Activation/Jailbreak are they the same?

[Mark35mm]

I'm new at this so please don't kill me.

I live in Italy and am currently a Vodafone customer.

A friend is in the states and is going to bring me back an 8gb iphone from Walmart. From my understanding Walmart does not do in store activation.

My confusion is what the differance is between jailbreaking and activation.

1. Coming from the states I would assume the phone is locked to AT&T.

2. How do I activate the phone?

3. Does jailbreaking by-pass the activation process?

4. If I do jailbreak it, can I just slip in my Vodafone SIM and all is well with the world.

5. If jailbroken can I go on I-tunes with the phone?>

 

[Tallest Skil]

Activate makes the phone usable with the carrier to which it is locked.
Jailbreaking allows you to mess with system files and install apps that Apple doesn't want.
Unlocking removes the tie to the carrier.

 

[notintheleast]

1. Correct.

2. Itunes

3. No, but it will also do it for you

4. If your iphone comes with 2.2 firmware installed you won't be able to unlock it. If it has 2.1 or earlier, then yes, you will be able to JB and unlock as soon as the dev team releases the unlock software (today).

5. Yes, a JB phone is fully sync-able.