ./ effect strikes again!
You can hack it via a Mac as well.
http://www.codymays.net/content/2007/07/04/activate-your-iphone-without-att-with-toolszip/
let the hackers do their tricks, apple will learn from them and make it 10x harder to do with the next update
BuriedCeasar says: “What’s the point? This is just silly.”
Sorry to disagree BC, but this is oh so not silly. I’ll bet there are millions like me who can’t or don’t want to lock in to an AT&T contract, or don’t want the phone portion of the iPhone for whatever reason. What we want is the delicious widescreen multi-touch iPod with the wifi internet communicator capabilities.
I agree this solution is not ideal, but we either wait for Apple to bring it out, or we do this hack. Get it?
I am surprised that no one has linked to the related news of the other way to divorce your iPhone from the AT&T contract – by simply canceling the contract. Cancel within 30 days and you won’t be charged the $175 cancelling fee. Cancel within 3 days and AT&T will refund your activation fee!
Alex King blogs it here:
http://alexking.org/blog/2007/07/02/iphone-without-service
@ zerO
“now give me ichat”
This should come later. There is an Apple patent for inserting optical sensors between the pixels of an LCD screen, so that the screen is a digital camera, too.
Does this DVD John guy have a real job?
And Solid:
“…I’ll bet there are millions like me who can’t or don’t want to lock in to an AT&T contract,…”
Why do you think you have the right to defeat Apple and AT&T plans? Apple is not forcing you to buy the phone.
At what point do technology makers and content providers just say screw it because the DVD Dumbasses of the world are just going to facilitate the widespread theft of their intellectual property anyway?
I read that instead of being locked into a 2-year contract, another workaround is to get offered a Pay-As-You-Go plan. This happens if you enter 999-99-9999 as your social security number during the activation process. Since that number fails the credit check, iTunes then pops up a screen offering you a pay-as-you-go plan. I might do this, I much prefer pay-as-you-go to 2 year contracts.
@Another View:
Some people don’t believe that the manufacturer of your toaster or vacuum cleaner has any right to tell you what you can do with your toaster or vacuum cleaner. If you want to open it up, dissect it, modify it, sell it, it’s up to you, because it’s yours. Apple doesn’t have any more right to tell me how I can use my iPhone handheld computer than Hoover has a right to tell me that I can only use my vacuum cleaner on carpet brands that Hoover is partnered with.
@solid…
Okay, I understand your perspective. Still, it seems pretty silly to me to spend so much money on something that you then intend to turn around and cripple the one primary function for which it is named.
Curiously, what do you call your crippled iPhone that’s no longer able to make phone calls?
Interesting notion about how many people you think would want what you’re describing – “millions” of people, huh? What you’re saying, and I believe you’re accurate to a degree, is that millions of people will eagerly purchase the next version of the iPod, which is likely to have many of the features of the iPhone, but perhaps without the phone part. And, here’s the kicker – it very likely won’t cost any where close to $600, or, for that matter, even $500.
So, you’ve essentially given Apple an extra $200 or $300 (or more?) just to get a fancy-shmancy iPod-like device that has dismal storage capacity, but a really great viewscreen. My congratulations – hope you enjoy it. I’m perfectly content to wait.
I’m definitely one who does not care about the phone part of iPhone. Its the best PDA ever done – period. Maybe we just don’t want to look at it that way because it conjures up the tired ‘ole offerings from Palm, but hey, a PDA that comes standard with 6 or 8GB – unheard of, and the user interface? Oh come on, there’s nothing like it. I’ve never seen the iPhone as a phone, and calling it a “smartphone” (boy is that a very tired phrase by now), is totally demeaning to the so called iPhone.
What a butthead. So what if the highly exaulted DVD Jon does this or that. Over on Slashdot, all the penguinheads are drooling about this. It’s always, “DVD Jon sez…” I could frickin’ care less.
So what has he accomplished? Big deal if he found a half-baked workaround. If you try to use the iPhone with another carrier, I have a strong hunch it won’t work, because other carriers don’t have the necessary APIs for the iPhone to properly work with their system. And even if it does, functions like Visual Voicemail will be useless.
And to those of you who say, “duh, gee, now I have the next generation iPod!!” Uh, guys, stop for a moment and think. If you HAD NOT followed the shining path of DVD Jon, you would have had one anyway, AND you would also have a working phone, which now you won’t. D’oh! Oh, and by the way – if you weren’t such idiots (like that knucklehead who paid $600 for an iPhone only to smash it with a hammer, because he could), you could wait a couple of months for the REAL next gen iPod and gotten your money’s worth instead of shelling out $500-600 for a crippled iPhone.
When will you boneheads ever learn? If you don’t like AT&T, then DON’T BUY AN iPHONE. It’s that simple. When will all this stupidity stop? And when will dumbass sites like slashdot and even MDN, much as I hate to say it, stop making DVD Jon out to be some God, which he is not? From what I can tell, he’s 34 and still lives at home with his parents. Whenever this putz uses his skills to do something good for the world, call me. But I don’t expect my phone to ring any time soon.
Meanwhile, in Cupertino, a lot of un-named brilliant engineers and software geniuses are working their butts off on improving the iPhone. Love Apple and AT&T or not, the fact remains, even with this imperfect Version 1.0 release, it’s amazing. No, it’s not 3G. Sorry, kiddies. We’re not there yet. And yes, I’d love having mobile phone data speeds like those in South Korea or even western Europe. But if you bother to look at a map, you can squeeze South Korea into southern California. Sad to say, the US of A is a little bit bigger than either Korea or Europe. That means a bigger infrastructure to deal with.
So rant all you want. Piss and moan because you don’t have everything now. Glorify jerks like DVD Jon. Be the pendantic, whining railbirds that you are. But it won’t do a damned thing. The fact is, what Apple has accomplished with the iPhone is incredible. And it’s only Version 1.0. It will get better and better.
Good things come to those who wait. Patiently.
Oh, and a memo to DVD Jon: bite me.
Buried Ceasar: “So, you’ve essentially given Apple an extra $200 or $300 (or more?) just to get a fancy-shmancy iPod-like device that has dismal storage capacity, but a really great viewscreen. My congratulations – hope you enjoy it. I’m perfectly content to wait.”
I’m actually content to wait myself, at least for a while. You make a good argument that the storage capacity is dismal. I would prefer at least my current 60 GB iPod capacity before moving over to another device. Although, I would like to point out that I paid $499 for a “crippled” iPod only 3 or 4 years ago that only plays ‘gasp’ music, so the iphone, even with the phone part deacivated, is a lot less crippled than my 3rd generation iPod.
But I do feel strongly that tens of millions of people would jump all over an “iPod Extreme” that has all the capabilities except the phone component. Look how many people bought the first 5 versions of the iPod. I say bring it on Apple!
Whatever, too much Starbucks this morning?
You said: “Good things come to those who wait. Patiently.”
Sir, you don’t know patience. I used a Macintosh Performa 6200 CD for almost 5 years before moving up to a G4. You have no idea……..;>)
@Whatever
As an Atheist, I pray that threre aren’t many that think like you around. If they are, that they may never come into any form power position or produce offspring for the sake of all humanity. Other than that bubba, you are Ok
.RO,
That is going to be so cool. I would even settle for some audio chat for now too.
zerO
As an Atheist, to whom are you praying?
THANK YOU DVDJOHN!!!!
I’m not sure how valuable a hack that disables the phone functions of a phone will be. Apple is bound to release a wide-screen iPod (iPhone with higher storage capacity minus phone functions) before Christmas. And I have a feeling iPhone won’t work properly on another network if a non-AT&T card is inserted. Visual voicemail definitely won’t work. There are probably other customizations made by AT&T to accommodate iPhone’s capabilities. But the hack is free, so you get what you pay for…
Even assuming Apple and/or AT&T do not block this (do you really want to re-hack it every time the software or firmware is updated?), what real advantage does this provide? I’m not sure what the deal is:
The widescreen, WiFi, iPod?
Kit-N
I hope you are joking kit-N, else, don’ stop, go straight to humor 101, don’t collect $100 – must be a bitch not to get it
The iPhone is NOT subsidized by either Apple or AT&T. You are paying full price for the phone, and can do what you wish with that phone without taking money out of the mouths of either starving corporation. You can buy an iPhone and use it as digital toilet paper if you want and Apple still made 50% profit and AT&T didn’t lose anything at all. AND YOU DIDN’T STEAL ANYTHING. Honestly, I swear, some of you posters here probably stand outside your houses and scream at people for jaywalking. Quit preaching the “intellectual property” gospel already. Just because a corporation would rather you not do something, doesn’t mean it’s wrong to do it.
zerO
I get it.
My we’re awfully sensitive today.
Kit-N
word
you’rre right, I synch with CrissyOne once a month
At work I have the green light to get an iPhone as long as it works under T-Mobile. I’m sure shortly that someone will “Unlock” the iPhone and then you’ll see sales increase for sure.
Sad thing it is that you are legally entited (Via US Copyright Office) to Unlock a phone. Carriers still try to lock you in anyway. http://www.copyright.gov/1201/
Aside from a couple of intelligent posts, most of the people here seem oblivious. Do you understand ATT is being sued for partaking in the NSA wiretapping? With the hot new iPhone you are required to give 2 years of your communications in all different facets, chat, purchases, web sites, email, sms, phone calls, voicemail, everything to ATT. The fact that people are so indoctrinated it does not even occur to them that this is a problem is amazing. The post earlier in this thread comparing the iPhone to a vacuum is pretty spot on. When you buy something. It becomes your property. You should be able to do with it as you choose. An iphone not attached to ATT that doesent make calls, or use edge, but still is an amazing iPod and a terrific wifi handheld is very appealling to people. I for one have already employed the hack. It works well. Moreover, if I ever want to activate its easy to revert back. So its not permanent. I already tested this too. People should read a little about corporatations and how they operate, and what you get yourself involved in when you make certain purchases. Be a lemming if you choose, only our country is at stake.
-jstrickl