Turbo SIM iPhone Unlock
Last week a new method of ‘unlocking’ the iPhone to use it with any mobile carrier emerged. Using something called a Turbo SIM (which costs $80US), it tricks the iPhone into thinking it’s using an AT&T sim card while actually using your sim card of choice.
How does it do this? You need to trim a little excess plastic off your sim card and then sandwich it with the Turbo sim card (the technical term is piggyback I think) making a sim card that still fits in the sim slot. Pretty ingenious actually.
Unfortunately, everyone with an iPhone (and no AT&T plan) found out about this and the company that makes the Turbo Sim, Bladox is apparently sold out and completely overwhelmed with orders – so much so that they actually closed their online store for now. I’ve read on some forums people offering hundreds of dollars for a Turbo Sim as well as lots of offers looking for people to help them do the steps necessary.
If you do happen to get your hands on a blank Turbo SIM, there are some fairly straightforward steps (assuming you’ve already hacked your iPhone) to make it work. This is the best walkthru I’ve come across although I haven’t tried it myself (yet). Ars Technica also has a breakdown of the method and some helpful links.
I’m not quite prepared to shell out a ton of money for a Turbo Sim just yet…it was only a week or so ago that a different, more complicated sim cloning method (aka super sim) was the ‘hot’ unlock method but it only worked with some very specific, older sim cards (mostly from Europe).
With the rapid pace of ‘homebrew’ software development for the iPhone, it’s even more feasible that in the very near future (days or weeks, not months) there will be a software unlock solution that negates the need for additional hardware. The Turbo Sim will definitely help assist in the hacking efforts in the short term.
Sunday, August 19th, 2007 : Hacking, Mobile, iPhone : 8 Comments
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8 Responses to “Turbo SIM iPhone Unlock”
August 20th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
[...] “hack” gadgets are getting cheaper, and more commercialized. Just now I read of a new consumer hack to unlock iPhones from requiring AT&T service. This is a neat step in the efforts of geeks and consumers to wrestle control away from another [...]
December 14th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
[...] Yoda would say (kinda), there is another (way). A hardware unlock is possible via Turbo SIM (deja vu anyone)? Just like before, they are sold out online and are being held hostage on ebay/craigslist for [...]
January 4th, 2008 at 5:47 am
Hi,
We can offer you the 3th and 4th version chip for iphone,the edition is 1.1.2,they don’t need cutting and compatible with mobile card very well,they can be used all over the world,and the prices are very competitive,please check it,and please contact me if you are interested in,my MSN is rangren1983@hotmail.com, my email is andy@tzdtech.com, my skype and yahoo are rangren1983,thank you.
Andy
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Magicsim 21th turbosim Unlock iPhone 1.1.2 OTB 4.06 4.6
Hey ! I bought a turbosim for my 3G card last week. it is wonderful ! easy install, support STK. my iphone is 1.1.2 OTB,called Magicsim 21th turbosim
January 30th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
noob question. with the turbosim installed, are we now able to upgrade our iPhone w/o bricking it or does this only works for ver 1.1.2?
January 30th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I’m not sure since I don’t have a TurboSIM….I certainly wouldn’t want to be the first to find out so don’t upgrade until you’re sure. There is really little incentive to upgrade at the moment anyways….wait until the SDK is out – there will be lots of info about upgrading by the end of February.
July 6th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
One of the moderators over at http://www.iphone-hacks.com uses this for his iPhone in Toronto
July 19th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
iPhone v2.0 Jailbreak and Unlock was released today PwnageTool 2.0 Download