1st generation iPhone problem.......

[bwbeye]

I own a first generation iPhone (2g?) phone unactivated, and just had a phone meltdown, thinking this may have happened when I upgraded to iTunes 10, and/or synced my iTunes. Phone went dead and attempted for two days now to restore, with no luck till today!!!! iTunes says last synced 3/21, and now that I finally got it to restore (firmware 4.2.1 (8C148)?) iTunes is putting me through the process of setting things up and I'm afraid to do so thinking I'll screw things up again. I just use this iPhone for the iPod/iTunes sync feature, able to surf web and send emails if I'm in a wifi setting, and don't use it as a phone. Sadly for AT&T, the lost me as a long time customer when their minutes/data packages got out of hand, and I switched to Sprint/EVO 4G, love the phone, but the music APP stinks and theres no sync options.

The original sim chip is in, reflecting my old AT&T # that was transported to Sprint when I made the change over. I understand I could "jail break"? (or is it unlock) the phone using some software and allow me phone usage through a TMobile pay as you go SIM card which I guess would be OK, and the cost is minimal.

So a long story even longer, Should I go through the post restore setup? that I think will allow me access to iTunes w/no phone (which is fine) and default out of any future iPhone updates? thinking that's how I first got into the restore problem.

OR...... how can I "unlock" with step by step instructions, install the "pay as you go" SIM chip from TMobile, avoid any future problems (or would it?) going forward.

Thanks soooo much!

 

[iGaz]

If your on 4.2.1 you will have a 3G iPhone. It's solid black on the back as opposed to the two tone silver and black of the 2G.

If it is a 3G you can jailbreak it with greenpoision. Jailbreak is not an unlock but it allows you to install ultrasnow which is the unlock tool. Unfortunatly ultrasnow can't unlock the 4.2.1's baseband. You can however update it to the iPad baseband which can be unlocked... (see link)

Dev-Team Blog - Ultra-recycle