How to Unlock Your iPhone and Use The $5.99 T-Zones Plan
This post was published 2 years 6 months ago which may make its actuality or expire date not be valid anymore. This site is not responsible for any misunderstanding.After days of tinkering and toying I managed to unlock an iPhone and USE the $5.99 T-Zones plan for data service – no need for the more expensive T-Mobile Total Internet package. I even had limited luck using the data provided in a prepaid.
Here are the steps you need to unlock your iPhone and use your $5.99 T-Zones dataplan. Mind you that Apple could release a new firmware that will break this hack, and we are not responsible if T-Mobile yells at you for using a data plan you shouldn’t use on your iPhone.
- First off we’re assuming that you are running firmware 1.0.2 your iPhone. If you don’t please see this guide.
- Secondly you will need to use INdependence to activate your iPhone, and in preparation for activation download the iPhones 1.0.2 firmware using Safari and unzip it on your Desktop.
- Launch INdependence and click on “Activate”
- When prompted for a Firmware location select the new folder “iPhone 1,1_1″ on your desktop. DO NOT SELECT THE FIRMWARE SUBFOLDER. In my tests I needed to quit an relaunch INdependence a few times for it to properly recognize the firmware folder.
- iNdependence will then start to “Jailbreak” your iPhone will go through a few screens. Don’t be fooled when the iPhone asks to “Please connect to iTunes“. Don’t do it, just let INdependence run – it should take around 5 minutes. You will know when you are done when you get a Activation succeeded! message.
- Now you need to download AppTapp from NullRiver
- Simply launch the application and click continue and select the 1.0.2 firmware
- Throughout the 5 minute process AppTapp will restart your iPhone several times, prompting your iPhone to give the obligatory “Please Connect to iTunes” message. Don’t worry ignore it
- Once you get a success message we will now need to install items on your iPhone using AppTapp
- Now with your iPhone connect to a WiFi network – you will need a wireless network to finish the hacking process
- In AppTapp you will want to install (in this order) Community Sources, BSD Subsystem (That installation should take three or so minutes), and OpenSSH
- Now go to your iPhones settings, select GENERAL then choose Auto-Lock – Make sure the option there is set to NEVER!
- Now you will need to check your iPhone’s IP address. Navigate to SETTINGS, then Wi-Fi, now click the blue arrow next to the network you’re connected to and the IP Address will be displayed on the page that comes up.
- On your MAC download Transmit (People prefer CyberDuck, but I like Transmit better and for our purposes here the trial license has no impact on us)
- While you are at it download anySIM. This program is responsible for unlocking your Phone
- Now in the Transmit dialog box type in the iPhones IP address
- Set the Protocol to SFTP
- In the username field put the word root and for the password use dottie – It should take 30 seconds to make the connection
- Once logged in click the dropdown box, and go to / DIRECTORY
- In Transmit drag the application anySIM into the Application folder
- Quit Transmit and reset your iPhone by holding the Sleep button for about 3 seconds, then sliding the power off switch
- While your iPhone is off, switch out the SIM chip that is in the top of the unit by using a small paperclip to sick in the SIM tray – and popping out the AT&T SIM and inserting a T-Mobile one
- Restart your iPhone and on the “Springboard” you will now see an icon for anySIM. Launch it by tapping it and slide the slider to unlock
- Now your phone will go through the process of unlocking your iPhone – It should take no more then 10 minutes
- Now that the HARD part is done – now for the slightly easier internet hack. On your newly unlocked iPhone make sure the word “T-Mobile” appears in the upper left corner.
- Now navigate to SETTINGS, GENERAL, NETWORK, EDGE. Delete whatever it says in the APN field and input wap.voicestream.com. Also delete the username and password and leave them blank.
- Using TextEdit on your Mac, you are going to create a new document.
- In TextEdit under the FORMAT menu, select MAKE PLAIN TEXT
- Copy and past this code into this document
function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
if (isInNet(myIpAddress(), "10.0.0.0", "255.0.0.0"))
return "PROXY 10.23.8.3:8080";
else
return "DIRECT";
}
- Now go to the FILE menu and choose SAVE
- Call the file proxy.pac and save it on your desktop
- Now open Transmit again and log into the iPhone again like we did in the steps before
- Copy the newly created proxy.pac file into the /private/var/root directory. This should be the directory that first shows when you SFTP into the iPhone
- Now in Transmit on the Mac navigate to the /private/var/root/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ directory
- Locate the preferences.plist
- Edit the preferences file to reflect the proxy.pac as follows:
<dict>
<key>Interface</key>
<dict>
<key>DeviceName</key>
<string>ip1</string>
<key>Hardware</key>
<string>com.apple.CommCenter</string>
<key>Type</key>
<string>com.apple.CommCenter</string>
</dict>
<key>Proxies</key>
<dict>
<key>ProxyAutoConfigEnable</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>ProxyAutoConfigURLString</key>
<string>file:///private/var/root/proxy.pac</string>
</dict>
<key>com.apple.CommCenter</key>
<dict>
<key>AllowNetworkAccess</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>Available</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>Setup</key>
<dict>
<key>apn</key>
<string>gprs.qtel</string>
<key>password</key>
<string>gprs</string>
<key>username</key>
<string>gprs</string>
</dict>
<key>Version</key>
<integer>1</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
- One that is done restart you iPhone again, and then you will be able to access the internet on your unlocked iPhone using your $5.99 T-Zones Plan
Thank you SO MUCH for this tutorial! For some reason, T-Mobile won’t let me get the Web Plan, so I guess I’ll just hack my way to Edge as opposed to using the legal method. :)
This is nice, this combined with getting an iPhone cheap/refurbed/sale will convince me to get one. Awesome.
Outstanding. I was able to flash the ROM (manually) and get calls going the other day, but not the data side. This seriously just made my day. Thanks!
Geez Louise, so much effort into not using AT&T… well, hacks are hacks, though I’ll be using AT&T to evade all this once my iPhone comes.
yeah now I actually have some reason to maybe buy an iPhone!
Thanks a ton Dan!
Ok, question. I’m not as big of a geek when it comes to cell phones, but once I unlock an iphone all I have to do is take the sim card out of my current phone, pop it in the iphone and it’ll work? I don’t need to call my current carrier or anything?
You are correct JED, that’s all you need
@JED, you do not need to make changes with your carrier. Just swap SIM cards
I am new to this whole sim card thing. Can I just go to T-Mobile and say I want to the the T-Zones Plan and a new sim card? Or how would I go about getting this? Guess the simple things get me sometimes. :P
3 quick questions: 1. is there a data limit to t-Zones? (as in, will they start charging me extra if I use it too often) 2. My iPhone has already been completely unlocked and I use it with T-Mobile daily, do I still need to install Community Sources, BSD Subsystem and OpenSSH? 3. Do you reccomend an alternative to Transmit for Windows?
What did you get to work on the prepaid? So far I can only access the tzones site on prepaid, no email or widgets.
anyone that is willing to AIM/email me and help me out? I’m on windows and used the method at hackintosh with no luck and I’ve checked all the common areas for mistakes–comment back if you are willing to help
If we use the Tmobile 5.99 plan… can we still access youtube?
I don’t have mac. I run ibrikr on vista . Can someone link or upload the modified files.
Is it possible to do the same thing with suncom ???
anybody know the parameters???
I LOVE this idea and have purchased a T-Mobile account with T-zones. I’ve tried the specified procedure several times and haven’t yet had success with apptapp. I get either an error message or, more commonly, I wait 30 minutes or more for apptapp to do it’s thing and then give up, requiring me to restore the iPhone with iTunes. Has anyone else encountered/overcome this hurdle?
Still trying to troubleshoot my problem. Dan, was your iPhone already activated with AT&T via iPhones when you followed this procedure? I have an active T-Mobile plan and when I use iNdependence to activate with that chip, no problem, but I apptapp fails. If I try to activate with the AT&T chip (where I have no account), no go.
OK I FIGURED IT ALL out the proxy.pac file is not done right look at this and you will see What the correct ip for the proxy should be.
function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
if (isInNet(myIpAddress(), “10.0.0.0″, “255.0.0.0″))
return “PROXY 216.155.165.50:8080″;
else
return “DIRECT”;
}
can anyone give me some help unlocking tzones using windows. i dont have a mac. and im a noob this computer stuff.
Tarso,
Are you using a Mac or Windows machine? Using AnySim doesnt work so abandon that.
I assume you are using a mac since you use independence:
Do you have the firmware 1.0.2 folder saved on your computer?
I found iNdependence to be quite quirky, use the latest version 1.2.1 (a), after you have activated AND jailbroke your iphone, make sure you are ON THE WIFI! AppTapp is very sensitive and it is mandatory to have the iphone on your wifi. If apptapp hangs up, go to your activity monitor and kill the process iphonecomm, and restart apptapp again.
OK, I successfully followed the procedure all the way through. Embarassed to say my problem was that I wasn’t running iTunes 7.4 – as I had thought. bit 7.3.9 or whatever. Sigh.
However, Edge is still not working, so I’m at the same place I was when I was just using iNdependence: an activated, unlocked iPhone but no Web access without WiFi.
Marko – I’m using a Mac.
Catmondo – I triedy our poxy.pac mod and still no Edge. How is the correct proxy address determined, anyway? Does it depend on location? Provider?
Has anyone succeeded with this hack w/o first activating with AT&T?
butisitart at http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=4187585 says s/he got this hack to work on an iPhone previously activated with AT&T but failed with an iPhone hacked w/o AT&T activation.
My undying gratitude to whoever can help me figure this out.
I have an unlocked Iphone, I put in my T-mobile SIM and went to settings and network like he said..typed in wap.voicestream.com and the “E” appeared instantly. THANKS
hey matt, do i have to have a data plan with tmobile for my edge to work?
Hi..
ok, i’ve done all the intructions on this site..but i can’t seem to get it to work..i don’t know if i’m doing anything wrong.
the E will appear next the the “T-MOBILE” on the left side of the the iphone, but when i try to access the internet..it just dosn’t connect.. can someone help? thanks.
Am I. then, the only person having trouble with this? Like Matt and others, I get the “E” without any problem – but that hasn’t resulted in connectivity. Upon trying to launch ay Web application, I get the following error:
“Could not activate EDGE: You are not subscribed to EDGE.”
I’ve tried a few of the proxy.pac file setting variations I’ve seen on this site and elsewhere and none have panned out for me as yet.
CATMONDO and others who have had success, are you using “internet1″ or “internet2″ in your preferences plist.? (This may be moot, since neither option is returning results for me.)
I really like the idea of using T-Zones for Web access on my iPhone, but am getting close to giving up.
Tarso,
I have the similar EDGE settings problem as well. I’ve subscribed to T-Zones for a while without even using the service because EDGE doesn’t work, and no one’s willing to share their experience. Any help would be appreciated
Hey I have used a different hacking method. Did everything and everything seemed to be working except for youtube and the only two sim cards that it worked on was cingular (which doesnt say much cus its basically at&t now) and my new provider at&t. So i tried to hacked it again and got stuck and couldnt finish the process so it recovered back to my previous files on itunes. after I did that my apptapp icon is no longer on the ipod. So can I unlock it with just the ibrickr (the original version that I used) instead of using Ibricker and apptap? Im thinking yes because apptap just installs third party applications for fun so it is not necessary to use right? Plus, the ibrickr is the only thing I need to use and hack it so I can use it with any sim card i want? I originally had firm ware 1.1.1 but downgraded to 1.0.2. Please email me and let me know what I can do. Please use my email because I won’t remember to go back here. unforgiv3n@yahoo.com Thanks in advance!
COOLIO, JAMES:
Did you ever figure out the Edge settings? I finally decided to upgrade to T-Mobile Total Internet, but this hasn’t helped. I still get the same eror message, “Could not activate EDGE: You are not subscribed to EDGE.” This is true regardless of my APN setting (e.g. internet2.voicestream.com, wap.voicestream.com).
I’m about at my wit’s end, and am even thinking about abandoning this experiment and signing a contract with AT&T, as much as I’d like to avoid that. I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.
I recently changed and messed up my preferences.plist file and dont know how to restore it to its original version so i could retry the t-zones hack. does anyone have a copy that i could basically cut and paste.. and is it something i could do through windows or only mac.. and if so how ?? thanx
I am subscribed to a WAP based GPRS service in Lebanon which costs $5 but does not work on the Iphone, and if i was to upgrade to the full internet package which works like a charm, i would then have to pay $29
So i followed your above instructions while changing the proxy and IP settings to match my WAP settings and now Weather, Stocks and Maps work just fine, but there is no way to logg into Safari or the email app. is there a workaround?
Thanks a lot
Tarso, call up T-Mobile. They don’t care that you are using an iPhone – which makes sense… since they a probably just happy you aren’t using the iPhone with AT&T instead. They’ll transfer you to their “unsupported cell phones” group who will do something to the phone remotely and then unlimited internet will work. At least that’s what happened to me.
While that method worked for bringing up the internet, uTube doesn’t work. If I undo these setting and reboot. Then goto APN and enter in wap.voicestream.com, then I get internet and uTube. The unfortunate part is, upon reboot, I have to enter in the APN settings again. I wonder what we need to do to get the APN settings to stick, while keeping our uTube access.
F’N A,
I figured it out. I’ve rebooted a few times and my APN settings have stuck everytime, yeah :D
This method makes it possible for a version 1.1.1 firmware to view youtube videos across the T-Mobile Edge connection.
I didn’t use the proxy.pac or the modified preferences.plist
Instead I went to the carrier file at
/var/root/Library/Preferences/com.apple.carrier.plist
Edited the string under APN to say wap.voicestream.com
Then Save and all is well :)
[code]
apn
wap.voicestream.com
password
username
apn
password
username
[/code]
I just checked to try what you have attempted and could not find a “com.apple.carrier.plist” The only ones i came across were com.apple. preferences, calculator, and all these other ones but not the com.apple.carrier.plist. Am i supposed to create a folder called that?
i followed the directions up to downloading INdependence but once it was downloaded, the program wouldnt even run it just gave me files that couldnt be ran
Hi,
I am planning to buy a new Iphone. I heard recently apple has released new firmware. so incase if I buy a new Iphone will I be able to unlock the phone and still use it. Please let me know.. your help is appreciated.
Hi. I did everything exactly as said in the instructions and I got Safari to work, but nothing else works.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
same with boz, my safari works but youtube doesnt work, and 3rd party apps like apollo instant msging program doesnt connect
ARNOLDG,
Thanks for the tip. I’ve tried T-Mobile unsupported devices tech support a couple of times. They’ve kicked me off their network and put me back on. They’ve triple checked my APN settings in Edge. They’ve even moved me over to their Internet3 network. None of these have resulted in my being able to access the Internet without WiFi. The last support person I spoke with speculated that I either had unlocked only the phone and not the data side of my iPhone (which is implausible, since I’ve used the same methods as everyone else), or I’m just the lucky guy with the odd iPhone that just won’t play ball. I’ve had this phone three months without non-WiFi Internet access. Unless anyone has a brilliant idea, ASAP, I’m throwing in the towel. Sad, but there’s only so much of my life I can dedicate to keeping my iPhone out of the clutches of AT&T.
Ok, I recently figured how to do this for my phone.
Open up “Notepad” in windows. Copy and Paste this into a blank notepad:
function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
if (isInNet(myIpAddress(), “10.0.0.0″, “255.0.0.0″))
return “PROXY 216.155.165.50:8080″;
else
return “DIRECT”;
}
Save As: proxy.pac
Under “Save As Type”, change to “All Files”.
Then hit “Save”.
Then Upload this file to the iphone directory with ibrickr or whatever” private/var/root
Next “Copy and Paste” this into a blank notepad:
CurrentSet
/Sets/590C7F8E-66F4-47C8-8094-978C51F78E76
NetworkServices
34C2DD45-CE10-4F80-9E97-E1E2AC32095F
Interface
DeviceName
ip2
Hardware
com.apple.CommCenter
Type
com.apple.CommCenter
com.apple.CommCenter
AllowNetworkAccess
0
Available
1
Setup
apn
acds.voicemail
password
username
Version
1
67D14362-B948-48DF-BF15-E88C95AC39AE
AppleTalk
ConfigMethod
Node
__INACTIVE__
DNS
IPv4
ConfigMethod
DHCP
IPv6
ConfigMethod
Automatic
Interface
DeviceName
en0
Hardware
AirPort
Type
Ethernet
Proxies
ExceptionsList
*.local
169.254/16
FTPPassive
1
SMB
UserDefinedName
AirPort
F7FAC254-50FE-4A86-B07B-4533D90AB215
Interface
DeviceName
ip1
Hardware
com.apple.CommCenter
Type
com.apple.CommCenter
Proxies
ProxyAutoConfigEnable
1
ProxyAutoConfigURLString
file:///private/var/root/proxy.pac
com.apple.CommCenter
AllowNetworkAccess
1
Available
1
Setup
apn
wap.voicestream.com
password
username
Version
1
Sets
590C7F8E-66F4-47C8-8094-978C51F78E76
Network
Global
IPv4
ServiceOrder
67D14362-B948-48DF-BF15-E88C95AC39AE
F7FAC254-50FE-4A86-B07B-4533D90AB215
34C2DD45-CE10-4F80-9E97-E1E2AC32095F
Interface
en0
AirPort
JoinMode
Automatic
Service
34C2DD45-CE10-4F80-9E97-E1E2AC32095F
__LINK__
/NetworkServices/34C2DD45-CE10-4F80-9E97-E1E2AC32095F
67D14362-B948-48DF-BF15-E88C95AC39AE
__LINK__
/NetworkServices/67D14362-B948-48DF-BF15-E88C95AC39AE
F7FAC254-50FE-4A86-B07B-4533D90AB215
__LINK__
/NetworkServices/F7FAC254-50FE-4A86-B07B-4533D90AB215
UserDefinedName
Automatic
System
System
ComputerName
Shawns Phone
ComputerNameEncoding
134217984
HostName
Shawns Phone
Save As: preferences.plist
Under “Save As Type” change to “All Files”
Then hit “Save”.
Then Upload this file to the iphone directory with ibrickr or whatever” private/var/root/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration
Next, unplug phone from computer.
Go to settings/general/network/edge and make sure it says the following:
APN: wap.voicestream.com
Username: (blank)
Password: (blank)
THERE IS NO USERNAME AND PASSWORD.
If it doesn’t say this, change it manually.
Then, get out of this and go to settings/wifi and turn off your wifi.
Last, power off phone for about 15 seconds, then power it on.
This should work!
You may need to keep trying for a while for the settings to finally kick in.
If you just ordered the t-zones plan, you need to wait awhile for the service to become available. The more you keep trying to get the weather, stocks, etc… to work, the faster the service will kick in. Restart your phone every now and then and then try again.
My email didn’t work right away for me but it eventually did after awhile. I use GMAIL.
Hope this works for you!!!!!!!!
my “preferences.plist” file i said to copy and paste, didn’t paste correctly. Find a “preference.plist” file like this one here from someon and upload it to private/var/root/library/preferences/systemconfiguration and then continue the steps after that…..
I am having trouble following the directions so i can use my t-zones. My phone is already unlocked, when i use the transmit and the cyberduck its telling me connection failed. Please help i am stuck
please help. I can not delete the file, preferences.plist. Now I have two files, preferences.plist.plist. And one file, preferences.plist. It will let me delete proxy.pac. thanks
@tenshadow:
Sorry, i only know windows stuff, but ill give it a go. In windows i use winscp to do the stuff on the phone. Now, whichever file of the two (either the .plist or the .plist.plist) you want to delete, open up the properties and make sure that read/write/edit mode is checked off for owner. It may not be those exact words – im doing it off the top of my head – then try deleting the file. Make sure to keep one! I dont think itll work without one. Hope this helps.
Hi. I’m a t-mobile customer…I just got an iphone n I have no clue how this whole thing work with the phone n simcard…all I know is that I want it to work using my tmobile simcard…what should I do? N how do I get started??
Call 611 from your tmobile phone..
Add the 19.99 unlimited internet……
than go to setting>General>Network>EDGE>
under APN type internet2.voicestream.com
user name leave it blan
Password leave it blank
bam…..no software stuff……now you have tmobile edge on the iphone.
The tmobile rep was real nice, he helped me set up the stuff. A little bird told me more than 10,000 users are using tmobile edge on there iphone.
Any questions call 611
I unlocked my phone with a simple unlock method, but now I can’t use the web. I have T-zone with T-Mobile. I get “Could not activate EDGE: You are not suscribed to EDGE.” Or It says, “Safari can’t open the page because it can’t find the server.” I also can’t download/install the games and other apps I have in the “Installs” icon. What can I do to fix these issues?
I used ibrickr to unlock my phone, but when I try to access the web I keep getting the message, “Could not activate EDGE: You are not suscribed to EDGE.” Or It says, “Safari can’t open the page because it can’t find the server.” I also can’t install the games and other apps I have in the “Installs” icon. What to do? I need help!
I got my T Zones working about a week ago and just stopped working. Anybody else having this problem?
I have att… can i still used the 5.99 tzone hack? or must i have tmobile service to used the 5.99 tzone hack?
I’ve unlock my Iphone follow all the above, and I still can’t us the edge internet I van only receive send emails, I’m from the UK I’ve tried wap.voicestream.com, internet2.voicestream.com and general.t-mobile.uk
All files are in the right place with the extension, what can one do to get this right?
Also why can’t the edge stop running, even if you use the service.app
what can one do?
help please !
SIR, I wana give you one idea, please like that you give as example is abit hard to understand, many guy are confused even me i am confused, and i don’t have mac computer i have windows, so please if you can do this make a one video complete to explain every body more easy, i’m thankfull to you.
OK here we go, first of all I have a prepay tmobile sim in a 1.1.2 iphone. I unlocked it with ziphone. Everything works awsome but the edge hack. I have tryed to hack it with the winscp aproach several times and I have tryed the different installer apps T-zone hacks several times, Nothing works. A friend of mine had a tmobile rizr and he screwed up his contract so I installed a prepay tmobile sim in it and the t-zones and everyting else works fine. I Realize he had the t-zones icon already in his phone and thats why it worked. I searched his phone for several hours for any sort of settings that I could use on my iphone but couldent get anywhere. When you buy a tmobile phone with prepay, t-zones are standard. (they automaticly work and its free unless you down load something). I think if someone could figure out how that is and also figure out how to apply that to a iphone it would solve everyones problems. So if any of you super smart hackers are looking for someting to do, nail this one and you will be everyones HERO! Then again I dont know anything Im just a musician. Thanks.
Anybody help please!!
I have an Apple iPhone first generation aka “2G” or “EDGE” and it was unlocked by using a windows program called QuickPWN. It works almost perfectly execpt that when I use tmobile’s prepaid EDGE network service for the internet using Safari it can’t connect but the Wi-Fi and the voice network work great. I did install Tzones hack using Cydia when i unlocked the iphone for the first time and it never worked. Another thing I tried typing in the network address for the APN (wap.voicestream.com) but that didn’t work either. I did try some others too, that also did not work. If anyone has the same issue and can fix this problem please call me at (703)965-6727 or respond to this post.
Thanks,
Greg