3G iPhone Baseband violated, T-Mobile (and others) users pee themselves a little

Seth Weintraub
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October 26, 2008
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It isn't ready for those whopping 12 markets where T-mobile has 3G yet, but it is growing ever closer as the the Dev Team is now knee deep in Baseband noodling. We expected a full Baseband neutering in weeks, not months.  Time to call your buddies in Hong Kong.


How about you Vodaphone users in the UK?  You are a little excited, admit it.

OK, for the noobs out there...the iPhone is tied to a network because there is a lock on the baseband in the 3G iPhone.  In the original iPhone this was hacked which allowed the iPhone to be distributed throughout the world and contributed to its success.  Most people think about 1/3 of the original 6 million iPhones (now probably more) were distributed through this means.

Until now, the 3G iPhone's baseband hasn't been able to be hacked because of increased security measures by Apple.  Now it looks like those will be circumvented as well.

This may not be as big a deal as last time however because you have to buy the iPhone with a plan in most instances AND it is available in many more global markets which will eliminate a lot of the demand. 

It will still be nice to be able to plop another SIM into our iPhones when we go overseas (like before ;)

Comments (13)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 6:56am

huh?

imagine engine | October 26, 2008 - 11:12am

 What this means is that the hackers are one step closer to providing iPhone 3G users the ability to unlock their iPhone 3G so as to use SIM cards from other carriers. Currently the iPhone 3G can only be jailbroken to use third party apps.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 7:01am

I second that "huh." Who wants to break it down for the rest of us?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 7:32am

will this fix issues with using iPhone 3G with T-Mobile in US? Even when roaming using Germany-based iPhone, using T-mobile phone in the US causes connection problems.

Now that AT&T has dumped unlimited MediaNet for pre-paid, I'd be happy to move to another carrier.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 9:02am

No, that is because t-mobile in the US doesn't use the same frequencies. That can't change no matter what on this device.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 10:18am

The iPhone is a so-called "quad-band" device. That means every iPhone supports every GSM frequency around the world. There is no frequency limitation in regards to T-Mobile in the USA.

In fact, AT&T uses the same exact frequencies as T-Mobile does.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 5:02pm

Agreed. But T-Mobile's 3G service in New York (at least) has connection problems with the iPhone.

currentinterest (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 9:35am

This is why I kept my first gen iPhone, so I could drop another sim card in while traveling abroad.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 11:07am

Who cares. Its over. Apple gets their money, the user buying the neutered phone pays through the ass. The one who gets fucked is the non customer.

terry (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 8:53pm

whoa! it's mister articulate, vocabulary master!

Benjamin Dobson | October 27, 2008 - 2:32am

How could the phone possible be neutered???

mistaken for stranger (not verified) | October 26, 2008 - 12:42pm

Nice choice of music: Trapped by Boards of Canada.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 28, 2008 - 11:45am

Being waiting for the unlock since July 11,..... hurry up!!