Unlocking the iPhone 3GS for Dummies

If I figured out how to jailbreak & unlock my iPhone 3GS then anyone can. I'd been doing research and it seemed a few others had been able to do it so I decided to open up my 3GS and give it a go!

[[the following directions jailbreak the phone using purplera1n]]

1. Get on a Windows PC (XP seems to have fewer issues than Vista)
2. Make sure iTunes is updated. Tun off auto updates.
3. Go to http://www.purplera1n.com/
4. Download and run purplera1n (should say "waiting for phone")
5. Connect iPhone 3GS to computer.
6. Be patient - puplera1n takes a couple of minutes (should say "entering recovery" then "done, wait for reboot")
7. Phone reboots - you see image of purplera1n
8. Make sure your wi-fi is connected
9. Run Freeze application to install Cydia
10. Download Cydia
11. Reboot

[[the following directions unlock the phone using ultrasn0w]]

12. Disable 3G network in (Settings, General, Network) so T-Mobile can run smoothly
13. Go to Cydia: Manage, Sources, Edit and type in repo666.ultrasn0w.com (the o is a zero in sn0w)
14. Go to Cydia: Changes, and install ultrasn0w
15. Reboot
16. Use paperclip to remove sim card, replace with your own
17. Voila! You are now on the network of your choice! :)

Many thanks to http://www.purplera1n.com/
and to http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/03/how-to-jailbreak-the-iphone-3gs/
and to http://blog.iphone-dev.org/

I would never have figured it out without the tutorials that came before me... my hope with this one is that it'll help those who have never done it before.

Please don't ask me any questions, I have no idea how the software works... I'm not a developer.