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iPhone 2G (the original model) 3G and 3GS Jail Breaking and Unlocking - explained - and the service
Jail Breaking - what it is
Apple has made a terrific device in the iPhone. It has a couple of things I would improve on. One is a crappy radio telephone antenna implementation that actually seems to throttle down 3G connectivity. The other? It should a multitasking device but isn't. I will run just one program at a time so if you launch "stocks" it fills the screen and looks things up for you. To go "Contacts" you have to close and stop running "Stocks" then sweep over to "Contacts" and run it. I realize the Apple TV ads make you think otherwise with the fellow on the phone that moves it to speaker, and then makes a table reservation at a restaurant, checks a movie listing, finds and address then email to the fellow he's on the phone with and he orders his wife anniversary flowers for delivery the following week while he is on the phone. Anyone that has used an iPhone even effectively will recognize that isn't possible in the time frame represented, (real time) in any universe. The phone might be able to seem to operate that way but it can't do things that fast and between the websites and email that effortlessly.
The reason I'm mentioning this is... I tend to notice un-true things on TV and to point out there room for improvement in Apple's iPhone operating system. The iPhone OS is a micro-kernal version of their full blown OSX which is derived from BSD UNIX. A friend of mine Stu Slack (whom I taught wine making to... you knew I was an award winning wine maker right?) was involved in writing that kernal. Apple employees "try" to be secretive about things like these but Stu and I were picking merlot grapes in October of 2005 and he was being deceptive when I asked him what he doing at Apple these days. He mentioned he was working on a micro-kernal version of the OS and I corrected him and said he was then working on the iPhone which I had already heard rumors of for a year. I'm kind of like DR. Cal Lightman (played by Tim Roth) on the show "Lie to Me" (which also helps me at my live poker game on Wednesday nights) and I was able to tell he trying to mask the truth on this subject. Back on topic... Apple's iPhone OS can be improved on and more quickly than they do it.
Jail breaking allows an iPhone user to place and use applications (apps) other than those blessed by Apple on an iPhone. It wasn't until iPhone OS 3.0.0 that you could capture live video instead of still snapshots. If you had a Jailbroken iPhone you could have done this with iPhone OS version 2.
At the moment for Jailbroken iPhone there are a few multitasking apps Backgrounder, ProSwitcher and Multifl0w. In the future Apple is going to upgrade their OS again to meet reality and with the help of the jailbreak/hacker community pointing the way value will be added to the iPhone OS.
So jailbreaking takes you out of apple's constraints to allow your iPhone to do more and better things. Some of these apps come at a cost like they do on iTunes/appstore others are free altogether (also like the iTunes store).
Jailbreaking is when you run a program or sometimes two programs basically through a UNIX terminal emulator after a hard restart that goes in and patches the OS to allow you to download from other than iTunes and run non-Apple blessed apps. Technically, it modifies the OS firmware so it doesn't look for Apple's cryptographic signature which is natvie to blessed apps. Technically you are violating a user agreement with Apple when you do this. I have and use an iPhone that I have jailbreaked. It adds utility to the iPhone while perhaps making it a tiny bit more prone to security problems... which I have never experienced personally.
Let's go onto "Unlocking"...
When Jobs made the iPhone announcement in January 2007, he declared that AT&T (Cingular) would be the only carrier selling it in the US. That made sense, because Apple had written the software to work some specific server changes needed by the carrier. One of the touted features was 'Visual Voice Mail". I know you are going to find this hard to believe but there was a time on your cell phone and desk phone when you have to listen to every Voice Mail left in the order they arrived to get to hear them all. I had an Octel Voice Mail System with out Seimens Saturn switch in the late 1980's and it always infuriated me that I had to listen to each of them rather tabling inbound numbers or extensions of importance, in essence establishing a "class of service" for some numbers and extensions. Visual Voice Mail is that application.
So, to make the iPhone work only with AT&T where it would have that 'enhanced feature set' Apple used a SIM Lock which would bind the iPhone to AT&T as a carrier only.
That had a couple of negatives for some potential users of the iPhone. In parts of the country AT&T has sketchy coverage. Here in Sonoma County they are well known for having bad coverage in the west county so if you are a Verizon or T-mobile in that part of Sonoma County you were out of luck in using an iPhone.
Another reason besides carrier freedom is to not be locked into the cost of an AT&T data plan. It's a minimum $70 a month with $40 being the data plan alone and yet... the voice is also digital data packets so it's really the same type oftype of service at much higher cost which offsets the "subsidy". AT&T pays about $550 on average for the iPhone which they charge the subscriber about $200 for. The $350 "subsidy" is paid back a bit each month in the data plan contract they have you sign over two years. In many other countries the carrier will unlock the phone for you once you
So with an unlocked you can choose your carrier and therefore mitigate your data expense.
What phone do I use???
I use a Jailbroken Black 16GB iPhone 3G. It's a well tested model that works well and replacement parts readily available and fairly cheap.
I don't use a mobile phone much. I make myself available by phone *here* at my desk all days at all hours (it seems) so I use my mobile only I am out and need to reach someone by phone or text. Because I use it very little, I have a pre-paid AT&T card so my "total cell use"" might be $100 a year for phone and text. Because I am using still using AT&T as my carrier I don't have to Un-Lock mine.
Why an iPhone? I like the threaded text messaging. Apple did this my using an on-board database that keeps the messages with when and who then stacks them so you can see the context you are responding in. I like having all of my contacts in my hand and easy to see. I like having a relevant slice of my music, video and photo files on hand at all times. I love having WiFi connectivity and a full safari browser When I am out getting a drink at night I can pick and send email using the wireless access points through out Santa Rosa. I don't use AT&T's data plan because I use free WiFi access everywhere.
I am a film buff, at night I may see an actor I know from somewhere else but not remember where. I use my iPhone with the Apple Airport Express for wireless connectivity and use the Safari to look them up on the imdb.com site. All from bed while watching a movie.
These things are much better than the Kirk and Mc Coy communicator that I coveted when I was small. Global communication in voice, text and web sites, with a multi media/game player and all hand held. Unbelievable!!
Yes, of course I know how to Jail Break and UnLock iPhones. Need help with Jail Breaking or Un-Locking yours?
I'm in Sonoma County... Northern California wine country.
If you live nearby, are traveling through or live in the San Francisco Bay Area bring your iPod to me and I can do the work while you wait or go wine tasting for a while. Send me an
email just to make sure I have on hand whatever parts your repair will require.
Call or email me
with questions or to set up a repair. You can also call, I am here most days from 8am to 8pm
Toll Free 1-877-iPod-Pro (1 - 877 - 476-3776)
Send the device to:
Frank Walburg
2145 Service Court
Santa Rosa, Ca 95403-3139
Methods of payment
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