The iPhone Dev Wiki has released a new tool which enables Apple’s iPhone to work on a much broader range of AT&T accounts. The tool, iASign, will generate a valid activation token based on the SIM card (and iPhone) information. While this does not break the phone’s SIM lock, it does allow for activation with virtually any AT&T/Cingular SIM that the iPhone is hardware-compatible with.
This means that the iPhone is now unlocked to work with GoPhone Pay As You Go accounts. In addition, it is also expected to be compatible with XE Mobile, 7-Eleven, cool.Prepaid, GTC, and many other lesser-known MVNOs. However, the advantage for potential iPhone owners is clear: Users can use the phone mostly as a Wi-Fi device, and as a cell phone casually, while still using another device as their primary phone.
Read more for more details, and download.
As we previously covered, GoPhone Pay As You Go now supports prepaid data, at an optimal rate of 5 MB for $10, with support for rollover (so long as the customer adds another 5 MB at least once a month). In the same article, we noted that this would be the ideal solution for many iPhone buyers who prefer a 3G EV-DO phone, but still want the reliability of a Mac OS X-enabled PDA. Now, iASign appears to be poised to enable it.
Finally, users on corporate-liable business accounts will now also be able to activate iPhone.
The iPhone Dev Wiki has asked us to not directly link to their site, citing bandwidth concerns. We are mirroring the new iASign tool for download at the link below. However, we cannot stress enough that iASign is buggy, not perfect, can fail, and is not supported by anyone. It is not a mature tool, and is only meant for the hacking-inclined. It must be combined with another activation tool to upload the iTunes token to the iPhone.
Update: This process has become popular within hours of being developed. And, we have independently verified that the process works… our iPhone is now running on a GoPhone Pay As You Go prepaid account. Others have posted a very-easy (albeit long) workflow, and while we caution that this is still for very advanced users, it has worked without fail on multiple iPhones.
Update 2: The iASign linked above has been updated to v2. Version 2 adds an automatic activation mode. Simply jailbreak (use iFuntastic for that), then use the automatic activation mode (read the instructions). iASign will make the necessary file changes, and pull the necessary info from the SIM inside of your iPhone.
