Please Help Total Newb: Iphone Jailbreak/Unlock.

[ignorant.]

I damaged my old phone (AT&T provider) and still have the SIM card. My friend gave me his old Iphone and I want to use that as my replacement. My question is, what do I have to do to it to make it usable as I do not have an Iphone plan? Do I need to Jailbreak/Unlock it? The phone was just restored back to its original factory settings. I'm reading that baseband and firmware versions being known are necessary to Jailbreak/Unlock the Iphone. But when I plug it into my Mac, Itunes just says "There is no SIM card in the Iphone that you are attempting to activate". It says "No SIM card installed" on the Iphone. At this point what do I need to do to Jailbreak/Unlock it? How do I figure out what baseband/firmware version I am running? I'm a total newb and am at square one here, any clarity will help.

 

[Alli]

It really won't matter as AT&T will be able to tell you're using an iPhone and will charge you for the iPhone data plan.

 

[ignorant.]

I cant put my SIM card in the phone and just use it for Call/Text?

 

[Cobra5mil]

That use to be do-able a year or two ago. However, AT&T now checks the IMEI of phones and if you are using an iPhone without a data plan, you will be sent a text message stating they will be adding a data plan to your account if you keep using that phone. How can AT&T force a data plan on you? It is in your contract when you signed up with AT&T. iPhones REQUIRE a data plan.

P.S. When this was do-able, it was very difficult to ensure all the data was blocked on the iPhone. Everything from stock to weather try to update using data. Having no data plan could become very expensive.