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Open Source
New Jersey teen frees iPhone from AT&T
When Apple's iPhone came out, everyone had the same review: Nice appliance, shame about the phone service. Not that the service was necessarily bad, but the phone would only work with one carrier – AT&T. For both that company and Apple, this is a great deal — it means s steady stream of high-end customers for the former and, although the details of the deal are unknown, most likely a cash payment for the latter.
For customers — who, let's not forget, spent at least $500 on a cell phone — it's not much of a deal at all. They're tied to AT&T without any opportunity to renegotiate that deal on better terms. Some have already complained about the size of their bills. From what I understand, this is an even worse deal than it seems, since if they go to Europe, they won't be able to take out a SIM card and switch to a local provider. In order to use their iPhone locally in Europe – where it works on O2 in the U.K., Orange in France and T-Mobile in Germany – they have to buy another. For Americans, this is an inconvenience. For Europeans – who in the days of the E.U. think nothing of crossing a border for a lunch meeting – it's inexcusable.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a New Jersey teenager solved this problem the old- fashioned way: by hacking it. (The first hacked phone is for sale on ebay, at a price I sincerely hope is a joke.) He may not be the first: A company iphonesimfree.com plans to license its solution.
For customers — who, let's not forget, spent at least $500 on a cell phone — it's not much of a deal at all. They're tied to AT&T without any opportunity to renegotiate that deal on better terms. Some have already complained about the size of their bills. From what I understand, this is an even worse deal than it seems, since if they go to Europe, they won't be able to take out a SIM card and switch to a local provider. In order to use their iPhone locally in Europe – where it works on O2 in the U.K., Orange in France and T-Mobile in Germany – they have to buy another. For Americans, this is an inconvenience. For Europeans – who in the days of the E.U. think nothing of crossing a border for a lunch meeting – it's inexcusable.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a New Jersey teenager solved this problem the old- fashioned way: by hacking it. (The first hacked phone is for sale on ebay, at a price I sincerely hope is a joke.) He may not be the first: A company iphonesimfree.com plans to license its solution.
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