This post will put all of the rumors to rest: you will not see an unlock for the Verizon iPhone.
We’re sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the complication involved with the Verizon iPhone unlock is two-fold: it’s completely illegal, and every unlock would require carrier-specific adjustments to succeed.
If you were to follow @MuscleNerd and @pytey on Twitter, you too would have come across this information. The conversation started with MuscleNerd tweeting this:
An “unlock” of next week’s iPhoneVZW is more than just custom code exec… it involves per-carrier CDMA adjustments.
Pytey chimed in right away to explain that this is outright illegal:
A non-sanctioned iP4VZ ‘unlock’ would require an ESN/MEID from a donor phone with service. This technique is a US federal crime.
That’s not awesome. We don’t assume that everyone will understand that, s0 let us break it down for you.
We can unlock AT&T iPhones because they are GSM — they use a SIM card to talk to the carrier. The AT&T SIM card can be removed and replaced with a T-Mobile (or an international carrier’s) SIM card. The current unlock only changes how the phone can communicate with the SIM card… it doesn’t actually change your phone number or modify any of the network-specific communication.
The Verizon iPhone 4 is a CDMA phone. CDMA technology uses a chip that is built into the phone itself and the ESN is hard-coded with your phone’s information so it can communicate with the network. Modifying that chip would be like modifying your SIM card’s IMEI number and — according to pytey — is completely illegal.
“I’ve had my Verizon phone flashed by another carrier like Cricket, I’ll be able to do the same thing with my iPhone.” Are you sure about that?
Cricket (like other companies) is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator — MVNO — and is actually using Verizon’s network for their service. They are authorized by Verizon to flash certain phones so they can be ported over to Cricket. Unless carriers like Cricket work out a deal with Verizon to carry the iPhone themselves, we won’t be seeing our local Cricket outlets flashing iPhones any time soon. It is also highly unlikely that Verizon will want to give up their control of the iPhone for quite some time. We suspect that it will be at least 2 years before we see VZW allow their MVNOs to flash the iPhone… they want to get their money back over the course of your 2-year contract.
To recap, you’re not going to see a Verizon iPhone unlock from the Dev Team or Chronic Dev… ever. Could someone else step in and unlock the Verizon iPhone? Sure, but that hacker and even you could get into some serious trouble for flashing a non-sanctioned ESN to your iPhone.
Let’s be realistic. AT&T and Verizon are the biggest wireless carriers in the US… we should be fine with those two choices. If you still want to use T-Mobile, buy an unlocked iPhone off craigslist. Sprint users, you’re kind of S.O.L. but you’ve been there for a long time anyways. International customers, you can assume that you’d be able to purchase the CDMA iPhone in the near future. There have already be conversations with the few international CDMA carriers to bring this new iPhone to their networks. Patience is a virtue, right?
Editor’s Note — Please do not confuse “unlock” with “jailbreak.” Quick difference: unlock means you can use the phone on another carrier… jailbreak means you can install unauthorized software on your phone. We may see Cydia on the Verizon iPhone soon via jailbreak, but we definitely won’t see the Verizon iPhone on Sprint via unlock.
**Update**
Cricket is flashing the Verizon iPhone 4 over to their network. Getting data and MMS working is a completely different story. Unlike other carriers, Cricket will allow you to transfer your ESN to their network. Sprint, Virgin Mobile, etc. don’t not transfer the ESN and that process would make the whole thing completely illegal.
Please note that our original article was meant to convey the news that there will not be an blanket-unlock for the iPhone 4 via the Dev Teams. You may, however, find some dude outside a Cricket store willing to flash your phone.
There are several areas across the US that will be crippled by such actions:
- Baltimore, MD
- Beaumont, TX
- Brownsville, TX
- Chicago, IL
- Corpus Christi, TX
- Laredo, TX
- Las Vegas, NV
- Madison, WI
- McAllen, TX
- Milwaukee, WI
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Philadelphia, PA
- St. Louis, MO
- Washington, D.C.
These areas may have Cricket, but their networks are not compatible with data or MMS. If you’re cool with an iPod touch that makes phone calls… knock yourself out. The AT&T iPhone remains the only “unlock-able” iPhone on the market. If you consider the fact that 90% of the world uses GSM, that may be the better way to go.
Cricket is not an MVNO of Verizon or any other carrier. They actually are a subsidiary of Leap Wireless and have their own network, towers, etc. Verizon’s “permission” to flash, or lack thereof has nothing to do with it.
Updated the article to reflect this. Cricket is actually importing the Verizon ESN onto their network… with Sprint, Virgin Mobile, etc. they’d need to use a donor phone as written in the article. Is that common? Maybe. Is it different than jailbreaking/unlocking a GSM phone? Absolutely. Jailbreaking isn’t illegal… modifying an ESN is illegal. Nonetheless, the Cricket flashing isn’t compatible with a lot of the networks around the US.
This article has a lot of mis-information about CDMA phones.
Generally speaking, most CDMA phone manufacturers “lock” the software so it can’t be modified. Unlocking is just removing this lock. This is not illegal.
Once the software is unlocked it can be modified or “Flashed”. iPhones (along with almost any other CDMA phone) can be “flashed” to another network. Flashing is just changing the software settings so it can communicate with a proprietary network (this has nothing to do with changing the ESN # of your phone or unlocking). Flashing is not illegal.
Your ESN is like the VIN of your car. Changing the hard coded ESN on your phone (sometimes called “cloning”), for the most part, is a US federal offense. There are some loopholes here but that is another discussion.
While changing the hard coded ESN on your phone may be illegal, using that ESN on the carrier of your choice is not. That is why you can use any CDMA phone on carriers like Cricket. Like stated above, Cricket is not a MVNO. Verizon has no control over what phones Cricket or other CDMA carriers activate on their network. Not that I am advocating, but you can even activate stolen/blacklisted Verizon phones on other carriers.
The author of this article confuses flashing, unlocking, jailbreaking, and ESN switching. I hope this clarifies.
Works for me. There’s no confusion about jailbreaking the Verizon iPhone. It can be done without much effort. The unlocking versus flashing conversation is one that needed clarification. As you mentioned, flashing a phone to Cricket does not break any rules. Modifying the ESN to get it working on Sprint would definitely break the law. When this article was originally written, that was the intent. You cannot put the iPhone on Sprint. Cricket is obviously a completely different story.
Hey Josh, your article was completely devoid of facts and it’s funny how you’re trying to clean things up after you were proven wrong. Next time remember this golden rule before using the word CANNOT, where there’s a WILL there’s a WAY!!!!!!
You really showed me there.