Buying an iPhone URGENT!

URGENT!
Hi guys, today i got robbed "mano armada" how we call it in Venezuela. So i lost my 2G iPhone. I have a friend in the states who can purchase me an iPhone tomorrow in the morning as he is coming back to Ven tomorrow evening.

I need to know, if my Venezuelan friend can purchase an iPhone 3GS 32GB like "buying candy". What i mean if, he may be able to go into the Apple Store, Best Buy or what else? and just pick the phone and pay the subsidised AT&T price with contract and then cancel the contract. (even is he is venezuelan and doesnt live in the states) I just want the phone.

I'm sorry for my poorly written thread. I'm really tired after this experience and in a hurry. I will have a look at the search engine, but please if you know and can explain me the various methods i can get an iPhone ill be glad.If you can point me the total price for florida, i'll be glad to.

Please really tell me how should i proceed.

Thanks

This won't work. You cannot buy an iPhone from the US that can be unlocked right now even if you cancel the contract. There is no software unlock (or permanant jailbreak) for the current iPhones sold.

Buy one from Australia, Hong Kong or Europe, they sell factory unlocked iPhones.

I agree with Olethros, that a phone you buy today cannot be unlocked, so I dont know why you would want to buy one, but, to answer your question, the key ideas to buy a phone are

1. you can buy a phone for a no commitment price, which is $599 plus tax, for 16gig 3gs, at an apple store, and walk away with a phone that only works on ATTUsa, but has not been activated, so wont even work as an iTouch.

2. you can buy on a contract, which will cost you US $199, and it will activate the phone, which is lost if you restore firmware for any reason. So if you take the phone to Venezuela, it wont work with any SIM from local phone carriers there, it will be locked to ATTUsa, but it will work as an iTouch.

Once Activated, it can be jailbroken but not unlocked if the 4th and 5th digits of the serial number of the phone are 39 or lower (only 36 or lower can be unlocked)

If you cancel the contract within 30 days, you end up paying a number of costs, primarily made up of, 1. $170 early termination fee, 2. One month of service $80, plus your original cost of 199, and the original $36 activation fee, total about $485, plus tax..

3, You can buy an unlocked 3G or 3Gs iPhone on ebay for about $500, or you can buy a factory unlocked one for about $800.

A factory unlocked iPhone can have the firmware updated at any time without fear of losing the unlock.

An iPhone unlocked with software such as Ultrasnow becomes locked if the firmware is updated, unless you use custom firmware made with Pawnage Tool. Pawnage tool can also build firmware bundles that will hacktivate your phone, but only if it is a week 36 or earlier model 3g or 3GS.

You can also buy a 2G iPhone on ebay, and these Can always be unlocked, no matter what firmware you update to. These 2G models did not come with GPS, so I would not buy one.


In conclusion, the best options I am aware of today for buying an unlocked iPhone is ebay, and possibly craigslist..

Once the week 40 serial number iPhones arrive, they cannot be jailbroken, nor unlocked, though you will still be able to buy Factory Unlocked one$

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Olethros

This won't work. You cannot buy an iPhone from the US that can be unlocked right now even if you cancel the contract. There is no software unlock (or permanant jailbreak) for the current iPhones sold.

Buy one from Australia, Hong Kong or Europe, they sell factory unlocked iPhones.

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This is new, i've been really away from this place. I thought by this time iPhones 3GS should be unlockable , but now i see i'm wrong. Well, 2 years ago i bought my iPhone 2G without SSN and any major problem at all. It's a shame things have changed quite a bit.

I didn't know about the week 36 issue. It reminds me of FW 1.1.1 issue some years ago.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jon_slider

I agree with Olethros, that a phone you buy today cannot be unlocked, so I dont know why you would want to buy one, but, to answer your question, the key ideas to buy a phone are

1. you can buy a phone for a no commitment price, which is $599 plus tax, for 16gig 3gs, at an apple store, and walk away with a phone that only works on ATTUsa, but has not been activated, so wont even work as an iTouch.

2. you can buy on a contract, which will cost you US $199, and it will activate the phone, which is lost if you restore firmware for any reason. So if you take the phone to Venezuela, it wont work with any SIM from local phone carriers there, it will be locked to ATTUsa, but it will work as an iTouch.

Once Activated, it can be jailbroken but not unlocked if the 4th and 5th digits of the serial number of the phone are 39 or lower (only 36 or lower can be unlocked)

If you cancel the contract within 30 days, you end up paying a number of costs, primarily made up of, 1. $170 early termination fee, 2. One month of service $80, plus your original cost of 199, and the original $36 activation fee, total about $485, plus tax..

3, You can buy an unlocked 3G or 3Gs iPhone on ebay for about $500, or you can buy a factory unlocked one for about $800.

A factory unlocked iPhone can have the firmware updated at any time without fear of losing the unlock.

An iPhone unlocked with software such as Ultrasnow becomes locked if the firmware is updated, unless you use custom firmware made with Pawnage Tool. Pawnage tool can also build firmware bundles that will hacktivate your phone, but only if it is a week 36 or earlier model 3g or 3GS.

You can also buy a 2G iPhone on ebay, and these Can always be unlocked, no matter what firmware you update to. These 2G models did not come with GPS, so I would not buy one.


In conclusion, the best options I am aware of today for buying an unlocked iPhone is ebay, and possibly craigslist..

Once the week 40 serial number iPhones arrive, they cannot be jailbroken, nor unlocked, though you will still be able to buy Factory Unlocked one$

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Thanks for the update jon_slider. Really thanks for the explanation. :)

de nada hermano

siento mucho que le robaron un 2G

esos no son muy caros en ebay, y siempre quedan desencadenables con redsn0w/ultrasn0w

buena suerte

I recommend the tutorials at iclarified.com

I have a few questions though:

Which production week 3GS is running by now?
How likely is to get a phone lower than week 36 nowadays? What are my best chances to get an early 3GS production week? Should i shop, AT&T,Apple or where.

> How likely is to get a phone lower than week 36 nowadays?

not very, I just bought a week 39 at ATT store, no more week 36 around, and a few week 40 have showed up in some posts.. You do not want week 40.

up to week 39 has just become unlockable 2 days from now, blackra1n , I would use an ATT store, read the serial number on the box before accepting the unit for purchase, you can choose a no commitment price instead of a 2 year contract if im not mistaken.

Hey mvtm, an unlock for the latest 3GS modem, called blacksn0w will be available on Nov 4. So unlocking any production week iphone should not be an issue anymore. However, if your iphone happen to come with the new bootrom, for which only a tethered jailbreak is available, you should make sure it doesn't completely run out of juice as you won't be able to turn it back on without connecting it to a computer and running blackra1n again...

I can confirm that Geohot is reporting the ability to jailbreak even the New week 40+ 3GS

Black Ra1n RC2 now supports tethered jailbreak 3gs (new iboot) - iPod touch Fans forum
"Geohot just released RC2 which now supports the newest Iphone 3gs with the new Iboot. Though this is a tethered jailbreak it is a jailbreak never the less and I can say it is working great!!!"

jon_slider didn't you just rehash what I said? 40+ week IS the new bootroom I was talking about. And by the way blackrain RC3 is out already, RC2 is no longer available. The jailbreak for 40+ week iphones is still tethered though…