I have unlocked about 10 iphones now and although a major pain in the butt sometimes the sense of achievement is well worth it. Everytime I do it on a different version or different method I learn a little more and it helps me not only understand the dang thing but I know what I can now do with it.

As for the $400 I've ripped apart things much more expensive and so far I've never bricked an iphone no matter how badly I've screwed up... just a learning process... lots of reading and in the end if I'm still stuck these forums have really helped figure things out and I've even written a tutorial to help others ... it's much nicer when you write one that everyone can understand and not just one that skips a bunch of steps that only seasoned unlockers can understand.

I like the fact that after this there is no worry if I'll ever be able to have it working.

As for the damaged covers... yeah $30 on ebay isn't that much for a perfect looking iphone again but then again if it sits inside another case all the time who cares. Just finished doing my second one and only have 3 tiny nicks..(alot better then my first... took 6 hours the first time 10 mins the second)..

So Yes, all in all it is worth it and if you don't want to screw it up then pay someone else to... you could mess it up when doing this but you could also mess it up next time you try to answer it and drop the damn thing heheh (booooo)

- *SIM solution isn't guaranteed to work
- *SIM solution would take 2 weeks to get here (where I am)
- *SIM solution might not work with future firmwares
- *SIM solution requires damaging SIM card, and is not transferable to other SIM cards

- BL 3.9 is worth having because it's more or less future proof
- I did the HW unlock in a day. Yes, I need a new cover now but at least the phone is unlocked. People with the right tools probably had no problem with the cover. Covers get scratched in time anyway.
- I learned something