“Hackers in Europe claim that they have completely unlocked the JesusPhone, allegedly using a SIM reader/writer and a blank SIM card to obtain full calling and SMS capabilities. Total cost: $96,” Jesus Diaz reports for Gizmodo.
Diaz reports, “A Hackintosh forum member has been able to test the hack in the Orange UK network.”
Just tested it – works fine with Orange UK – Call In/Out, SMS In/Out…
Diaz writes, “If the SIM forgery works those $96 seems like a very low price to buy an iPhone and have it working in your network.”
More in the full article here.
Hmmmm, I just do not know what it is with people. OK, you can break into most any car with a slim jim and a few specialized tools.
First of all, its illegal. Get caught and go to jail.
Second, you end up having to spend years getting to know how to use the software and equipment to make it work so, its hardly free.
en 🙁
What about data and internet?
Was only a matter of time – however, once Apple figures it out – I would bet it will be locked down with another patch. If I were selling these ‘kits’ – I would unload as many as possible before they become no use.
What is a JesusPhone?
I love seeing stuff like this. Why?
Does anyone ever remember hackers going to this much trouble for a Blackberry, or a Treo? I don’t.
I’m not in the market for it myself, but the fact that so many are interested, means there is strong interest for the iPhone in markets where the iPhone isn’t currently available.
Just got my first AT&T bill for the jesus phone on the $60/mo plan. I went over 135 min for which they charged me (legitimately, but @ .45/min, 60.75). So I was expecting something around $155-ish.
Surprise: $235. Why? For some reason AT&T is slipping next month’s flat charges into this month’s bill.
So friendly.
If you have an iPhone, do not use it in Europe for data. I was in Europe for 2 weeks last month and used my phone minimally for internet. I just got my bill from AT&T for $3,215.84.
Unless you have money to burn, set your phone to check email manually and do not launch Safari.
Where Can I buy this unlock? I want it NOW!!!!!
The JesusPhone… saves you from the sins of other phones…
I love it! hahahahaha
I paid $15 to get a T-Mobile RAZR V3 unlocked in Bulgaria, so I’d drop $96 in a heartbeat to get one to work on T-Mobile (in the US) and Globul (in Bulgaria). I bought an unlocked Sony Ericsson so I could swap SIM cards and do essentially the same thing.
It was only a matter of time…
“First of all, its illegal. Get caught and go to jail. “
Um, no it is not. You are allowed to unlock your own phone. You own it. You should learn about your consumer rights instead of accepting a framework set up so you can freely monitored and the data can goto the government or the highest bidder. Its an invasion of privacy. Moreover, in this hack, people do not have data access. However i suspect wifi works just fine, which is pretty plentiful in most european cities.
-Liquidu
Sure seems like a lot of trouble to unlock a phone that won’t work on other carriers anyway. Something about COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND INCOMPATIBLE RADIO TECHNOLOGY. But hey, who’s keeping score?
If I was in the States, I would not have a problem with using ATT
here in Mexico, we have no idea when or if ever we would have access to an iPhone, we do not even have an iTunes store, that is required for activation
@en
That is a completely moronic comparison. If someone shells out $600 for a phone, they own it and should be able to do whatever the hell they want with it. You don’t go to jail for breaking into your own car.
However, if you want to stay with the automobile anaology, what Apple and AT&T are doing is equivalent to Ford selling you a car and then forcing you to buy your gas from Shell only. Does that sound reasonable to you?
I’m quite happy to hear that someone unlocked it .. even if it is for just a matter of time..just shows that its unlockable and will be sooner or later! I am a huge fan of everything that’s Apple ..I do not have AT&T service in my country.. as is the case with many other Apple fans..so that pretty much shuts me out of all the fun.. sucks!!
hotinplaya, If I was in the States, I would not have a problem with using ATT.
Come to California, everyone else does. You might get an iPhone given to you.
“Something about COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND INCOMPATIBLE RADIO TECHNOLOGY”
Uhm.. GSM is GSM babes.. once the phone is unlocked it’ll work on any GSM network seeing that its quad or tri band
@ChrissyOne
“But hey, who’s keeping score?”
Obviously you’re not. The iPhone runs on the GSM standard, just like virtually every other country in the world.
It’s called the GLOBAL System for Mobile communications for a reason, sweetie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM
http://ntrg.cs.tcd.ie/undergrad/4ba2.05/group7/index.html
@ The Great Apple Fanboy Massacre
Eat me, sweetie. Virtually the rest of our country does not, yet Americans seem more obsessed with unlocking the iPhone than the proles in the old country.
To wit…
ChrissyOne:
If you took the time to actually read the article, you’ll notice that these are EUROPEAN hackers who claim to have unlocked the iPhone to work on a EUROPEAN network.
@ The Great Apple Fanboy Massacre
I took the time, in fact. Forgive my US-centric bent today. You know how we are, the whole world revolves around us, right?
ChrissyOne. If you work for a living, your boss certainly doesn’t get full measure. Me? I’m retired, but when I was working I didn’t waste my boss’s time on a computer
@ ron
I bow to your superior work ethic.
And your ignorance of time zones.
Apple is playing the hackers, hardcore. Apple sets up the iPod and the iPhone with formidable defenses, but nothing like those on the laptop/server/desktop versions of OS X. Then they sit back and watch hackers drum all the interest in their product, and release patches to undo what they’ve done — or argue to AT&T that the iPhone shouldn’t be tethered to just them.
It’s pure genius, and the moronic hackers have all their work wiped away in an instant while Apple profits from the free press they gin up. We’ve seen it before with the iPod. I guess those geeks never learn, do they?
To BustingTheSkullsOfIdiots:
Apple also makes several dollars each month off of an iPhone subscriber’s AT&T service plan. Why would Apple want to allow hackers to break the iPhone just so it could work on other networks? That cuts Apple’s monthly revenue from mobile phone access contracts. Not very smart.
The idea that Apple wants hackers to unlock the iPhone for free press is stupid. Apple has as much free press over the iPhone as anyone could possibly hope for, so why would Apple jeopardize it’s high-profile product just for a few web articles? It’s not getting that much press from hackers trying to unlock the iPhone.
Also, Apple demands control of its products, and I seriously doubt Apple would want hackers to try to unlock the iPhone – you just don’t know what may happen, and that flies in the face of everything Apple is. The last thing Apple wants is unlocked iPhones where people can load anything they want on it. If that were the case, the iPhone would have come out unlocked or on multiple carriers.
Apple has an exclusive agreement with AT&T because Apple is demanding more from AT&T than other mobile phone manufacturers. Thus, in exchange for these concessions, AT&T gets to sell the iPhone exclusively for a certain number of years. If Apple didn’t want an exclusive contract, it would not have negotiated one.