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iPhone 3G Nearly Unlocked, but Does It Matter?
The original iPhone was released with limited availability; the iPhone 3G was released with a wide distribution that has expanded since the rollout. The iPhone 3G can now be bought from a sanctioned carrier in most major world markets.
Given the device's broad availability, are baseband unlocks still important? The iphone-Dev Team seems to think so, having recently announced via video that the crack of the iPhone 3G baseband is close.
In the U.S., the iPhone 3G is tied to AT&T's network. According to activation terms you have to return your iPhone 3G within a certain period of time to get out of your two year contract. That's hardly an opportunity for you to buy, crack and start using your iPhone 3G on T-Mobile's network in the U.S. As such, the viability of hardware unlocks is mitigated.
In addition, the iPhone 3G is being legally sold as an unlocked device by 3 Hutchnison Telecommunications in Hong Kong and TIM in Italy. This means that users can insert any carrier?s SIM card into the device and access the attached network. However, both carriers are still requiring users to sign a two-year contract before they purchase the unlocked iPhones.
Of course, an iPhone 3G that can readily accept SIM cards from various international carriers, and does not have to be purchased in Hong Kong or Italy would be a boon for world travelers. As such, we'll be watching the iPhone Dev Team's progress closely.
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This is partly correct: in Italy the iPhone 3G is being sold by TIM and Vodafone. On top of that, you can choose to buy the phone with a 2 year contract or buy it separately for 499 ? (8Gb) and 569 ? (16Gb). In my case, I bought it from Vodafone and put on my 3 Hutchinson Italy sim card, they got way better data plans.
YES.
Unlocks are about consumer choice, not about availability.
Verizon doesn't have a GSM network, so the iPhone will never work on Verizon - unless is supports CDMA.
As for unlocking. If AT&T would just hike the penalties of cancellation, then the only valid reason to unlock would be for use on an overseas carrier. With an unlock option, people will buy the phone at the subsidized price then cancel service and pay the term fee. Make the term fee equal to 2 years of service costs at $70 per month and AT&T then would not care who unlocked.
I want the unlock too - visiting UK means I pay $1.29 per minute unless I pay $5.99 per month to lower my rate to $0.99. I can buy a SIM that costs me only $0.10 for calling within UK and back to the US.
The catch on the AT&T World Traveler $5.99 plan is that they tell you to keep in for 3 months to make sure all your usage is accounted for at the lower rate. So even if you are overseas for 2 days, you need to spend $18 to make sure you are billed at the lower rate. I would have to use 60 minutes to break even.
If the EU carriers can charge $0.10 per minute for calls to the US, then AT&T could do something similar when we are over there. They will just lose revenue by forcing us down an unlock path, rather then by having decent International roaming rates.
Verizon does have GSM funtionality, just not in the US. If you have a supported device (blackberry world edition) it comes with a sim card and can be only used abroad. Verizon is owned by vodafone so when out of the states you just pop in the sim and go. The verizon sim will work in an iPhone, just not in the US