Any experience or comments with jailbreaking an iPhone4 and using it as a WiFi hotspot? I've never jail-broken an iPhone4 before, so I am a bit apprehensive about problems possibly encountered etc. Your thoughts? Is GreenpoisOn safe? How does the WiFI Hotspot work with a Thinkpad while running MiFi on the iPhone? Frankly the entire idea captures my imagination WRT the possibilities.
http://www.tipb.com/2011/02/12/greenpoi ... ntethered/
http://www.iphonedownloadblog.com/2010/ ... i-hotspot/
http://www.ismashphone.com/2010/05/myfi ... phone.html

Yes , I would be KEEN to see the results of your ...posts

I had tried MYWI -on someone advise that it does the "wireless router' like functions ; and found out IT DIDNT! _ waisted $$$

I like the idea of Iphone based WiFi router since I travel a lot and have a spare 8GB Iphone4 (earlist model) to use.....Love to see something good come of this

Thanks in advance

My information is a bit dated, but my original iphone was stolen in October and I bought a iphone 4 in November. It had been upgraded to 4.1 and in November 4.1, at the time, couldn't be jailbroken. The only way to upgrade to 4.1 was if you had a 4.0.x firmware originally and saved your activation info via cydia. Once you went upgraded 4.1 there was no way to do because Apple activation servers wouldn't activate anything below 4.1, but like I said that was a few months ago, which is like a lifetime in iphone jailbreaks. I got help with mine on Macrumors forums. You might want to post over there.

Harry,

Jailbreaking is a very easy process now. All current firware versions through 4.2.1 can be Jailbroken.

1 - Ensure you're on iTunes 10
2 - www.limera1n.com
3 - Download and run

The Limerain program walks you through the steps as it works. The only thing you have to do as the user is press a combination of home and power when the program asks you to do so.

Greenpoison works well also, I just prefer the interface with Limerain

If you have questions, or want clarification, don't hesitate to email me directly.

Greenpois0n works fine on the iPhone 4...very easy to do.

I recommend GreenPois0n release candidate 6 final one suggestion I have however is to ignore the timing that you are prompted for, instead with your iPhone plugged into your Thinkpad press and hold the power (or sleep) button {top right corner} for a slow count of three, while continuing to hold the power (sleep) button, press and hold the home button for a count of ten, (you'll hear a beep somewhere in that count) then release the power (sleep) while continuing to hold the home button for an additional count of twelve, (you'll hear another tone) this will put the phone in the correct mode for the flash. Once you've flashed your iPhone you'll need to add http://repo.insanelyiph0ne.com to Cyndia repos and then search for iBooks Fix to permit iBooks to work with your Jail broken iPhone.

New improved version of GreenPois0n RC6.1 here. This fixes the iBooks issue while jailbreaking your device! No need to add additional repos.

Thanks for all of the replies, and @NorrisCell thanks for the email assistance offer. Lots of good information here that I will use shortly.

Hi everyone............

Thanks for excellent feedback > I for one wanted to try the things - same as harry

Questions :

a) I have a LEGALLY UNLOCKED iphone4 (sold Nby ON USA Carrier)
Can I somehow "COPY" and or "reimage" that OS into another Iphone5 from ATT ?


b) what happens to the IMEI and otrherkeys etc if you do "copy" / "reimage" ?



@Norrris

Like your idea - it seems to take you thru the steps

However at end it seems to want to reinstall the WHOLE OS after downloading it?
is that what its supposed to do? (to me seems if u re install OS it would whipe out the things u want tio keep ??

or am i missing something here ??



thanks in advance

The key here is to sync your device to the newest iTunes first, as part of that sync it will backup your iDevice to iTunes, then you reimage your device, by pressing and holding shift while clicking on restore (this permits one to select the modify image stored on your computer) and once this completes you'll be given two choices on iTunes, to restore your device based on the last sync, or to setup as a new device. **If** you chose new then all your settings will be lost! If you choose restore then things like your wifi settings and passwords will be restored, as well as settings for apps that support such settings. After this completes then the sync starts to restore apps, songs, video, ect...
Be sure to jailbreak with a version that fixes the iBooks issue

Good luck

Certain things are not overwritten, the IMEI is one of the things not overwritten. As I understand it there is a value stored on the iPhone that tells it, it is unlocked, this value is not changed by reimaging as it is not part of the image.

I'm in an airport right now, with my jailbroken iPhone 4 running 4.2.1 and MiWi, tethering.

@DAH.....thanks for making it more clear ....excellently put.

However ; I have had kinda thought of these secnarios'...

a) I have a LEGALLY UNLOCKED iphone4 .... bought from here...(you can buy these Legally UNLOCKED iPhones also from Australia, Phillipines, Singapore (APPLE STORES in these and other countries)....Currently the iPhone4 model is 'out of stock' due to impending NEW MODEL RELEASE ..... thats what I was told this week also by APPLE STORE in Sydney, Australia.
I would hope there are OS(x) tools avalible that would allow me to REIMAGE this (unlocked phone) to be installed into ANOTHER PHYSICAL Iphone4 - ((similar to Windows Hard drive re-Image any laptop/PC hard drive))
Can this be done ?
>this would negate any need for jailbreak'n etc ,,,, I would hope<

b) If I do this Jailbreak ( using one of these above mentioned apps) hows does it deal with IMEI & ICCID ? The IMEI - to me is very critical as I beleive that to be UNIQUE to each physical iphone/hardware - just like MAC address is set for each physical Ethernet ID. ICCID i beleive is set for each SIM card , thus that making that iphone4 to be identified by these two key figures.

as a side issue- I have Un;imited data Plan from work , so would like to use this plan for ....tethering & WiFi hotspot like ....
... am wondering if the Telco's would object to suddenly find huge increase in rate of data useage by this ICCID/IMEI set. (I know of one person who was billed $1600 for using his phone via MiWi tethering - even though he had 'Unlimited Data Plan'......> currently that bill of that Telco is set for legal process ........)

I've been doing this for a while, and to the best of my knowledge there are no tools in the wild to clone a phone. These kind of tools, exist at the government level where agents of governments can create a clone phone, with the info the telco has about your phone. But end users don't have access to these tools. Such phones are very quickly noticed by most telcos, who take actions against them. 

As I said there are areas of the phone that are not written to, when the phone is restored, additional areas (modem firmware) are written to on a phone update. But even with a phone update, the entire memory of the phone is not rewritten. The IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) and the ICCID (Integrated Circuit Card ID) are not written to. There is also an UDID number, Service Provider Name (SPN), and Local Area Identity (LAI), lots and lots of memory is not changed. Then there are MAC addresses on your iPhone, one for Bluetooth, one for Wi-Fi..... These also don't change on a restore or update.

I suppose it is worth while to remember that your service provider has the ability to reach out and touch your phone and disable it at will. To turn it into a brick.... 

As to unlimited data plans, that is simply, hype for the most part. And every service provider that I am aware of treats mobile hotspot data different than data used within the phone. Phone companies make money from overages charges, or the threat of them and are very creative when it comes to finding ways to put us over. My service provider, as an example requires me to choose between unlimited data on my phone, or the ability to turn my phone into a hotspot.  

****If your iPhone is not your iPhone, but rather your company's iPhone you might also want to stop and think about how they would feel about jail breaking it. Many companies take security very seriously when it comes to their LANs. Many see a jail broken device as a security breach and grounds for dismissal some software refuses to run on jail broken devices, iBooks is one as well as some Cisco apps. *****

Dah;
Thanks for clarifing the niti-griti details ,,, much appreciated

I have tried the steps mentioned by Norris (www.limera1n.com)
So now I have steped thru the process .. and seems to how the "Carrier" below the Notifications in SETTINGS screen.
Is this the only way to tell the Iphone has the jailbreak?
(my Ibooks works , still)Also I did get Error 21 , while doing 'Restore' at fist attempt....than I reboot and it seems to work fine

in short am lookin for a way to confirm if the jailbreak is working?
Guess - have to source a Mini-Sim for iphone 4 to test.....

Me thinks of all Else fails ,,,,, buy another LEGALLY UNLOCKED Iphone4 from Apple
and there goes my replacement W Series .....

Cheers everyone

To be honest I've not tried Limera1n on 4.2.1, and the web page just offers a download, no details... I was under the impression that geohot had move on to Sony, and while it was reported that he had a version of ra1n available for the 4.2.1 iOS I had not heard that it was actually released.

So if you go to | Settings | General | About | what is listed for version at the bottom of the screen?

How to tell that it is jailbroken is you have Cydia on your device (usually on the second home screen page) (okay for purest that's not true) but Cydia is the most common reason to jailbreak and if you don't have access to it most would say it's not fully jailbroken.

as far as i remember limera1n wont work on 4.2.1. only greenpoison rc6 will work for 4.2.1. and make sure itunes is updated.

I get SAME version > and didnt work as 'jailbreak' ..........

I tried it on an ATT version Iphone4 and I get "error code 21".....

.....................however it seems lot LESS COMPLICATED process than other one...............................

Ah, that's correct. Limera1n is for 4.1 and below. I totally forgot about that. I personally use Redsn0w, but it lacks the "one-click" operation that some of the others use.

Geohot did move on to Sony. He then broke the Sony security, and got served legal papers by Sony. He's moved onto Windows Phone 7 now.

IMEI cloning is possible with many phones (including the original iPhone). It's also very likely illegal in your jurisdiction. (In the US, at least for my state and when last I checked, it was illegal to do for the purposes of obtaining service that you didn't pay for, but *potentially* legal if done for non-fraudulent purposes. I still wouldn't recommend it.)

Also, lest the terminology confuse people: referring to a factory-unlocked iPhone as "legally unlocked" implies that unlocking your phone yourself is somehow illegal. It's not. (At least not in the US or the UK.) It is a lot less convenient (in the case of the iPhone), and ever-so-slightly riskier (although bricking is pretty hard to do), but it's not illegal.

@DAH.....& N'cell...
Thanks for update.

> @ Legal Issues ......DOH !! @!@

not I want to be 'illegal" since I have a LEGALLY UNLOCKED iphone + UNlimited DATA PLAN ,,,,, and GLOBAL ROAMING....

was thinkin to use these features to share with other CoWorkers ( at meetings etc) and cut down on Costs . Thus the thought o........ which happen to be SAME as what I think HARRY* is /might be doing

Think i /we would invest in a 3/4G router - which is/are painto carry about in suitecases when travelling - not to mention the "outlet plug" hasselles etc etc..


Ah Well ......... Hasta Manianna !

>>>>>>>> UPDATE ON THIS TOPIC = PERSONAL WIFI_ HOTSPOT <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

G'Day Harry;

Please referfer to the link below , especially to the section - Personal Hotspot for iPhone 4


Sure is nice to see a Major Company , actually LISTERN to the users !!!!

Cheers everyone

edited>removed names email for security resaons....

Nice...thanks for the information. Way to go Apple!.

Turns out that in order to do 'Personal Hotspot' with ATT you have to purchase an 'iPhone 3G Tethering" plan for $45. I already have a $25 data plan. It just never ends ....

Does this unlock works with OS upgrades and new app releases?