Aside from SIM piggy-back unlock solutions, the only other way to let your iPhone 3G roam free on any GSM network is to buy an officially Apple-unlocked iPhone 3G in places like Hong Kong and parts of Europe. Unfortunately for those customers that shelled out the big bucks to get their hands on an unlocked iPhone 3G, there are reports that updating to the iPhone 2.2 OS can cause the handset to become locked.
Apparently, if an iPhone 3G is bought legally unlocked and then updated in another country, then officially-unlocked handset may become locked. iPhone Atlas cites user-reports from Apple’s support forums:
“Bought legally unlocked iPhone in Hong Kong. Updated to 2.2 in Germany. No my iPhone seems to be locked.”
“I bought my iPhone 3G legally unlocked from HK, and I just upgraded to iPhone 2.2, but it seems my phone is locked now. On the phone it says emergency calls only and iTunes is saying not supported SIM.”
It’s likely safe to assume that the majority of unlocked iPhone 3G owners out there have already updated to the iPhone 2.2 OS without any problems. But, if you’ve found that your unlocked iPhone 3G is no longer playing nice with your GSM network, it might be that iPhone 2.2 OS update.
[Via: iPhone Atlas]