What are the main reasons to jailbreak or unlock an iphone?

[BRIKZ]

Hi, ****WHY IS NOONE LEAVING REPLIES AFTER VIEWING THIS*****

I am confused about this unlocking or jailbreaking method, and have several questions.

Are there more advantages to unlocking my phone other than adding 3rd party downloads?

Would reception be better on another carrier (such as T-mobile) as opposed to ATT's, (I live in the Washington Dc area and ATT's signal sucks and my friends who have an unlocked iphone claim they miss a significant amount of calls)?

Do i initially have to activate the phone and sign up for a plan through ATT?

If so if i were to switch carriers with the unlocked phone do i sign up for a plan with them?

Does that mean more activation fees?

Would i still have to keep a plan with ATT?

Is unlocking your 3g iphone really worth it in the united states, or just more for international users?

I know that verizon or sprint (which i have now and love the reception)does not work with the iphone, but i saw someone posting about an international sim card from verizon that works with the GSM, do you know if this is true?

Thanks for answering I have tried to find these answers online but have not realy gotten a clear answer?

JUST ADDED***** Also i was looking at this site for the jailbreak and help anybody used these guys? Iphone-sim-unlock.

 

[bdsmyth]

No-one is answering probably because its been asked many times already. You might want to do a search in the forum. But the 2 main reasons are, A) you get to use a carrier of your choice, and B) because you get to install cool free apps. There's also a C) which is because you're totally pissed off with Apple's policy of limiting your personal freedom of choice

Should you jailbreak, yes. Does it void the warranty, who actually cares about that really since the chances are you're probably going to change your phone in a year anyway.

 

[Schvonzie]

No one is replying because the questions you asked can be answered with a little searching. Nevertheless, here are some of the answers

1. Unlocking allows you to use the IPHONE on other carriers
Jailbreaking allows other non Apple supported applications to be run on the iphone. These are two different things and can usually be done independtly of each other.

2. Reception is dependent on your area, check your providers coverage maps

3. No, you don't have to activate with ATT, your current carrier i would make sure you have unlimited data otherwise your in for a large bill.

4. All of the above responses refer to the 2g phone, as unlocking and jailbreaking for 3g is not yet "official"

 

[BRIKZ]

No-one is answering probably because its been asked many times already. You might want to do a search in the forum. But the 2 main reasons are, A) you get to use a carrier of your choice, and B) because you get to install cool free apps. There's also a C) which is because you're totally pissed off with Apple's policy of limiting your personal freedom of choice

Should you jailbreak, yes. Does it void the warranty, who actually cares about that really since the chances are you're probably going to change your phone in a year anyway.

You know i looked for a long time through the forum for these answers and couldn't find them as to my specific point. Such as, in America it seems like the only other network would be T-mobile right. Now how would switching carriers work. like I asked before,

Would reception be better on another carrier (such as T-mobile) as opposed to ATT's, (I live in the Washington Dc area and ATT's signal sucks and my friends who have an unlocked iphone claim they miss a significant amount of calls)?

Do i initially have to activate the phone and sign up for a plan through ATT?

If so if i were to switch carriers with the unlocked phone do i sign up for a plan with them?

Does that mean more activation fees?

Would i still have to keep a plan with ATT?

Is unlocking your 3g iphone really worth it in the united states, or just more for international users?

I know that verizon or sprint (which i have now and love the reception)does not work with the iphone, but i saw someone posting about an international sim card from verizon that works with the GSM, do you know if this is true?

Those questions i could not find the answers or opinions too, and even though i appreciate your implication that its a silly question you still didn't answer them either.