So you bought that pretty little glass rectangle without realizing that it needs to be activated to access any of the features, and now you don’t want to spend $60 a month just for the iPod and WiFi. Well you’re in luck, because a few smart people have invented ways for you to enjoy your “best iPod ever” without selling your soul to AT&T.
Here’s how to hacktivate that iPhone without paying a cent more than you already have.
All of these methods are from the iPhone dev Wiki. At the moment they are having some server problems and have asked not to be linked to. CrunchGear is not responsible for any damage to your iPhone yadda yadda and all that jazz.
AT&T Loophole
1. Be an AT&T customer
2. ‘Upgrade’ your phone/plan to the iPhone and activate normally
3. Return your iPhone and switch back to your plan and phone (free for at least 14 days).
4. Tell them you want to keep the iPhone so you can assign it to a new account.
5. Remove the SIM card at the top of the device and enjoy.
Activating an iPhone using another iPhone
1. Obtain 2 iPhones
2. Plug in the first iPhone and select “I am a new AT&T Wireless Customer” in iTunes then “Activate 2 or more phones on an individual or FamilyTalk Plan.”
3. Follow the steps for the FamilyTalk plan and enter [cellphone number] to port a number over from another provider (e.g. Sprint)
4. When the you receive the “Activation Complete” e-mail, plug in iPhone number 2.
5. Select the option “I am an existing AT&T (Cingular) wireless customer” and “Replace a phone on my account with this iPhone”
6. Fill in the information again using [cellphone number]. Allow iPhone #2 to activate using this number. This number will be legit.
7. Plug in iPhone #1, it will unlock the phone for use, but without a cell phone number assigned or account from AT&T.
Activation with a pre-paid plan (you do have to pay for this one, but not monthly)
1. Buy the iPhone.
2. Connect it to iTunes.
3. Sign up using 999-99-9999 as your social security number.
4. After failing the credit check, select a GoPhone plan.
5. After signing up for a GoPhone plan and being assigned a number and passcode, connect to the AT&T GoPhone funding page as prompted, enter your credit card or debit card information and you’re good to go. DO NOT attempt to fund your iPhone over the phone with AT&T. DO NOT set up your iPhone prepaid account in advance with AT&T.
Or just download DVD Jon’s iPhone Activation Zip which masquerades as Apple’s activation service. Easy peasy.
I don’t see why people should pay so much money for an iPhone to use it as a iPod nano… And prepaid plans from AT&T are really expensive…
Is that picture another case of those ppl that smash game consoles when they launch?
Haha, no it’s actually a guy who dropped his after trying to answer it while it was plugged in.
I went down the dusty road of the 999s trick for my SS#. Guess what?
Some how they (ATT/Cingular) hit my credit – I have no idea how this
happened. (as reported from a monitor service) Would be very interested
to know if others have seen the same thing.
I got in a futile argument with some troll on my blog who thought I was just being too whiny about the fact that the iPhone is a brick without AT&T activation, and he kept citing hacks like these in an effort to negate my objection on principle to the shackling of the device to the service. I shouldn’t have to *hack* an expensive-ass Apple product to make it do what it’s built to do — I would seriously consider spending $600 on a multifunction device like the iPhone even if it didn’t make phone calls — and Steve Jobs, who we hoped was going to “revolutionize” the cellphone industry, buckled to AT&T’s typically hegemonistic practices. It’s just disappointing, and a sign of more business-as-usual to come from the cell providers.
LOL – what’s with the pic on the RSS feed? I guess it somewhat accurately describes the whole $600 + $60/mo, etc. hahahaha
I’ll bet you got massive click-through from RSS for this post ;)
seriously, WTF was up with that pic? funny or not alot of us view your feed at work. i’ll be sure to take you out if i ever see something like that again.
If you saw something – erm – untoward on the RSS feed for this post, please excuse my poor judgement. Someone was taking and republishing our feed wholesale and we finally got him to stop, albeit with NSFW consequences.
@Gizmo Central
Isn’t it amazing what some people will do for attention?
Ouch :\ reminds me of the ps3 that was smashed in front of so many people on opening day.