How To Get A No SIM iPhone 3G Activated With No Risk

The imfamous iPhone. If you have never had one, I bet you have at least heard of them. We received one as a special gift. While it is customary to reset the phone and remove the SIM card by anyone who is passing on their iPhone, what does the recipient do now with a phone, that will not go past the "No Sim Card" screen? If you do a Google search, you will enter a nearly endless world of the iPhone, both real and unreal, past and current. But the answer is simpler that you might think, and you can get your phone going safely and for only about $3. This makes this gift even more exciting.

"This iPhone was a gift and we are feelin' the love..."

This is not the latest iPhone as that would be a 4 or 4S. We knew that, but had to determine what model the phone actually is as that determine all the details about this iPhone. Since Apple is entirely proprietary you HAVE to have SIM card and you HAVE to "activate" the phone using proprietary iTunes software and you HAVE to do that on a proprietary Operating System (OS) like MAC or Windows. Ya, like beat all your users with a stick or something eh? Anyhow, if you do not want to risk getting BRICKED (which means Apple locks out your phone forever making it one spendy brick) you need to do things the Apple way. That means you have to use an authorized provider (like AT&T) for your SIM card and all that other proprietary stuff we just mentioned.

Ok, so you do need a SIM, but you do not need a PLAN, unless that is what you want. We did not want a plan, we just wanted to try out the phone which has a zillion features over and beyond a mere phone. And then later, who knows, we might just shop for the best pay as you go option we can find.

For a SIM we found the PERFECT SIM for less than $3 on Amazon. It worked! we it made past the "no SIM card screen" as the card is the authorized SIM to use.

Next you have to connect to iTunes. We are on Linux, yet Apple provided us with no options here at all, even though the Mac is based upon Unix? You have to use a Mac or Windows machine for iTunes (which a side from all the other things iTunes is) is a program that you have to download and install. You can download the real version direct from Apple HERE. Once iTunes was installed we could plug in our iPhone using our USB sync cable and iTunes automatically starts and tries to connect over the internet to the Apple Store. If you have a connection then the rest is easy, you just fill out a form or two. Some people have told us that whatever computer you use to make that initial connection and sync, is the only computer you can use with that iPhone. We did not verify that information.

"Apple tightly controls certain aspects of the iPhone. According to Jonathan Zittrain, the emergence of closed devices like the iPhone have made computing more proprietary than early versions of Microsoft Windows." - Wikipedia

Happy news. We can now get to the HOME part of the phone which is the main starting point (like pushing the start button in Windows or being at the desktop on Ubuntu). That means the device is fully operational. Ours is not functioning as a cell phone as we do not have a cell phone contract/plan or pay as you go plan. We wanted to get the point where the iPhone is fully functional as a "glorified iPod" to check out the features and see if this is the smart phone for us. We have not "unlocked" it for use on other service providers (beyond AT&T) or jailbroke it to load APPs not approved by Apple. Not sure if we will or not, as yet, but at this point we do not need to. So for $3 we got iPhone going and you can too.

So what about making calls? Well, we can make calls for free over Wifi on our iPhone.

Links:

1Skype: Skype for free calls over WiFi...

2Talkatone for free calls over WiFi...

3SIM Card for free calls over WiFi...

4iTunes for free download so you can activate your iPhone...

53G Tech Specs to learn about your iPhone...

63G Finger Tips Guide to learn about your iPhone...

73G User Manual to learn about your iPhone...

8Jailbreaking on the Wikipedia to learn about your iPhone...

9iPhone on the Wikipedia to learn even more about your iPhone...

10How to build your own airplay audio system to stream music from your iPhone...

We want to give thanks for the iPhone and everyone’s efforts that helped get this device going.