iPhone unlocking (wifi device) NOT THE USUAL THREAD!

[DSchwartz88]

So ive been thinking. Many people (including me) want to use this as a wifi device. Now with the Pick your Plan option it is theoretically possible. Just hear me out! Lets say you get the phone. You pay 600 bucks plus the 50 bucks a month. The phone gets activated. Then you cancel your Pick Your Plan because thats what it is there for. Now usually youd think the iPhone calls home and shuts itself off. But what if it were possible to turn off the cell radio. iPhone couldnt call home to check if it was still under a plan. Now besides this, i find it very unlikely that apple would release a product that if not specifically activated through the carrier it shut off. I refuse to beleive that you can have a working phoen one day and non working phone the next based purely on if you are on a plan. What if the iPhone did something wrong and locked itself because it thought it was not on a plan, its just to many things could go wrong for ATT and Apple to completely lock down the phone after it has been activated. Just my 0.2c

Throughts?

 

[Rooskibar03]

Since it is so closely linked with iTunes and your iTunes account something tells me at some point the phone will know you dont have service.

 

[DSchwartz88]

thats true i thought of that after i posted. But even so, to have a wifi iPhone and not pay for service all you have to do is disconnect from the internet when you update the iPhone. I beleive its tied closely with your iTunes online account because thats how you pick the plan and everything. I seriously doubt if you lose internet for a week at your house the iPhone is going to shut itself off

 

[Ugg]

I think the email only works through the data plan but, nobody really knows. We'll find out this weekend!

 

[marksman]

If you go in and hack the entire operating system I am sure you might get it to do some things unlocked eventually.

 

[carfac]

all you have to do is disconnect from the internet when you update the iPhone.

Yeah right. ITunes- if it had this sort of protection- would only work if you were directly connected to the Internet. It would never CACHE your phone info and turn it off the next time you synced.... </sarcasm>

 

[DSchwartz88]

Yeah right. ITunes- if it had this sort of protection- would only work if you were directly connected to the Internet. It would never CACHE your phone info and turn it off the next time you synced.... </sarcasm>

i guess....i dont know, maybe im being unrealistic. I can totally understand the iPhone not being unlocked untill you register it with ATT for the first time, i just dont see iPhone calling a server and shutting down, it seems to risky of a move just to not let people off without plans. I feel like if it did shut off, i could say my damn product i should be able to do what i want with it. For instance you get the iPhone and then 2 monthes later get a promotion and get relocted to Europe, you want to tell me my 600 device (its not only a phone) will cease to work as if it were a giant rock? I refuse to beleive thats even legal

 

[Matthew Yohe]

Any speculation is futile.

Buy the product and try it out! Inform us.

No one at any Apple store and certainly no one at a ATT retail is going to have the answer you are looking for. If they give you any answer it will be "it won't work".

The reason I say this? Apple employees barely know about the iPhone's most basic features. You are posing a bizarre question that an answer can only be quickly yielded if someone actually tries this.

 

[DSchwartz88]

Any speculation is futile.

Buy the product and try it out! Inform us.

No one at any Apple store and certainly no one at a ATT retail is going to have the answer you are looking for. If they give you any answer it will be "it won't work".

The reason I say this? Apple employees barely know about the iPhone's most basic features. You are posing a bizarre question that an answer can only be quickly yielded if someone actually tries this.

True i just dont wanna be out 600 bucks, also ive contacted ATT multiple times and they have never said it wont work they just we cant disclose that information. So maybe its possible they just dont want it to get out

 

[clevin]

Now usually youd think the iPhone calls home and shuts itself off. But what if it were possible to turn off the cell radio. iPhone couldnt call home to check if it was still under a plan. Now besides this, i find it very unlikely that apple would release a product that if not specifically activated through the carrier it shut off. I refuse to beleive that you can have a working phoen one day and non working phone the next based purely on if you are on a plan. What if the iPhone did something wrong and locked itself because it thought it was not on a plan, its just to many things could go wrong for ATT and Apple to completely lock down the phone after it has been activated. Just my 0.2c

Throughts?

I won't bet on it. It won't suddenly shut off, but I don't think you can get away with it for too long.

anyway, just for an internet device, why u even want to spend $600+36+170?

 

[Mydel]

Yeah I think its possible but frankly it probably will be much easier to unlock damm thing! I'm withholding my purchase until someone confirm that unlocking is possible and eventually after I pay 175$ termination fee I will be able to use it with any given SIM card

 

[kamiboy]

Who says it shuts down when you cancel an account? That would be a pretty insane thing to do.

 

[Ugg]

I won't bet on it. It won't suddenly shut off, but I don't think you can get away with it for too long.

anyway, just for an internet device, why u even want to spend $600+36+170?

It'll be interesting to see what happens.

As far as your second point, an iPhone is cheaper than a Macbook as well as considerably smaller and lighter. There are a lot of times I wish I had a portable internet device with me as well as a camera.

I'll let everyone else play the guinea pig role and just sit back and see what the results are!

 

[hkb]

thats true i thought of that after i posted.

You can avoid such mistakes in the future by thinking BEFORE you post. Try it. It's insanely great!

 

[DSchwartz88]

anyways the reason i would pay that much is because of this. First off im not going to be paying the 175 early termination because i would get it as a GoPhone Pick Your Plan. I would then use it for a month and cancel the account. Then i have an iphone for the summer to toy with and get used to. Then when college rolls around ill reactivate it and use it as a my phone and more importantly as my digital planner. I needed something to sync with iCal since i tried the whole PDA phone thing and missing sync sucked. But for me a digital planner is absolutely essential, i was even thinking about switching to windows just so i could sync with active sync

 

[athanacius]

Thoughts...

But what if it were possible to turn off the cell radio. ...
Throughts?

The iPhone comes with an airplane mode. The essence of that mode is that there is no signal you can connect to. You can use the phone in that mode after disconnecting from your plan. The airplane mode wont stop you from using your ipod features... wat say??

 

[DSchwartz88]

The iPhone comes with an airplane mode. The essence of that mode is that there is no signal you can connect to. You can use the phone in that mode after disconnecting from your plan. The airplane mode wont stop you from using your ipod features... wat say??

Thats true but that also turns off the WiFi radio so it makes it essentially a really overpriced ipod with a big screen. I think apple should be reconsidering the iphone and maybe sell a version of it (or call it the ipod or iNet or some crap) and make it and 8gb iPod with internet for 399. Now thats a smart move

 

[DSchwartz88]

Ok ive settled it. I gave ATT customer service a call and got transfered to the iPhone department. After talking to 3 people who didnt know if it was possible and transfered me higher i finally got to the iPhone customer service manager. I gave her the scenario of me activating the iPhone on the GoPhone Pick Your Plan option (she put up not fight which to me means you need to fail a credit check if you ask hard enough), and then after activating the iPhone i would be leaving the country for an international trip and would not be back for a couple months. I asked her that if i cancelled my GoPhone service to go on this trip would the iPhone stay functional. She said the obvious well you wont be able to you use visual voicemail or make any calls, but then to my surprise said that just as with a blackjack or any other phone for that matter that the iPhone would not become unusable and that i would be able to cancel my plan and use it as my iPod for my time in europe. So there you go, theres a straight answer.