I was delighted with an article a friend forwarded me yesterday, by a man who legally unlocked his iPhone via his network. Finnish mobile operator Sonera offered him the opportunity to unlock his old iPhone 3G when he upgraded to an iPhone 3G S. But looking into it a bit more showed me that the reason this was news to me is that, like in America, you can’t legally unlock your iPhone in Ireland. But there are a lot of countries where the unlocks are legal, and even encouraged.
Wait, wait, wait… unlock?
On the very slim chance that you’ve clicked the link to this article and don’t know what unlocking is, I’ll go over it very briefly. Apple has a habit of signing an exclusive deal with a single operator in each country the iPhone is sold in. So that operator needs to be sure that the device won’t be used on a different network. To that end, Apple “locks” the iPhones sold in that country to a single network. Unlocking your iPhone means you can use it on any network available to you. In America and Ireland, unlocking is illegal, so it requires a hack. A hack that could cause your iPhone to freeze up the next time there’s a minor software update.
What’s the story here?
Olly Farshi of the Apple Blog reports that his network, Sonera of Finland, told him how he could unlock his iPhone 3G. After he upgraded to a 3G S, Sonera informed him that if he paid off the rest of his contract for the older device, they could apply to Apple to get the device unlocked. Due to the nature of his contract, he was able to pay off his contract for a mere 24 euro. Hey presto – Sonera were true to their word, and Olly now has an iPhone that has been unlocked by Apple itself. This means that not only can he use the phone on any network he likes, but it will be able to upgrade without a hitch.
But as a result of this story, some interesting details began to emerge. Basically, if you live in the USA or Ireland, you are getting boned by Apple and your operator. It is simply not possible to legally unlock your iPhone. You have to hack it. But responses to Ollys article from other countries have shown that a lot of people don’t see his article as anything special – a lot of countries have legal unlocking options, even where there’s an exclusive contract at play!
Check it out:
Poland, Italy and Australia: all iPhones are sold unlocked, including 3G and 3G S.
France: Orange allow iPhone 3Gs to be unlocked after you’ve had a contract with them for 6 months.
Portugal: you can get your iPhone unlocked for 200 euro, regardless of how long you’ve held your contract.
Singapore: it is not legal to sell a phone that can’t be unlocked in Singapore. So if you’re happy to pay off your contract immediately, you can have an unlocked phone immediately.
Sweden: after holding a contract with TeliaSonera for 12 months, it unlock your iPHone for a small additional fee of around 30 euro.
and then there’s
USA and Ireland: bend over. Even after your contract is finished, you can’t unlock your iPhone.
What we think?
I think I should move. I’m also extremely please that the FCC will probably be starting a massive probe into this kind of behavior on Thursday.
I would quite like to get a definitive list of the unlocking methods for different countries and operators going. If you know the method for your or any country, drop me a mail about it at cian@gomonews.net
I am glad too. Apple has a strong tendency to be greedy and charge too much for their products. Controling “or locking” a customer to a single operator is another example of that greed. I hope the FCC kicks their butt and makes the iPhone unlocked so you can use it on any network available to you.
Considering the idiotic 100 MB iphone data allowance in Finland — you get what you paid for.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/01/iphone_3g_plans_start_at_25_in_switzerland_50_in_finland.html
just go online u can purchase unlock iphone from apple itself
http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=MTAyNTQzMTI