iPhone 3G Unlock: Yellowsn0w

After teasing iPhone 3G owners who can’t wait to unlock and free the smart phone device with a demo video of Yellowsn0w, the ultimate utility for unlocking iPhone 3G, iPhone Dev Team is finally releasing the Yellowsn0w for free public download. Contrary to previous warning that Yellowsn0w may only support up to iPhone 3G with baseband 2.11.07, the released Yellowsn0w does indeed work with (in fact, exclusively) iPhone 3G firmeware software version 2.2 with baseband 02.28.00.

As promised then, the unlock application is finally available today. The instructions at the website warn that there is some chance you could irreperably damage your phone. There are some very vague legal concerns too, so make sure you know what you’re getting into if you decide you just have to use that iPhone on another network.

The Dev-Team has just released the most anticipated iPhone 3G unlock app known as “yellowsn0w”. Take note that unlocking is different “jailbreaking”. Yellosn0w 0.9 beta will allow you to be free (unlock) from all the carriers for free. Some noted issues with this release is unlock will only work with the latest modem firmware (02.28.00). Your iPhone must be at version 2.2.

Some details of on usage instruction and troubleshooting of Yellowsn0w as posted on iphone-dev.org:

• There is a known issue with SIM cards that have STK (SIM Toolkit) application menus. These menus are usually items such as “top up” “get credit” “lotto numbers” etc. These menu items confuse the application sometimes. Removing and reinserting the SIM once after reboot (give it about 10 secs after you see the slide to unlock widget) fixes this issue. Better fix is in the work.
• For those of you using SIM cards without STK menus, the application has some optional arguments that will make the unlock much faster for you. So either experiment on your own (use “yellowsn0w -h” for usage) or wait for a customization writeup.
• After you install yellowsn0w via Cydia, you should return to the Cydia main menu then reboot your iPhone with the 3rd party SIM installed. Wait for the slide to unlock screen, then wait 10 or 15 secs more. If you don’t see your carrier name pop up, then remove your SIM, reinsert it, and wait 10 secs more.This is the step to be worked to eliminate next.