FCC questions ban on unlocking cell phones

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 1, 2013

The federal government is expressing concern about the recent criminalization of unlocking cell phones. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Thursday his office will look at the subject to see if and what the agency can do. Earlier this year, an exemption in a digital copyright law expired, prompting outrage from some mobile phone owners.

The head of the FCC said he is “concerned” that a return to the ban on unlocked cell phones could stifle competition or limit innovation. As Cody reported last month, a White House petition calling for again allowing unlocking drew more than 100,000 signatures… Read More

 

Petition to legalize cell phone unlocking will get response from White House

By Cody Lee on Feb 21, 2013

On January 26th of this year, the DMCA exemption that made unlocking your cell phone legal, expired, subsequently making the popular practice illegal. Now, folks who go about unlocking their handsets risk serious legal repercussions.

Obviously, people weren’t too happy with the way this played out, so an online petition was started to re-legalize unlocking. And as of today, that petition has surpassed 100,000 signatures, meaning the White House must issue a response… Read More

 

This SIM card-friendly iPhone case is perfect for travelers

By Cody Lee on Feb 18, 2013

Do you travel abroad often? Maybe it’s for business, or pleasure, or both. And if so, do you use the same unlocked iPhone everywhere you go? If you answered yes, to either question, you might want to check out the SIMPLcase.

The SIMPLcase is an ultra-slim iPhone 5 case—3mm in the center, 1mm at the edges—with a couple of cool features. In addition to protecting your phone, it can also store extra SIM cards, has a SIM tray eject tool, and more… Read More

 

Patent shows Apple working on image-based password alternative

By Cody Lee on Feb 11, 2013

Good news for those of you who have a strong disdain for remembering and entering in passwords. It looks like Apple is again exploring alternatives to the traditional text and number-based authentication method.

An interesting patent application fro the Cupertino company has recently surfaced that depicts an iPhone being unlocked by a user verbally (or using touch-based input) identifying a person, pet or object in a photo… Read More

 

Ultrasn0w updated for iOS 6.1

By Cody Lee on Feb 7, 2013

Between the rise of third party vendors and the recent change in DMCA policy, the need for iPhone software unlocks is steadily dwindling. But that doesn’t mean that the method is obsolete, as there are still many people out there with older iPhones.

And if you happen to be one of those people, you’ll be happy to know that MuscleNerd has confirmed that Ultrasn0w was quietly updated this week to support iOS 6.1. So if you’re on an eligible device and baseband, you can unlock on the new firmware… Read More

 

The EFF clarifies legality of jailbreaking and unlocking in the US

By Cody Lee on Jan 29, 2013

The big news this week, aside from the new 128GB iPad and the impending jailbreak, has been that unlocking your phone became illegal in the US on Saturday. Law-breakers face a fine of up to $500,000 and/or 5 years in jail.

Well today, the folks over at the EFF (the Electronic Frontier Foundation) commented on the new regulations and have broken down what they really mean for us end-users. There’s both good news and bad news… Read More

 

White House petition goes up to make unlocking phones legal again

By Cody Lee on Jan 29, 2013

By now, you’ve likely heard of the recent change in DMCA policy that makes the act of unlocking newer cell phones illegal. And even though the EFF clarified some things for us earlier today, it still sounds like we’re getting screwed.

In fact, some folks feel so strongly about the new law that they’ve started a White House petition calling for the Obama administration to either rescind the decision, or create a new bill making unlocking permanently legal… Read More

 

Unlocking your phone could cost you up to $500,000

By Cody Lee on Jan 28, 2013

Last week, we reported that unlocking your cell phone was going to become illegal in the US on January 26th. And it did. While there are some exceptions to the law— you can still unlock pre-2013 phones—it’s still devastating for cell phone owners.

And it gets worse. According to a new report, the penalty for breaking this new unlocking law is a fine of up to $500,000, 5 years in jail, or both. That’s right, half a million dollars for unlocking your phone. And yes, that includes first-time offenders… Read More

 

Unlocking a cell phone in the US to become “illegal” this weekend

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 24, 2013

If you’re interested in taking matters into your own hands when it comes to unlocking you iPhone, then you may want to act fast, or else potentially be at risk of being labeled a law breaker. According to a report by Tech News Daily: On Saturday, January 26th, a DMCA exemption expires that made unlocking a phone on your own terms fully legal.

In all actuality, the exemption was nullified back on October 26 (read the final ruling here), but due to a 90 day grace period of sorts, the final expiration date takes place this weekend. Obviously, unlocking is a big subject here at iDownloadBlog, so we’re interested to hear your thoughts on the matter. Bear in mind that it’s not all gloom and doom, though… Read More

 

Apple now selling unlocked iPhone 5 models in the US

By Cody Lee on Nov 29, 2012

Great news for folks in the US who have been waiting for Apple to start selling unlocked versions of its latest handset. As we were expecting, the company has begun selling contract-free, unlocked GSM models of the iPhone 5 tonight in both its retail stores and online… Read More

 

Claimed unlocked iPhone 5 prices show up on Apple’s website

By Cody Lee on Nov 5, 2012

While Apple offers unlocked iPhone 5s in Canada and other countries, it has yet to give buyers inside the US that option. So unless you go through a third party vendor, you can’t get an unlocked iPhone 5 here in the States.

That could be changing in the near future though. Purported prices for unlocked versions of the new handset have been discovered hidden on Apple’s US website, which could mean that they’re preparing to roll them out… Read More

 

How to tell if your iPhone is factory unlocked

By Sébastien Page on Oct 31, 2012

We just retired my wife’s iPhone 4 as she finally upgraded to the iPhone 5. After making sure she had backed up every picture of our beautiful daughter, I got in touch with AT&T so they can unlock the phone. As we explained before, the AT&T unlocking process is fairly simple, and before I got off the phone, the Customer Service Rep I was talking to notified me that the phone had been unlocked. Talk about being fast!

Before listing the phone for sale on Craigslist, I wiped it off clean by performing a restore. During that time, I went to Starbucks for my daily dose of overpriced caffeine, and when I came back, my wife’s iPhone was as good as new. I had missed something though. I hadn’t seen the screen telling you that your iPhone has been unlocked, which made me doubt: is this iPhone really factory unlocked? Besides putting a SIM from a different carrier into it, how can you tell the iPhone has been factory unlocked for sure? Read More

 

Jailbreaking your iPhone is still legal, your iPad not so much

By Cody Lee on Oct 25, 2012

On July 26, 2010, the Library of Congress ruled that under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), jailbreaking was legal. This was a big deal at the time, as prior to the ruling the legality of jailbreaking was a bit of a mystery.

The decision was part of a list of DMCA exemptions, which unfortunately just expired. So the Library announced a new batch of exemptions today. And although jailbreaking is still legal, it appears there are some significant caveats… Read More

 

Apple sued over software lock on AT&T iPhones

By Cody Lee on Oct 22, 2012

Apple has become the target of a new lawsuit this weekend. iPhone owners Zach Ward and Thomas Buchar filed a putative class action lawsuit against the company on Friday over the handset’s software lock.

The two plaintiffs are claiming that Apple violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and Digital Millennium Copyright Act by not obtaining customers’ permission to have their iPhones locked to AT&T’s network… Read More

 

Some T-Mobile stores receiving Nano SIM cards for iPhone 5

By Cody Lee on Oct 7, 2012

Great news for folks who have managed to get their hands on an unlocked iPhone 5 and are looking to start up T-Mobile service with the handset. Reports are coming in this weekend that some of the carrier’s retail stores have started receiving shipments of iPhone 5-compatible Nano SIM cards… Read More

 

Verizon iPhone 5 to stay unlocked due to FCC agreements

By Cody Lee on Sep 24, 2012

Last week, we discovered that the Verizon version of the iPhone 5 comes with an unlocked SIM slot. Our very own Jeff confirmed the theory by using his VZW handset to connect to AT&T’s GSM network.

While this was obviously great news, we were worried that things wouldn’t stay this way because carriers don’t generally like unlocked phones. But according to a new report, Verizon may not have a choice… Read More

 

The Verizon iPhone 5 is GSM unlocked, tested with AT&T

By Jeff Benjamin on Sep 21, 2012

I can confirm that the Verizon iPhone 5 is indeed GSM unlocked. Even though I bought an iPhone 5 from Verizon under contract, I was able to cut down my AT&T Micro SIM, and use it in my Verizon iPhone 5 to pick up an AT&T signal. By doing so, I was able to hop onto AT&T’s HPSA+ network, or “4G” as they so ridiculously name it.

AT&T’s so-called 4G speeds are nothing like true LTE speeds, but they are a bit better than typical 3G speeds. But the big news here isn’t about speed. The big news here is that we have confirmed that you can use a Verizon iPhone 5 on AT&T or T-Mobile, freely, even if you’re a brand new customer under contract. Read More

 

Unlocked iPhone 5 models won’t be available at launch

By Cody Lee on Sep 13, 2012

We’re t-minus three hours and counting until the iPhone 5 pre-orders begin, and some new information regarding model availability and pricing has just come to light.

According to several Apple customer service representatives, unlocked models of the iPhone 5 will not be available for tonight’s pre-order or even next week’s launch… Read More

 

How AT&T unlocked my under-contract iPhone 4S in two days

By Sébastien Page on Sep 11, 2012

Last week we reported that AT&T was reportedly starting to unlock iPhones that were still under contract. Though they had been a few reports of this, we hadn’t been able to verify the information ourselves.

I decided to take the matter in my own hands and submitted a request to unlock my under-contract iPhone 4S via AT&T’s handy online form. I was a bit doubtful because I had previously asked AT&T if they could unlock this device for me, and at the time, they kindly declined, saying that they couldn’t because I was still under contract.

A couple days after filling out the request form, I received the following confirmation email from AT&T… Read More

 

AT&T reportedly unlocking under-contract iPhones

By Cody Lee on Sep 7, 2012

Earlier this year, AT&T started unlocking iPhones for subscribers that were out of contract. Prior to that, users had to be jailbroken, or utilize third-party services to unlock their handsets.

Well, good news for folks with AT&T iPhones that aren’t quite out of contract yet. According to a new report, the carrier has started unlocking iPhones that are still under commitment… Read More

 
Page 212345...