- Joined
- Jun 11, 2008
- Location
- San Diego, CA
I bought an iPhone off this girl. She got a 3g so sold me her first gen for 100 bucks. But how do I activate it?
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bought an iPhone, no contract, how do I activate?
- Thread starter Essenar
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2008
- Location
- Sacramento, CA
jailbreak it or activate with AT&T
OP
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2008
- Location
- San Diego, CA
- Thread Starter
- #5
Not with the first gen. Only the 3g requires a contract.
The first gen can be handed to someone else and so can the 3g if you were to get it with a contract and just give it to someone. You only need a contract to BUY an iPhone.
OP
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2008
- Location
- San Diego, CA
- Thread Starter
- #7
I activated it, and I'm with AT&T, and no contract. 
So yeah, you can beat the system. It's not even illegal to unlock it since it's your phone.
So yeah, you can beat the system. It's not even illegal to unlock it since it's your phone.
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2008
- Location
- Sacramento, CA
Unlocking isn't illegal in the US. Carriers have been pushing for it to be illegal under the DMCA as circumvention but the official word is that as long as they charge (and we pay) ETF's, that we can do what we want. The carrier makes back their equipment subsidy by making us pay the ETF. If we are willing to pay the ETF to unlock our phone and go to a different carrier, that's our right because we pay the ETF.
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2008
I activated it, and I'm with AT&T, and no contract.
But you're not getting phone service out of it, right?
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2004
A monthly contract (rather than semi-annual, annual, bi-annual, or whatever else you might have) is still a contract, Essenar, regardless of who contractor and contracted are.
Last edited:
Assuming he jailbroke it correctly, then yes he has phone service.
I'm not sure if people can still do this, but with earlier firmware/iTunes versions you could put in a bogus SSN and it would activate the phone but not let you buy a plan. You could then use your normal Cingular/AT&T sim in it without issue.
OP
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2008
- Location
- San Diego, CA
- Thread Starter
- #12
Phone service, full phone service, voicemail everything.
I'm getting data, phone service, have the 2.1 firmware.
I dropped it yesterday though and cracked the screen. The touch panel still works so I ordered a screen from Ebay for $15 and am going to replace it. I'm considering putting a shatterproof sheet over it after I replace the screen and doing some cosmetic work on it.
I'm almost out of my 2 year contract and love this phone. The features it doesn't have compared to the 3g are features I don't even use so I see myself keeping this phone for a while. I'm going to sand down the chrome border, dye it gun metal, order a replacement aluminum backplate and change that to charcoal dark gray and then put the shatterproof sheet on the screen.
Time to make my iPhone 1g look better than a 3g!
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2008
- Location
- Central Oklahoma
Personally, I think the plastic on the 3G was a bad idea, Mine is scratched as heck and it's never been out of the case. Oh well, If I ever sell it I'll include a new back. I'd Like to see pics of when you get yours fixed up
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2008
But you have A contract to get a phone number and service, even if the contract isn't with AT&T.
Or am I missing something major?
can you tell me how to jailbreak it?
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2004
- Location
- Santa Barbara, CA
Jailbreak it. I bought an iPhone 1Gen off the forums here, jailbroke it and I am now on T-Mobile. I went with pwnage tools. Apple have stopped support for 1st gen iPhones, so the OS version is 3.1.3, which can be jailbroken. I am pretty sure all 1st Gen basebands are supported as well.
Just to clarify to everybody, jailbreaking is legal in the US. The court ruling can be found here-->http://www.copyright.gov/1201/
Just to clarify to everybody, jailbreaking is legal in the US. The court ruling can be found here-->http://www.copyright.gov/1201/
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2004
- Location
- Santa Barbara, CA
I used this link-->http://www.redmondpie.com/pwnagetool-3.1.5-jailbreak-iphone-3.1.3-3g-3gs/
*Check the links in there for Windows specific instructions. Not sure if you have a Mac or a PC. I used a friend's Mac to get it done.
To activate your phone, just grab a friend's ATT Sim-card or get a pre-paid ATT Sim to activate the phone. Once you get iTunes to recognize it, you are good to go.
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