- Beware of these "Unlocking and Jailbreaking iPhones" software scams! -

Hi, I’m David from NYC. Thanks for visiting my blog.

If you're planning to unlock and/or jailbreak your iPhone, do yourself a favor and read this first.

The procedures required to unlock/jailbreak your iPhone involve taking the phone apart, making hardware changes and then making software changes. If the results are unsuccessful, there is a real risk that you'll destroy your iPhone. This is a costly mistake.

I’ve been dealing with major problems due to trusting a few of these "unlock iPhone" sites to help me unlock and jailbreak my iPhone.

BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THESE SITES!
Many of them are complete scammers.
They'll take your money and sell you software that' s ineffective and/or harmful -- some even carry viruses.

I’m now on my THIRD iPhone because of these crooks.

The software from some of these sites can seriously mess up or completely kill your iPhone.

First, make sure you know the difference between Unlocking and Jailbreaking. People are getting these mixed up!

UNLOCKING: As everyone knows, most phones are "locked" to a particular network. In the iPhone's case, that's AT&T (for the U.S.). If you want to use your iPhone with another network, you need to unlock it. There’s no other way around it. Unlocking allows you to insert SIM cards from different networks.

JAILBREAKING: "Jail" refers to file system limitations put in place by Apple on iPhones. "Jailbreaking" opens the entire iPhone file system for use. Once jailbroken, you install the latest free games, ringtones, etc. If your iPhone isn’t jailbroken, you have to get all those applications through the Apple Store at $10-$30 a pop.

So both Unlocking and Jailbreaking your iPhone can save you a lot of money, but you have to do them correctly or you risk losing your iPhone altogether. Proceed with extreme caution!

There are a bunch of websites that sell programs to help you unlock and jailbreak your iPhone. All are NOT created equal. There are some SKETCHY companies out there.

First, I tried UnlocX.com. Supposedly, they are the "iPhone Unlock Specialists." WRONG. I paid about $25 for the program. Unlocking seemed to go OK. Jailbreaking…that’s another story. After I followed the program’s instructions, suddenly I didn’t have Safari or Camera. I did a sync and they were gone. Then I did a reset…nothing. Then I synced again after the reset and nothing. This was unnacceptable, because I use Safari all the time, and I take tons of pictures. I took it to the Apple store. All they could do was sell me a new iPhone…because I used the UnlocX program, my iPhone warranty was void. I’m still haggling with UnlocX’s customer service department about at least getting a refund for the program. I think they should pay for my iPhone, too. We’ll see what they decide. I’ll definitely post their decision.
DO NOT RISK LOSING YOUR PHONE LIKE I DID. THIS COMPANY SELLS INEFFECTIVE AND UNSAFE SOFTWARE!

Next, I tried iPhoneGeek.com. More expensive --$40-- but seemed to have a better guarantee, which was important to me after my UnlocX fiasco. All my applications worked fine. I was able to upload the free applications I’d been wanting. Then I started having connectivity issues. My phone stopped picking up and automatically connecting to my wireless networks. Rebooting didn’t make any difference. It just constantly searched for wireless service in areas it didn’t before. Turns out the software had a virus.
DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY!!! THEY ARE COMPLETE SCAM ARTISTS! My phone's worthless now. Naturally, I can't get through to their customer service.

I tried a 15-day trial of the iPhone Unlock Now program. It completely unlocked my phone, but I couldn't jailbreak. I got a refund, so I consider myself very lucky. Best part of all: I was able to save my phone.

I did some web research and found a site called Scam Advisory Board. It’s a legitimate internet marketing watchdog group. They review different products available online and notify the public of their findings. The address for their review of iPhone unlocking and jailbreaking software http://scamadvisorygroup.com/unlock-iphone-scam/. Wish I would have found them 3 iPhones ago.

I chose their #1 recommendation, Unlock-iPhone-Easy.com Their web address is: Unlock Offer Page
Price: £21.95. When they say easy, they mean easy. I installed the files instantly, and it only took 5 minutes to unlock AND jailbreak my phone. Success! They also included package of free ringtones and over 700 free wallpaper designs. Very cool. I highly recommend this software.

Just thought I’d give everybody the heads-up. Nobody should tolerate scammers or sketchy products. Spreading the word keeps everybody’s hard-earned money in their own pockets, instead of piling up in scammers’ bank accounts.

Hope this helps,

David...

p.s. If you have any questions you can email me at david.film.nyu@gmail.com