The first free iPhone unlock software has been sold and successfully installed today by Mr Paul Taylor, from the UK. Giz was there as an exclusive witness, but when things went very wrong —and the process failed repeatedly giving a “baseband communication error”— I jumped in to help. After some troubleshooting we identified the problem —and I am afraid that it could mean that the software unlock may not work with all SIM configurations. [Updated after the jump]

Nobody has told you this yet, but as I discovered, not everyone would be able to apply the iPhone Sim Free patch to unlock the iPhone. The key seems to be in the SIM card’s PIN. If you can disable it, everything seems ok to go. But if you can’t, it looks like you should have to forget about the iPhone Sim Free software for now.

As I was able to see today, the customer experience to unlock an iPhone is not pretty. In fact, it could be absolutely awful because most final users don’t know anything about SSH, SFTP or the Terminal. If you already have your iPhone jailbreaked using a software like iFuntastic for Mac (current version doesn’t work with iTunes 7.4) or iBrickr for Windows, installing the application will be a breeze: just drag and drop it inside the Applications folder inside your iPhone.

However, starting at 3:25PM EST I watched as Sasha Vatoff, from the australian iPhone Sim Free reseller, tried to guide customers Paul Taylor and Philipp Meier through the whole installation process. They were going to be the first final customers ever to unlock the iPhone. No journalists, just normal consumers. So early in the game, I had to jump in to help them install the software because iFuntastic wouldn’t work with Phil’s iTunes 7.4 and Paul’s iFuntastic didn’t work at all. That required going through installing SSH and moving the iPhone Sim Free app using Secure FTP.

All looked ok, but when the application was finally in the iPhone, both Paul and Phil tried the unlock and it failed. Baseband communication error, the iPhone spat everytime. They restored their iPhones a couple of times because it simply didn’t work and the thin iPhone Sim Free “documentation” recommended a full iTunes restore after a baseband communication error.

Around 7PM EST the situation was absolutely desperate. Sasha, the reseller, was lost at this point. The poor guy didn’t know what to do next and the iPhone Sim Free people told him they “weren’t going to publish further information.” Basically, they said they released the software but the “support” was the reseller responsibility, which makes sense. However, Sasha was expecting more support from them. Instead, all he got was a call from a VoIP line with terrible sound, every two words being lost in cyberspace.

Without knowing what to do, he kept asking me for opinions. What to do? Should I send the program to my customers right away and let them figure it out? People were getting nervous. My only answer was to try it: “Send it to your clients and see if anyone has more luck that these two.”

Still, I was refusing to believe that it didn’t work so I asked him if he wanted me to try it.

It worked.

After a few minutes, I had my iPhone unlocked. I couldn’t understand why. Jason didn’t have any problems, just like me. There had to be something else. And then, like if The Steve appeared from the heavens to illuminate me: boom! There it was, a revelation: I asked Jason if he had a pin when he tried the unlock. “No, I don’t think I had” he said.

It was a good shot:

MSN conversation with Paul and Sasha
[Timestamps are in Madrid GMT+1 time, so this starts at 7:40:22 PM EST]

Jesus says: (1:40:22 AM)
dude
Jesus says: (1:40:28 AM)
does your sim card have a pin? (at the same time, I was asking Phil the same and he said “yes”)
Paul (r) says: (1:40:32 AM)
yes
Jesus says: (1:40:36 AM)
take it off
Paul (r) says: (1:41:12 AM)
anything is worth a try
Jesus says: (1:41:21 AM)
Phil has a pin lock too
Jesus says: (1:41:24 AM)
I don’t
Jesus says: (1:41:26 AM)
maybe that’s the trick
Paul (r) says: (1:42:45 AM)
here goes nothing
Jesus says: (1:44:06 AM)
have you deactivated the pin?
Paul (r) says: (1:44:13 AM)
yep
Paul (r) says: (1:44:31 AM)
ran IPSF
Paul (r) says: (1:44:39 AM)
it said already unlocked (no error this time)
Paul (r) says: (1:44:45 AM)
now back at front screen
Paul (r) says: (1:45:06 AM)
“incorrect SIM connect to iTunes to activate”
Paul (r) says: (1:45:09 AM)
and no service
Paul (r) says: (1:45:35 AM)
Hold on a second…
Paul (r) says: (1:45:41 AM)
When I press the phone button
Paul (r) says: (1:45:43 AM)
and go to my contacts
Paul (r) says: (1:45:49 AM)
My number shows up at the top
Jesus says: (1:45:55 AM)
dude
Jesus says: (1:45:57 AM)
stop it
Jesus says: (1:46:10 AM)
you have to finish the process
Jesus says: (1:46:14 AM)
go to independence
Jesus says: (1:46:20 AM)
and activate again
Paul (r) says: (1:46:20 AM)
what process
Jesus says: (1:46:28 AM)
you have to activate
Jesus says: (1:46:33 AM)
like if it was AT&T
Jesus says: (1:46:38 AM)
but with the new sim
Sasha says: (1:47:14 AM)
so
Paul (r) says: (1:47:17 AM)
ok
Sasha says: (1:47:19 AM)
it works
Paul (r) says: (1:47:39 AM)
not yet
Paul (r) says: (1:47:45 AM)
have gone into independence
Paul (r) says: (1:47:52 AM)
activation suceeded
Paul (r) says: (1:47:57 AM)
rebooting
Paul (r) says: (1:48:20 AM)
incorrect sim please connect to itunes to reactivate phone
Jesus says: (1:48:29 AM)
activate with independence
Jesus says: (1:48:53 AM)
put pem file
Paul (r) says: (1:50:19 AM)
we’re back to failed activation
Jesus says: (1:50:29 AM)
quit independence
Jesus says: (1:50:33 AM)
then put PEM file
Jesus says: (1:50:39 AM)
then activate
Paul (r) says: (1:51:09 AM)
IT FUCKING WORKED
Jesus says: (1:51:14 AM)
yep

After a few “Jesus I love you! Jesus I love you! You are a genius!” from Paul and Sasha —the first ecstatic about his newly-unlocked iPhone and the later obviously breathing again after almost collapsing from a heart attack— Paul did a test call and everything was fine. The photo above is his phone, working on the Virgin network in the UK.

So as you can see, the secret is pretty easy: before unlocking the iPhone, you must disable the PIN in the SIM card using another phone.

The problem now is that some SIM cards don’t have the option to disable the PIN security. This was the case of Phil, whose German SIM’s security can’t be disabled. Now he was to wait for an update that may come sooner or later. Or may not come at all. There may be another solutions, but at the time of this writing, we couldn’t work out what these may be.

Right now we still don’t know what are the technical problems that this may pose for the iPhone Sim Free people (at the moment of this writing, we still haven’t heard from them but we expect to have official word soon.)

Until that fix comes, the iPhone Sim Free software solution works, but only it seems to work for certain people. Those whose SIM cards can have a “disabled PIN.” In other words: for now, the only universal solution are still the TurboSIM solution, which doesn’t break your warranty. or the hardware unlock.

So either those users wait for a solution or, hopefully, the iPhone Dev Team will be able to work it out in the free unlock. I know for a fact that the “Rebel Alliance” is frantically working on it and they now need your moral and economical support more than ever.

[UPDATE: If you were thinking about participating in our iPhone Sim Free license give-away contest, make sure to check your SIM card doesn’t have obligatory PIN security.]

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 11:52 pm and is filed under Latest Tech News.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.