14 DAY TRIAL // A company going by the name of The-iPhone-Unlock.com says it is able to provide iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS users with a reliable unlock solution, so that they can break free from the shackles and use their powerful smartphones with any carrier in the world. Softpedia previously heard a similar story from iPhone Unlocking Ltd., a company whose business sounded just as illegal.
“We are very proud to present you a brand new iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS unlock solution,” The-iPhone-Unlock.com says. “Our solution can make your iPhone up to date to the latest 3.0, so you can use your iPhone all over the globe with EVERY carrier in the world. So you are on firmware 3.1.2?, no problem with The iPhone Unlock on your side you can even make the 3.1.2 compelty [sic] usable again and yes without the annoying turbosim.”
The company even has a members area, attempting to impose itself as running a legitimate business. Trying to entice Apple handset owners even more, “lifetime games & applications” are advertised on its website, as are “lifetime ringtones” and “lifetime wallpapers.”
“Unlike our competitors when buying our solution we provide you both 2G, 3G and 3GS unlock solution without charging you additionally,” the marketing material continues on The-iPhone-Unlock.com website. “So you know you are at the right address for the full iPhone unlock solution. We have been unlocking iPhones since the 2G came out with the turbo-sim solution in February 2008, and continue to... We are leading unlockers of the iPhone.”
Furthermore, the so-called unlock-expert advises all its customers to go for “the lifetime access.” According to the company, “With lifetime access you can access all our software lifetime, but there is more... when choosing for lifetime access you also get lifetime updates, so when the upcoming 4.0 is released you know you are ready, because you have The iPhone Unlock lifetime subscription.”
Sadly, however, The-iPhone-Unlock.com appears to be just another scam taking advantage of naive iPhone users looking to employ their handsets on a different carrier, or run unapproved, third-party applications.
The company even goes to say that it is “the [leader] of the iPhone unlocking service. We are very proud that we have been voted best service in forums and Press.”
Well, here’s one such example of forum activity on behalf of MacRumors reader and forum user “mechas76”:
“People beware of the-iphone-unlock.com is a Scam,” mechas76 says on the MacRumors forums. “I paid close to 50 dollars for lifetime access membership, trying to find an easy way to unlock my Iphone. The thing is that they say that they could unlock the 3g iphone with the 2.2.1 firmware, once I paid went in and bOOm, 'Unlock will NOT work with the baseband version (02.30.03).' Tried getting a refund or getting support and after 3 weeks I am still waiting for an answer. I know it is my fault for trying to get things the easy way, but I just want to let people know that IT IS A SCAM!”
So much for those high-ranking votes. Needless to point out, other voices on the Internet sing pretty much the same tune.
Just like iPhone Unlocking Ltd., The-iPhone-Unlock.com claims its customer support is available 24/7 when, in fact, it's not, going by the angry commenter cited just above. Also, the company is likely to provide the iPhone Dev Team’s jailbreak & unlock tools in exchange for the required fee, tools that are otherwise free of charge and available for download at many locations on the Internet. Not that Softpedia condones such activities but, clearly such business is something worth sounding an alarm over.
And, just to make sure no one falls into any trap whatsoever, while the latest iPhone 3GS model has proven to be somewhat of a tough nut to crack, hackers like the iPhone Dev Team and geohot have already released working solutions for the latest version of Apple’s iPhone OS, as well as most device models (including iPod touch first and second gen). They are available free of charge.