iPhone 4 unlock available now (update: video!)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted August 4th 2010 2:40AM
posted August 4th 2010 2:40AM
Update: No-nonsense video embedded after the break showing how to jailbreak and unlock. Easy peasy. [Thanks, Adam]
In other news AT&T still sucks.
@rhimbu This doesnt have anything to do with At&t
@rhimbu useless uninformed and irrelevant post.
@Brt312
Actually, depending on the context, it does. The iPhone 4 hasn't dropped a call for any of my friends or colleagues in Canada.
@kapanak Its supposedly "fixed" there. That or At&t is just horrible.
@rhimbu
This post is not about AT&T , its about awesomeness of jailbreaked iPhone!
@kapanak
I went to one of Rogers store and played around with the display model. I tried the death grip and it didn't work. I touched the lower left corner, no signal loss. So I think maybe the Canadian version has a fix already since they were still in the assembly line during the release of American version. Can anyone let me know why there si no signal loss at all.
@hero785
It partially has to do with the fact that the signal from Canadian carriers is just so strong that no matter how you touch it, it retain enough signal to get data through for calls...
I've used the iPhone in both Europe and Asia, and it's never dropped called. So I would say yes indeed AT&T does indeed suck.
@Brt312
Hmmmm. Now you can use the iPhone on a carrier besides AT&T. I'm pretty sure it does have something to do with AT&T.
@rhimbu The guy said "In other words AT&T sucks" that has NOTHING to do with the article.
@Brt312 you have to unlock it use someone besides sucky AT&T!
@kapanak
I meant to say that it didn't drop a single bar! They were all going strong without any flickering! So maybe you are right that our signals are much stronger or maybe they repositioned the antenna for Canadian, Asian and European market. Someone has to find out.
@ok old news again
I'll do it again, this time outside my house since my friends has 20+ left to sell. I'll actually do it tomorrow and let you guys know how it turns out.
@ok old news again Kin 1 & 2 sold 11 phones combined. Lol. RIP
"If not, just add the repo666.ultrasn0w.com repository. It works for iPhone 4 baseband 01.59 and 3G/3GS basebands 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01 and 05.13.04. If none of this makes sense then you've got no reason unlocking your device in the first place, buddy."
I ain't your buddy, friend!
I didn't know what any of that stuff meant until I googled it and unlocked my old iPhone 3G. If you've never jailbroken/unlocked your iPhone before, you probably DON'T know what that means, so that's just an idiotic comment, buddy.
@hero785
As you may know the silver band around the phone is the antena, on the bottom right side of the phone there is the wifi antena, the rest of the band is the radio. On the bottom right corner of the phone there is a small gap between these two antenas, if any moisture gets in this gap from sweaty hands there will be signal drop.
@kracklejack
I know the antenna design and whats's where. I wrapped two hands around it and nothing dropped. So I went for the bottom corner and see if I could drop the wifi and nothing happened. So I will attempt again around my friend's house and see what happens.
@Brt312
If your phone is locked to AT&T and this article is about unlocking, how does this not have anything to do with AT&T???
@hero785
We have three new iphone 4s here in toronto and I can verify that all three of them suffer from signal loss problems the same as our US iphone 4s. Nothing has been fixed. If the signal is very strong then the death grip has less of an effect but in our office we have one spot where the signal shows up at full strength but applying the grip will cause it to drop to 1 bar in a few seconds.
@hero785 I have an early u s version never have problems and also cannot replicate death grip.
@hero785 The Canadian version isn't fixed, I can replicate the death grip by putting one finger over the spot, although it only drops 1 bar to 2 bars.
@hero785
There is still an issue, but I don't ever think it was ever a big issue. You need to hold it for many seconds for the bars to go down, since they work on a moving average of signal strength.
@kapanak
Okay, AT&T, IMO, doesn't suck at all. They're the best carrier in the U.S. of A. They're network is the only network handling the amount a data and traffic then any other network. Plus, when people make that whole, my service sucks here argument. I don't doubt that because just like every other carrier, they're great in some area's and poor in others. Lastly, if AT&T was so bad, why does every major player partner w/them? Preferred carrier of Apple, Nokia, WP7, and BB? I'm not saying that AT&T isn't bad, just not as bad as everyone makes them, and tries to make you believe that every other carrier is soooo much more amazing.
Why can't all instruction videos be this easy?
@EagleyeSmith
I still consider AT&T to be bad even though most big names partner with them. The only reason they are the preferred carrier is that they use the same bands and network type as the rest of the world. Their network is not the best and not even good IMO.
@HellFlyer Awesomeness? Ha! ios 4 adds anything you'd need from jailbreaking except carrier unlock, but you can do that in Canada
@ravissimo
And im not your firend, guy.
@rhimbu What are you an idiot? I switched to AT&T from Verizon for the original iPhone and still have my 3GS in the NJ/NYC area they are awesome. Data is fast, i never get dropped calls anymore, visual voicemail is great, etc. I may switch back to Verizon someday if they ever get a good phone, but I really have no reason too AT&T is just as good.
@phinn
I bet there are so many people thinking right now of any reason to unlock their iPhones...
international travel & carrier in independence
@hero785 i think its more so that all the apple haters just made it out to be a bigger deal than it is. i've never been able to perform the death grip either. i'm in los angeles and have had the ip4 since about 2 weeks after lauch in the US. :)
@hero785
While I was living in Canada as a Neuroscientist studying motor control using surface EMG, I noticed that a substantial number of Canadians have dry skin due to the nature of the environment. Because of this, many of my experiments were affected with detriment. I am certain that any number of individuals who do not experience signal attenuation with the grip of death are also experiencing similar "dry skin" benefits. I think the grip of death might actually work for many individuals with the addition of a bit of skin lotion prior to testing the grip. I tend to have moderately sweaty (not wet) hands and I can attenuate the signal in 10 seconds or less on pretty much any iphone 4 that I touch. I do not need to grip them very tight either.
@beckhams777
how about to get out of having to get under contract for at&t? i unlocked mine, no need to pay for data when i got wifi almost everywhere i am at. i now pay $15 a month for my iphone plan....
on that note, i know jailbreaking is 100% legal, is unlocking? ive heard that if att determines you are using an iphone under a non iphone plan, they reserve the right to charge you for it. is this true, has this ever happened to anyone on here?
@rhimbu
yay I can travel with my iPhone now
@rhimbu Yay! So now you can use it with T-Mobile and only have EDGE! Anything is better than ATT... right? WRONG.
@adachan I've had similar thoughts, but coming from an antiques dealer background. Some people will handle things like antique guns, and a couple hours later the guns will have rusty fingerprints on them. I and my father can handle such a gun and never have rust emerge, even without oiling.
I think some people produce lots of acid from their skin, and the acid is more conductive. This has never come up in our society because most people don't carry firearms, and the use of bare, non-stainless, metals is infrequent.
I also think this is part of the reason why sculpture can be so alluring - the exposure to materials that one normally does not see.
@hero785,
I did the same thing. Here in Canada mine won't drop a bar when I have a strong (five full bars) signal.
Touching that spot only seems to affect it when I'm in a low-signal area (somewhere where my 3G only had 2 bars). It will go from 5 to 2.
So, once I update to 4.01, I am assuming in those areas it will properly show 2 instead of 5, and won't actually drop.
@rhimbu I think it's funny how everyone talks about AT&T sucking, but I've not had issues with them. Plus, T-Mobile service barely works where I live, so I'm not sure how AT&T sucks worse than T-Mobile, which is the only other carrier in the U.S. (that's not prepaid) this will work with...
Is this the same baseband that was lost in a bar?
@TFJ4 01.59.00 is the current iPhone 4 baseband and 05.13.04 the most recent 4.0.1 baseband for 3GS. So it's for current firmware.
@nullifie I don't think that was his question. I think his question was if the current iPhone 4 baseband is the same one that was on the prototype iPhone 4 lost in that bar.
In other news, to have an enjoyable experience on iOS 4, you need to go against the will of Apple. But at least it's legal now!
@yyandrew
Unlocking was always legal. Jailbreaking (ie. DRM breaking for phones) was made legal.
@kapanak you are completely correct. I'm half asleep and didn't distinguish unlocking and jailbreaking in my head. I'm going to downrank my original comment :)
@yyandrew
Actually, your comment works quite well in the context of this article. We must all rise up against the will of the Apple... :P
@kapanak +1 for standing up against the will of the Apple
@kapanak
you guys may hug and kiss now
@roman7927
Why were you thinking that?
You know, the iPhone's been out in Canada, and I have seen most of my friends get it, but no one seems to experience the death grip or the pinky of doom...WTF?
@kapanak
It's because the problem was minor, but blown out of proportion. Don't get me wrong, I'm not excusing Apple for the odd design choice. But the mainstream media (CNN, etc) and the Android fanboys ran with a story that they didn't really understand. It's a problem to some (anyone with piss poor at&t coverage), yes, but it's nowhere near as bad as it may have sounded. That's the one and only reason I give Apple a slight pass for their sort of childish Youtube videos.