2.2 Upgrades with 3G Gevey TURBO SIM

[Rip]

Originally Posted by marcbkk

Rip - Here is the post:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....98511&tstart=0

It may well be that the OP there just got the locked screen like I did after upgrading to 2.1. (and got a sinking feeling in my stomach!).

Once the phone got a signal it then displayed a message saying it was now activated, without needing to go through any activation process.

Howver, 2.1 wasn't a baseband upgrade (which is the lockable bit) .

[boba]

Originally Posted by Rip

Thanks.

So just to confirm, you have updated an unlocked 3G to 2.2?

Could you tell me what the model numer says from the About page in Settings please?

I was thinking this through and it makes no sense for the baseband upgrade to lock it. The unlocked countries - Singapore, Italy, Hong Kong etc, would then have a flood of people calling their countries official supplier to get their iPhones activated with no way of doing this from iTunes.

I'd stilll like to check first though

my model is MB489T. and version now is 2.2(5G77)

[TarekElsakka]

Originally Posted by dturner

For the most part, turbo sims are junk and unreliable. Not a good way to go. Best bet is to wait for an unlock method. It is my understanding that it is real close to being released.

Oh well, I hope they work on a release for the 2.2 version then. Because the Turbo Sims (I have the Gevey-3G one) are working just fine until 2.1.

[marcbkk]

Originally Posted by Rip

Here's what the Dev Team had to say:

The use of SIM-Proxies (small circuit boards/chips that sit underneath the SIM card) to provide GSM/UMTS service on your locked iPhone 3G is a method that we have always advised against. Early reports suggest that the 2.2 update disables the functionality of these devices. The techniques used were always unreliable and we are surprised that they have lasted this long

For Dev-Team to simply say that SIM-Proxies are unreliable is not true. For those people living abroad like myself, and who have no other way to be able to use their 3G phones, it is the only solution. And mine worked perfectly for a long time, of course until I made the mistake of doing the 2.2 upgrade.

Of course, everyone would like a software unlock instead of using SIM-Proxies, but the phone has been out since July, which is 5 months aleady, and still there is no software unlock available. Lots of talk on the Dev-Team site, and I am sure they are hard at work at it, but the reality nothing else is available yet. So people have to use what is available and at this point SIM-Proxies are the only option for some people. So lets be thankful for small blesings rather than knocking them!

This English web site though says they offer a software unlock for the 3G, which is basically what Dev-Team has been working on:

http://www.unlocx.com/index.asp

They also say they offer a working rollback to Firmware 2.1 which is available in their members area, but I don't even see a log-in area for members on the site.

I wonder if this site is legit...

[Rip]

Originally Posted by marcbkk

So people have to use what is available and at this point SIM-Proxies are the only option for some people. So lets be thankful for small blesings rather than knocking them!

I wasn't knocking them - just passing on the info.

Originally Posted by marcbkk

This English web site though says they offer a software unlock for the 3G, which is basically what Dev-Team has been working on:

http://www.unlocx.com/index.asp

They also say they offer a working rollback to Firmware 2.1 which is available in their members area, but I don't even see a log-in area for members on the site.

I wonder if this site is legit...

I've often wondered about these websites.

We all know unlock is possible as some carriers do it on request (Australia) and others will have to (O2 in the UK once the contract is up).

I'm also sure there are people out there that are just as capabale as the Dev Team.

It's plausible, therefore.

If I had a £400 locked iPhone I think I'd risk £14.99 on it working. You can always get the money back from your Credit Card Company if it turns out bad.

One trip worth of overseas calls would easily save that.

No inclusion of Cydia mentioned though!

[Rip]

Here's the registrant info for the domain.

Anyone near Herts who could 'pop round'?

[dturner]

Originally Posted by marcbkk

[/INDENT]For Dev-Team to simply say that SIM-Proxies are unreliable is not true.


of course until I made the mistake of doing the 2.2 upgrade.

Doesn't that make them unreliable????

[marcbkk]

Originally Posted by Rip

Here's the registrant info for the domain.

Anyone near Herts who could 'pop round'?

Rip - Unfortunately I doubt it is a legit site. Apparently there are a number of these fake sites running in the UK which I read then send a link for you to download some tool which doesn't work. There was one site that gave a list of these scam sites, this was not one of them, but I belive if this guy had a real fix then more people would be talking about it.

Anyway, www.iphonehacks.com talks about a method to rollback your firmware to 2.1 if you did the 2.2 upgrade. I followed the steps and it didn't work for me. I also put a post on their blog which explains the problem I had when trying to rollback the firmware to 2.1. You can read here if you like and scroll down to see my comment:

http://www.iphonehacks.com/2008/11/d...2-21.html#more

Unfortunately a rollback to 2.1 would only allow you to jailbreak your phone again, but probably would not allow you to use it again with a Proxy-SIM, which is really my only interest at this point since I am back to using my Moto Razr for the time being.

[marcbkk]

Originally Posted by dturner

Doesn't that make them unreliable????

Not really. It was a cheap and completely reliable solution until I made the mistake today of doing the 2.2 upgrade. Considering Dev-Team snubs them, but is yet to offer any better solution for unlocking at all, I am yet to put as much faith in Dev-Team as I have in Proxy-SIMS. Simply put, Proxy-SIMS have worked at unlocking iPhones since the release of the 3G and to date Dev-Team has no unlock on offer.

My assumption is that there will be a big market for the Proxy-SIM manufacturers to sell everyone a new Proxy-SIM so they can use their 3G iPhones with the new 2.2 Firmware. You will probably also have all new phones being sold by Apple stocking the 2.2 Firmware out of the box, so they will need an Proxy-SIM unlock solution as well so they can be used abroad.

At this point I am banking on a new version of a Proxy-SIM to appear on the market before an unlock solution from Dev-Team for the 3G is even available. Dev-Team has claimed to be close for a long time so it is hard to know how much longer it might be before they offer something. Also worth noting that any Dev-Team unlock will only work on older versions of the 3G Firmware. Not sure how keen I would be to run an old version of the Firmware just to have a software versus a hardware unlock that runs with the latest Firmware.

And for the $10-$15 cost of a Proxy-SIM, that is a fine solution for me

[dturner]

That's cool if it works for you , but $10-$15 for each update can add up quick.