Apple iPhone and AT&T
 

Well just wondering does anyone here have an iPhone?

I am thinking about getting one and hacking it so I don't have to use AT&T because honestly AT&T really sucks. They charge so much for the most stupid features :eek:

sure, it is good to hacking a cellphone... do it, but first, give me your addy, i want to see it myself...

--reported

Is what you propose legal ? If not then you may not discuss it here.

It may break your warranty, but there is nothing illegal about it as far as I know. Now, if you're going to then sell the phone, then you might be straying into choppy waters.

It violates the ToS and EULA.

actually he wants to unlock it so he can use any phone carrier besides at&t, i know couple of people did that already and worked so , the only down fall that certain features that at&t offers for the iphone may not be equipped to handle from other phone carriers. It and no its not illegal i do that to all of my iden phones (motorola) just recently allow all phones to be unlocked.

pb

Thanks. Yes it is not far that I would have to sign a 2 year contract with AT&T when AT&T is not even in my area. So I want to unlock it so I can use something else instead of crappy AT&T.

It's kind like they try to control who uses the iPhone or not.

You do not know anything about legallity if you think it is not illegal...seriously, kids.

If Apple would have activated that feature, it would not be illegal.. but as they blocked that feature, it is because they are licenses about it... you break the lock, you break the license.

When you buy a phone, you also agree to not break this feature... so if you do, your phone is not supported anymore... bring me the documentation from Apple that say the opposite before telling that this is legal.

Suggestions like this are making the market unstable, because newbies will do it, thinking it is legal... remember that you can be sued if you break your license and suggest others to do the same.

@Paul M... this action is illegal the same way the nullified vBulletin releases are... exact same situation.

Getting back on topic:

I believe I am getting an iPhone tomorrow. I was considering just getting a new plan at AT & T (I am already a customer there), but I realized the monthly charge difference is just slightly higher with the iPhone for the additional data plan - so why not eh?

And also just keep on topic of whether you have, dont have, or plan to have an iPhone.

We don't care what you do with your phone if it involves breaching the phone, software, or license. (or all three hehe)

vB.org must be paying well Danny ;)!

don't compare vb to phone programing if it was illegal the the phone I'm using right now well not be activated. In order to activate a phone from any carrier they will need a esn number and thats all it will take and that esn number will give the carrier the model type phone.Whats illegal is creating a phone program within and claiming that you created and or selling it without the written consent from the company which i seen it the past in mobile tech and if any community forum was caught selling it they will shut them down with a nice price tag in lawyer fee's which i've seen in few forum board in the past.

as stated above motorola is now allowing the mobile phone to be unlocked. From class action law suit and other manufacturing is following as well.

ive been doing this for 5 years tops i will not give false info to anybody.

check this out and see how many people and stores selling unlock iphones http://www.google.com/search?client=...=Google+Search

Well just like to give you an update.

I just bought one and unlocked it in less then 5 mins and now I have an iPhone with T-Mobile. I have also installed a few 3rd party apps that work very well.

I didn't want AT&T because really they are not any good in my area.


nexialys here is a little bit of information. Apples iPhones went up because people wanted to unlock them they sold over 3million last month alone just for people who wanted to unlock the phone.

It's not illegal as long as your not reselling a hacked iPhone.


Plus I believe the iPhone should be for ANYONE who has the money to buy one. It doesn't matter what company you go with a phone is a phone. I think AT&T got slapped in the face with reality when the group of people released the iPhone hack. Everyone now is unlocking the iPhone because they don't want to use AT&T. It was just a slap of reality to AT&T.


I made that bold so you can read it buddy :)

Completely agree with you Weapon-X. And why does everyone think that a breach of TOS/Warranty is a breach of legality. Last time I checked it just breaks your contract with the manufacturer.

It only voids your warranty. So if my phone breaks or I drop it in water then I am in trouble :)

But if I have the money for the iPhone which in fact is honestly a small wallet burner then I should be able to choose what company I want to server my phone.

It's just reality. AT&T lost a lot of money when the iPhone hack was released buy more people bought iPhones just to unlock them so Apple got the money back.

I'm not going to use something that I paid for that doesn't work in my Area.

Did you know that Apple gets approximately $18 per month from AT&T for every iPhone which is activated?

The DMCA specifically excludes unlocking cell phones for personal use. There is nothing illegal about it and the TOS isn't applicable until you ACTIVATE the service with ATT therefore making that a null and void point. ;)

Weapon-X: Be careful with firmware updates as they may impact your ability to continue using the service off of ATT. Check the apple forum at howardforums, they users there are pretty good at confirming this stuff.

I have the iphone and its probably the best phone I've ever had. Edge however sucks and ATT's service is no where near as good as Verizon's.

There are some naunces I would like to see improvements on. I have hundreds of contacts between work and personal and you can't sort by catagory in the phone. I'd also like to see tasks and notes sync'd with outlook. Oh, and occasionally, I do miss the FF and RW buttons for the ipod player.

Enjoy!

There is an APP for unlocked iphones that sort your contacts. Plus there are tons of 3rd party apps. If you need the url just private message me.

hey Weapon-x, i never told i was against your interest in the iPhone or not, the only thing is that you started a discussion about the act of hacking the phone for your uses and asked about it... legal or not, you can do it, i do not care.. i'm not from Apple (i'm joking here!), and i'm not interested to know if you are against the license... the only thing is that i described the act of it...

and i fully agree with your arguments... Apple made the error of a lifetime by locking the use of that cellphone for one provider only, and it will cost them a lot to break that deal ... i suppose that's the reason it's not done yet.

i had a iPhone long before it was released, and i think it was a wrong idea to have it released by AT&T, because they are not providing service where the clients are... i had a hacked iPhone before it was released myself because i'm out of the network... and i was developping some apps for Apple as well as beta-testing some dev apps ... and the games!... so i had to hack it the exact same way you've done yours.. but it was on the official way.. lol

anyway, back on topic... you hacked it... good thing if it worked... i know some guys that hacked theirs and they broke 'em... stupids

Yeah honestly it sounded like you were against it. But your right AT&T says they are everywhere when they are not. They are not where the clients are.

And why should I sign a 2 year contract with AT&T when there service is not even where I live. I would be signing 2 years for something I don't use. That is why with T-Mobile its in my area and I am going to fully use there service.

And yes Apple did make a big mistake in locking the phones. It was because well Mac people think Mac products can't be hacked and well anything is able to be hacked. Just time and effort is required. But Apple isn't losing money AT&T is because they suck and people don't want to be with them. Apple is gaining so much money because people are realizing they can have there own iPhone without AT&T.

The only down side about hacking an iPhone once it's broke you better have a backup!

And if you lose it, break it, destroy it YOU WILL NOT get a free one. It's your own money down the drain.

That is why I take care of the expensive things I have.

actually, the only thing i was against in this thread is the "possibility" to talk about the hacking action... if you start something like "you can hack it and i will show you how"... THAT would make me freaky...

...ok, i'm freaky all the time anyway.

and the Mac market is not based on the inability to hack it... all the Macs on the market are hackable from the start... imagine, you were able to overclock the first iMac 512k... lol

ok, let's see if you can call back home now.. lol

Not really.. Every iPhone sold by AT&T is subsidized by $200. This brings the cost down for the consumer and allows Apple to make more profits. This is why you have to have a 2 year contract. Of course Apple could just deny any Internet service to iPhones not purchased through their providers. In Germany its T-Mobile, simply because they are the largest provider there. Same with AT&T here.

However people are suing and a law will probably be passed preventing such locking. The effects though is that free phones with service will disappear and phone prices will increase 50-80%.

Personally, I like AT&T wireless service. I don't live in a large city and get great service with them.

Come again? Can't you explain to me what "this law" would prevent and who would be affected by it?

If I get this right a law should be past to prevent company's locking there phone to only one carrier?

Congress is looking into the deal between Apple and AT&T. Some people said it was creating a monopoly. Which it isn't because Apple should choose who they do business with and who they didn't. Apple is a small time player in the cellular phone market and probably will be for a long time. 1 million phones sold is nothing. However being congress, they will probably write a law that makes such deals illegal. This means that cellphone companies cannot enter into deals to provide their newest phones to companies of their choice. The cellular providers won't have the contracts to offset prices and so therefore general phone prices will increase. Actually fits in well with lawmakers since they get powerful lobbying funds from both manufacturers and providers. The manufacturers will end up making more money because their phone will sell for 50-80 percent more and providers will make more money because people will bounce between them more than they do now and they can raise prices easier.

Just the consumer that suffers because of increasing prices. Personally, I am against such a law because the iPhone is less than 1% of the market but is driven by hype. Such a law would effectively end the last of the oversight provided against these companies and protecting consumers from getting gouged. Sometimes the free market is not the best for the consumer.

If your numbers are correct then I don't see a monopoly here. What I see is a smart contractual arrangement between two companies. As for Congress, if they want to restrict other similar business partnerships, to prevent a potential monopoly in the cellphone/wireless market, then I can see the logic there.

Okay, so for those who have the Iphone. Is it worth it? I want y'all opinions :p

I have the IPHONE and it's unlock using version 1.1.1 and yesterday version 1.1.2 has released but i didn't upgrade.

its a great phone and it's the best i had scince now

Honestly its just like every other phone. A phone is a phone. I got it because my other phone was OLD and I just said I'll step up to technology.

you hit the hammer right on the nail..which i was trying to explain from my previous posting. But yours was better written intelligently..hahahaha which motorola had to unlock all iden phones and soon other manufactures will follow.

I had a chance to go to the apple store today and have a play around. I really don't see what all the fuss is about. I went to my site in safari and it was utterly useless trying to browse it. If I zoomed out to fit all the text on one page I couldn't see anything, and if I zoomed in so I could see it, I had to scroll horizontally as if my eyes were scanning the page, which you would think was intuitive, but in practice it slowed me down tenfold as my fingers aren't as fast as my eyes. Also typing on that little keyboard requires more concentration than I'd care about. The good thing about keyboards and mobile handsets is you become familiar with the layouts, and I can type text messages with my eyes close and I can type on a PC with my eyes closed. My one finger is not sufficient to do the same on a tiny qwerty keyboard. I'll be sticking with a phone that has a numeric keypad for the forseeable future I think!

Read this
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,13...e/article.html

They only sell the iPhone on O2 here in the UK (at the minute)...

And I won't be in a rush to get a contract with them, 2 previous contracts of getting money taken out of my account for no reason and I learned that I'd rather burn my money than give it to them...

Chris

I just purchased it....It was between the iPhone and the Blackberry Pearl. I've used the iPhone keyboard and I actually liked it.

How's the "multi-touch" screen? Fingerprint-prone?

I am sure it is fingerprint prone - but not to the point of annoyance. I think this interface will become largely popular in the near future. Anyways - I did not get the phone yet, just ordered it off Apple.com. It should be here by next week.

*giddy*

It's going to be such a step up from my Nokia from...what? 1997..haha

Microsoft plans to support Surface Computing on your desktop (literally) by the end of next year. They've already been demonstrating largescale prototypes (60 X 30 inch surfaces) that basically uses the same technology. Both Microsoft and Apple are getting the technology from the same source. Just seems Apple wanted to start small.

Actually, from what I've heard, Microsoft's "Surface" is not a touchscreen, but rather, it uses infrared sensors to track your fingers.

In the demonstration that I saw there are two versions. Touch screens for smaller surfaces and input devices (PDAs, Tablet PCs, Desktop monitors). The second is the infrared to turn any surface into an input device. Say your conference table, desktop, living room wall, etc...

Ah, I see. I need to keep up with my technologies :p.

So very soon, Mircosoft will be able to say "All your touchscreens are belong to us"... I doubt I'll be investing in anything touchscreen that Microsoft have to offer... I can just imagine Microsoft creating a touch-sensitive blue screen of death :D lol...

Chris

On 4 different computers all running XP I've never experienced the blue screen. It's the same with Vista. Maybe I'm just very fortunate.

As for me, I'll continue to support MS' products. Partially it's due to the fact that one of my family members is on the Vista coding team from the beginning (prior to that worked on their golfing game, 2000 and XP). More so because MS products have always served me well. :)