I had a lot of questions in my mind when I was sitting around with an unactivated iPhone 3GS on 3.1.3. These were answered, obviously, only after I went ahead and actually activated it by getting a legitimate SIM. For the record, these are a few of the questions that went on in my mind until I had a legit SIM in my hands.
Q. Do I need an Internet connection to activate my iPhone?
A. Yes, without exception.
Q. Do I need a working SIM card?
A. No. You just need a SIM card. It has to be a SIM of the actual network/country that the iPhone is locked to. For example, an O2 UK iPhone will not work with an O2 Ireland SIM, and obviously will not work with a non-O2 SIM.
Q. Does it have to have any balance (prepaid) or validity (postpaid)?
A. No, you can use a SIM of an account that is not functional.
Q. Does it have to have network signal of the home network?
A. No. Network signal is not checked during activation.
Q. What is checked during activation?
A. The SIM's IMSI. It is a code unique to each SIM card. The first 5 digits of the IMSI are the MCC and MNC, mobile country code and mobile network code. These identify the SIM as belonging to a particular network. The other digits just identify the SIM uniquely to the base station.
Q. How can I check the SIM's IMSI?
A. If you have another unlocked phone lying around that supports serial port (likely over Bluetooth) pop in the SIM in that phone and connect to its serial port via a terminal emulator like Hyperterminal or Minicom. Issue the command 'AT +CIMI' without quotes. The phone will respond with the IMSI of the currently inserted SIM.
Q. Can I activate in a country that is not the same as to which the iPhone is locked.
A. Most certainly. No special or different steps to follow.
Q. What are the advantages of official activation?
A. Push notifications and YouTube are not affected (they don't work if you hacktivate; though now there are workarounds to get them to work).
1 people discussing -:
I popped in an inactive SIM (new PAYG ones come inactive from Orange UK) and activated, worked fine. Got to the homescreen. I kept getting a popup saying 'Waiting for Activation' but I dismissed it whenever it came up.
I registered the SIM with the provider (making the SIM active). When I first got network signal on the iPhone, I got a popup with 'iPhone is Activated'. I could use all features before getting the iPhone is activated popup. Not sure about push and youtube.
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