First and foremost. To the brilliant hackers who liberated this wonderful product, I say thank you.

Anyhoo. I have already purchased an iPhone but I have yet to receive it since I am not in the US. But I have been browsing these forums ever since the Dev team announced their unlock. To be perfectly frank, the vast amount of information is overwhelming. There are so many guides, errors and pieces of software that it can get confusing. I wouldn't call myself an idiot and I can follow instructions pretty well. But many of them use terms that many people have no clue what they mean. Many of us simply are not very technically gifted like you are. I have some questions, because I really dread messing up this phone. I want to try to understand as much as I can before I even get near the phone.

1. Which guide provides the highest success rates for unlocking?

2. Are the unlock procedures different for a phone that has never been used, versus one that has already been activated on AT&T? If so, can anyone link to a guide that provides instructions for a never used phone.

3. Is unlocking easier on the Mac or PC? Which software is more reliable and effective? I have access to either.

4. What version of iTunes gives stress free unlocking?

5. Can you use any sim card after unlocking or are you tied to the sim card you used in the unlock procedure?

6. Can you use a prepaid SIM from any carrier in an unlocked phone? I use a carrier called Cable and Wireless in my country. Their prepaid SIMs work in all unlocked phones I have purchased so far. I am hoping that continues.

7. Is EDGE the same as GPRS? Neither of the carriers in my country provide EDGE service as far as I know but I get free GPRS on my service. Its not a deal breaker for me if it doesn't work cause GPRS sucks.

8. All guides so far indicate that you need a Wi-Fi connection. I'm assuming so that you can download some software from the Internet. What if you don't have a Wireless Access Point or Router? Can you use Internet connection sharing (computer to computer) to give the iPhone the necessary wireless access?

9. Can I buy you a Heineken or a Guinness?

I ask these questions because even the fool proof guides dn't mention those issues. Many thanks for your answers.

Originally Posted by kazee

1. Which guide provides the highest success rates for unlocking?

I used http://iphone.unlock.no/ although I am using a Mac. It worked for me from the first time. No errors, no problems. 30 mins later I had an unlocked iPhone. It is not for n00bs though.

2. Are the unlock procedures different for a phone that has never been used, versus one that has already been activated on AT&T? If so, can anyone link to a guide that provides instructions for a never used phone.

Unlock procedures are the same for an activated one as well as on a non activate one. In fact, activation is a perquisite for the unlock. How you do it doesn't really matter.

3. Is unlocking easier on the Mac or PC? Which software is more reliable and effective? I have access to either.

Use whatever you have. All the action is done on the phone anyway. I would take a Mac over a PC any day though

4. What version of iTunes gives stress free unlocking?

7.3.2

5. Can you use any sim card after unlocking or are you tied to the sim card you used in the unlock procedure?

Any SIM.

6. Can you use a prepaid SIM from any carrier in an unlocked phone? I use a carrier called Cable and Wireless in my country. Their prepaid SIMs work in all unlocked phones I have purchased so far. I am hoping that continues.

Yes you can.

7. Is EDGE the same as GPRS? Neither of the carriers in my country provide EDGE service as far as I know but I get free GPRS on my service. Its not a deal breaker for me if it doesn't work cause GPRS sucks.

EDGE is much faster than GPRS. I don't give a rats ass for Data over GSM though, so as long as I can make calls/SMSs.

8. All guides so far indicate that you need a Wi-Fi connection. I'm assuming so that you can download some software from the Internet. What if you don't have a Wireless Access Point or Router? Can you use Internet connection sharing (computer to computer) to give the iPhone the necessary wireless access?

Yes. You need a wifi connection. Anything else would be a lot of hassle.

1. Which guide provides the highest success rates for unlocking?

I use ANYSIM and it works perfectly

8. All guides so far indicate that you need a Wi-Fi connection. I'm assuming so that you can download some software from the Internet. What if you don't have a Wireless Access Point or Router? Can you use Internet connection sharing (computer to computer) to give the iPhone the necessary wireless access?

I dont need Wi-Fi to copy file to iPhone as guided in some methods but I use iBrick. It works fine. In case you need to run command on iPhone, you can use MobileTerminal. On my first try, I dont need to run any command on the out-of-the box iPhone.

If you are not confident to unlock your iPhone, you can seek for help from friends in your place who already unlocked or bring to technician in any cell phone store. I believe although they dont say they provide unlock service, most of them will do if you pay some small amount

Here's an option; you need wi-fi for Bsd, community sources e.t.c but you 'may' not it to upload Anysim: use ifuntastic or iphonedisk. And yes, u do need a mac!

Originally Posted by princealadin

I use ANYSIM and it works perfectly

Can you link to the guide you used?