Hi Friends,
One of my friend bought me a iphone 3gs 3.1.2 from ebay in USA. I don't have any experience about iphones. It is brend new phone.Unlocked by software.
When he turned on the phone, it asked for activation.

Is it dangerous to activate it with itunes ? Maybe it can update the phone to 3.1.3 directly then I can loose the "unlock" and won't be able to use my carrier's simcard again?

If it won't be dangerous to activate it like that, do I have to use my own carrier simcard while activating or AT&T simcard?

Do I have to take a shsh record before activation?

Any other way to activate it?

Thx

Originally Posted by tr-aliveli

One of my friend bought me a iphone 3gs 3.1.2 from ebay in USA. I don't have any experience about iphones. It is brend new phone.Unlocked by software.
When he turned on the phone, it asked for activation.

Is it dangerous to activate it with itunes ? Maybe it can update the phone to 3.1.3 directly then I can loose the "unlock" and won't be able to use my carrier's simcard again?

If it won't be dangerous to activate it like that, do I have to use my own carrier simcard while activating or AT&T simcard?

Do I have to take a shsh record before activation?

Any other way to activate it?

If it is *software* unlocked then you should not need to activate it. As it will have hacktivation configured by the jailbreak tool used.

If it is "factory unlocked" then this is a different situation and you should activate it via iTunes.

If it came with an AT&T sim it is 99% likely it is carrier locked. You can check based on the model number if it ends in LL/A then it is locked to AT&T.

To answer your questions:

You are too late for 3.1.2 SHSH - Apple stopped issuing these on 4th Feb
It is possible to get a 3.1.3 SHSH, you can request this without jailbreaking via The Firmware Umbrella A 3.1.3 SHSH will be useful for future jailbreaks.

Yes there is a risk you could accidentally upgrade to 3.1.3 when connecting the device to iTunes. You need to read and understand each dialog before clicking OK or cancel. It is quite easy to see a message and click OK without thinking.

If your iPhone is carrier locked to AT&T and it is asking for activation, you need to jailbreak it yourself. This does not require iTunes.

Jailbreak
iClarified - iPhone - How to Jailbreak Your iPhone 3GS on OS 3.1.2 Using RedSn0w (Windows)
Unlock
iClarified - iPhone - How to Unlock the iPhone 3G, 3GS Using BlackSn0w
I would recommend you use the updated blacksn0w RC2
http://www.hackint0sh.org/f230/117709-post508078.htm

If that does not work, you likely have a lemon (upgraded to 3.1.3 and then downgraded to 3.1.2 but with 3.1.3 baseband)