Up until today, there was absolutely no way of knowing whether or not an unlocked iPhone 3G would work on other networks like 3 – even 3 themselves had no idea. Fortunately, thanks to MacTalk.com.au forum member tryandbyte, we now know that you can, in fact, have your iPhone and eat some decent data plans too.
It’s hardly the cheapest option, or the simplest, but if you purchase an iPhone 3G outright and pay an unlocking fee to Optus (It’s $80), you can update your iPhone to work with other carriers.
If you’re interested to see more screengrabs and read all about the unlocking process, head on over to the MacTalk forums.
UPDATE: Reader Simon has informed us that it also works on an unlocked Telstra iPhone, with evidence available on the MacTalk forums…
[Thanks Kieran!]
Gary
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 9:02 PMGreat article. I was certainly amazed at the line of people waiting to buy an iphone at the North Sydney Optus Store on Friday morning….
Dav[e]tech
Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 8:45 AMFantastic! :D
i can now buy a pre-paid iphone and move across to 3 who ironically have the best data plan and yet not the iphone :D
Phil
Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 10:20 AMwhat would happen if the iphone is unlocked and somebody with a locked iphone would use the same itunes account to do a restore? would that unlock the iphone?
sushant
Friday, August 1, 2008 at 11:32 AM“what would happen if the iphone is unlocked and somebody with a locked iphone would use the same itunes account to do a restore? would that unlock the iphone?”
iPhones arent loked by itunes accounts but instead by the serial number of the phone
kamal
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 7:22 PMi bought an iphone 3g from someone. i dont know which service it is locked to. and i even dont know what version of software is installed on this phone. i tried 3 sim. it shows the message that Sim card is not installed. and with 3 sim, it says Sim card is not installed. or put Sim Pin. lots of things to know. help!!
thanks
Bob
Friday, December 5, 2008 at 10:54 AMI actually got a friend to buy the new iphone 3g in NZ. It was not activate or used there. Have tried to use 2 different turbosims on it in Fiji but does not get past the activation phase. Not sure if I should use one of the jailbreak software or is there another way.