Activate iPhone Without the Original SIM Card (iPhone 4, 3GS and 3G) | iPhone Activation

Activate iPhone Without the Original SIM Card (iPhone 4, 3GS and 3G)

Sherif Hashim has found a way to activate iPhone without the original SIM card. He has posted a video on how to activate iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G without official carrier’s SIM Card. Sherif Hashim is the same guy who found the exploit to unlock baseband 05.12.01 and baseband 05.13.04.

activate iphone 4, 3gs 3g

Sherif Hashim has discovered that you can activate iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G with a PhoneBook SIM card. A PhoneBook SIM card is used to transfer your phonebook contacts from one phone to another. You can purchase PhoneBook SIM card from Radioshack, Mobile Phone Shops, or online. iPhone 4 users need to cut the SIM to micro-SIM card size.

Activate iPhone Without the Original SIM

IMHO, this is an excellent find by Sherif because some of the latest jailbreak tools like Spirit requires your iPhone to be activated first. With Spirit almost ready to jailbreak iPhone 4, this find will surely help many unofficial carrier users out there.

Congratz Sherif for another great discovery.

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80 comments… add one
ryan nguyen July 19, 2010, 2:53 am

cool man

sowat99 July 19, 2010, 3:26 am

@iphoneheat indeed a nice discovery! but is this only for iOS 4 or 4.1? how bout the lower OS’s? i also read in his youtube post that this simcard cost $70. and radioshack doesnt know about this item.. hope everything will be cleared out..

sowat99 July 19, 2010, 3:43 am

okay found the seller of this sim http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ZqwHIJVNI&feature=player_embedded its only 8GBP.

Helping Others August 13, 2010, 11:24 am

Here is another additionion:
1. I went to Best Buy and bought this “H2O Wireless Universal Sim Card” for $9.99 (Get the Green Package only.) No Need to Activate the Sim Card.
2. Put the H2O Wireless Universal Sim Card on your iPhone.
3. Plug your iPhone to Itunes and you will be able to bypass ATT activation. The you will be able to jailbrakeme.com and Ultrasnow to unlock!!!

Works with iPhone 3G and 3GS….(did not try with iPhone 4
You can also buy this H2O Wireless Universal Sim Card online.

Fristi August 18, 2010, 7:49 pm

That O2 wireless simcard maybe only works for AT&T?
I got an Irish phone and it doesn’t work, it still doesn’t recognize the simcard.

allydawn November 20, 2010, 2:57 am

Just bought that green-packeged H2O sim-card – now trying to activate the iPhone 4…. It worked, guys! Just insert the sim, connect to laptop (itunes) – and its done! Cheers!

MISSI July 19, 2010, 3:43 am

cool merci good

MISSI July 19, 2010, 3:57 am

Country
Carrier
Locked to carrier
iPhone 3G Model Numbers
iPhone 3GS Model Numbers

Belgium
Mobistar

MB489NF/A
MB496NF/A
MB500NF/A
MC131NF/A
MC132NF/A
MC133NF/A
MC134NF/A

CzechRepublic
O2

MB489CZ/A
MB496CZ/A
MB500CZ/A
MC131CZ/A
MC132CZ/A
MC133CZ/A
MC134CZ/A

Ordinary_guyz July 19, 2010, 6:18 am

Well I know about that already and I bought that simcard for only 10$ in Cambodia. It really works with any iPhone from any country around the world..

Lady July 25, 2010, 9:05 am

Hey Ordinary_guyz, I am looking to activate iphone bought in USA. Where did you get your sim-card in Cambodia? I am also from Cambodia. Do you know where to unlock iphone 3gs ios 4.0? Thanks for your advice.

callme_dane August 5, 2010, 2:47 pm

Hi Ordinary_guyz!!
Could you tell me where can i buy that sim in cambodia? I also live in Cambodia…
Thank

Ordinary_guyz August 5, 2010, 3:58 pm

Call me at +855 12391199. It’s easy that way..

SSPh0An December 20, 2010, 9:57 am

I also in Cambodia and I really want to know where u bought the phone book sim card. Can u tell me please?

smsayedee July 19, 2010, 7:35 am

Try with a itune where another iphone is already synced and has backup. then just dock u’r iphone (not activated, with any sim) and restore it as the original one.
I dont know man but it still works, i’m not that into tech things…
But i was still able to activate my frnd’s iphone 3gs (new bootroom) with my iphone’s settings and jailbreaked with spirit and unlock it by ultrasnow…

IB July 19, 2010, 3:34 pm

Really ?? Seriously i have been using this card allready for weeks, and Sherrif found this out ?? What a bullshit.

waha999 July 19, 2010, 4:43 pm

its mean we can activate iphone 3gs without original sim card….Do We Need Phonebook Sim Card To Activate It ?

sowat99 July 19, 2010, 5:09 pm

yup you need to buy the simcard if you lost the original sim card

foley July 19, 2010, 5:27 pm

Were can I by Phonebook Sim Card.

Regards
Foley

Fabian July 21, 2010, 1:17 am

Guys please read the whole thing before asking! That’s why these people get annoyed!!

Informatica Baleares July 19, 2010, 7:58 pm

You can order this simcard with us for 7,50€

http://www.informaticabaleares.com
Tel. +34.971.700.089

Regards

Dre July 19, 2010, 11:58 pm

Yo boys, great discovery… Couple years ago I have bought a ngage, and guess what? There was included a offline simcard…:)) I am wondering if this would work…;)

jax July 20, 2010, 6:53 am

where can i buy this phonebook simcard? ( online )

Dits Products July 29, 2010, 2:28 pm

You can buy directly from our website http://www.phonebookcard.com

Our this website is dedicated for Phonebook Card only.

We Accept payments via Paypal and Ship Worldwide via UPS Express Service reaching you within 4-5 Working days.

Regards, DITS.

taptwo July 20, 2010, 8:24 am

IB, Sherrif just displayed it for people who are not
as tech savvy as you ….idiot.
Worked great for me my 3gs has been activated ,wi-fi works,
make phone calls with skype until jailbreak for 3gs ios4 old bootrom is out .Now I need to get my e-mail working .
Thanks Sherrif and rest of dev team.

reybotchok July 20, 2010, 10:56 am

ONE QUESTION?HOW CAN I USE MY REGULAR SIM CARD TO THE NEW IPHONE 4 AS FAR AS I KNOW IT USES MICRO SIM CARD RIGHT?ANY WAY I CAN USE MY REGULAR SIM CARD?TNX!

iPhoneHeat July 21, 2010, 12:04 am

Cut your SIM into a MicroSIM

trish August 9, 2010, 7:44 pm

even if its from any telecom company in Cambodia, will it work with iphone 4? will cutting it have any effect on the performance of the iphone 4 or the sim?

saravanan July 20, 2010, 3:48 pm

those who need the iphone activation sim card u can contact me to my no or mail me to
[email protected]
mobile no: 9941665669

once u activate the iphone with this sim u can jailbreak with spirit and unlock using ultrASNOW

fern July 29, 2010, 8:14 pm

how many iphones I can activated with just one simcard as many I want???

Ordinary_guyz August 2, 2010, 10:24 pm

Anyone is on the same boat as me?

My brother in US, he bought the iphone 4 from craigslist. Then he ship to me in Cambodia. 

Once I receive it I try to activate with the normal method as the 3GS (insert the AT&T sim card and activate to home screen), but the itune says that the phone is belong to this number 510-xxx-xxxx.

 And there are 2 blanks that need to be fill. 1- billing zip code, 2- 4 last digits of social security number. 

Then I try to use the phonebook simcard. This time it didn’t activate for me but the tune didn’t say anything. 

I contact the original owner of this iphone and he ask me for 200$ just to activate the phone.. That’s really a rip off. 

Is there anyone could tell me how to activate the phone without asking that damn original owner? The phonebook sim already done.. No result. 

I’m really upset with this phone now. Can comex or dev team or geohot 
Create a jailbreak without activate the phone? Just like blackra1n  3.1.2.. It doesn’t need to activate the phone.. 

I know there is a way to do it… Please try your best.. I’m willing to donate if there is a way.. Thanks..
[email protected] 

mdzago August 3, 2010, 3:55 am

Need activate after upgrade iphone firmware???

nicolas_ch August 4, 2010, 8:47 pm

be careful, there is two cards and only the 3 in 1 dits card works for the iPhone. They look the same, I bought it on IPMart to figure it out it was the wrong one.

BJV August 4, 2010, 10:57 pm

Will any active (not for iPhone) AT&T sim card work?

BJV August 5, 2010, 7:48 am

Guys use any AT&T card it will work barrow one if you need one

Sarvanan84 August 5, 2010, 5:20 am

IPhone phone book card will activate ur phone, I think u would have bought a different card, contact me for a phone book card.
[email protected]
09941665669

dodgefan August 5, 2010, 9:07 pm

after you unlock it with the phonebook card can u put ur non iphone sim card into it and use it?

mrushizha August 13, 2010, 4:25 am

I think any SIM card will do, just as long as it’s not registering to any of your mobile networks (or does it matter?)

I am in Zimbabwe and last year in April, I bought Vodacom SIM card with a Nokia 5100 handset in South Africa. I had it activated and used it a couple of times to make calls that month and never used it until now.

Just now, I tried it with my IPhone 3GS, iOS 3.1.3, base band 05.12.01 and it worked like a charm. Activation complete was acknowledged after I reinserted the SIM card I use in Zimbabwe!

Now I want to upgrade to iOS 4.0.1 and see…

mrushizha August 13, 2010, 4:43 pm

It worked! I’m now on iOS 4.0.1 fulluy unlocked without using any unlock or jailbreak tools.

Goodluck everyone!

Jic August 14, 2010, 9:58 pm

Just to let know people i had activate my iphone yesterday but has to be done via itunes because it has to connect to apple server first. Something strange happen, now when i insert any other simcard in my iphone i receive a message : The card you are using it’s not the one which activate you phone, connect to itunes to reactivate. I don’t know if it’s a new kind of anti-hacking from apple, so right now my iphone is stuck in the emergency call …

DataPriest August 16, 2010, 12:57 pm

Which iPhone do you have and which version of iOS is it you’re using?

krisch-plack August 18, 2010, 3:14 pm

got the same problem.
3GS, updated on 4.0.1.
nothing goes…stuck on emergency screen…
Got the Phonebook sim, but didn’t work…

ideas?

tiet August 26, 2010, 2:35 am

hey does this still work? my iphone 3gs is stuck in emergency mode and i don’t know how to get out of it to jailbreak and unlock it

Happy August 27, 2010, 9:14 pm

Hi sir i have 3gs iphone today when i update my iphone my internet conection cut iff in between updation as a result i tune lock my iphone so can i activate iphone by phonebook sim with ios 4.0.2
Im from india can i get this phonebook sim over internet so plese can u send me any best phonebook sim lunk where i can buy this easy.moreover do you give me any special brand for buy phonebook sim card and plese advice me thks

idkkkkkk September 22, 2010, 10:37 am

how can you unlock the iphone without a simcard and if it has a security code?

adibwasit October 1, 2010, 6:47 pm

can you solve this ? i have 3gs 3.1.2 MB model old bootrom using unofficial carrier. i just install ios4 4.0.1 on it. using custom firmware create by sn0wbreeze 2.0.2. after done with restroring, on the iphone screen come up “emergency call” and on itune come up “not supported sim carrier”. please help me, i don’t know what else to do.

Bertie December 10, 2010, 11:46 pm

I am in Afghanistan and cannot activate my Roshan simcard with the iphone

Bend it, Break it December 15, 2010, 7:28 pm

all rite mate, i got iphone 4, version 4.0.2, my carrier VodaSHIT does not want to give me the unlock code so i can travel and use it abroad! they said that can only happen after the end of the contract.
I NEED TO UNLOCK IT IN ORDER FOR IT TO WORK IN ANY NETWORK….
ANY CLUES ??
ANY ROUTES AROUND 4.0.2 VERSION???????????????????

SSPh0An December 21, 2010, 9:40 am

Has anyone know where I can buy a phone book sim in Cambodia? I really really need it,

MintSliceFan December 28, 2010, 7:31 am

The Pawnage Tool 4.1.3 Unlock saved my butt today. My wife and I have two Japanese 3G iPhones from our time there, and I had unlocked and jailbroken them using Cydia, Ultrasn0w and Jailbreakme.com just before returning to Australia. I originally upgraded the iOS for both phones to 4.0 but ended up downgrading my phone to iOS3.13 as I found it too slow. My wife kept her phone running on iOS4.0.
So, anyway I offered yesterday to downgrade my wife’s phone to iOS3.13 as she hated the fact that it was so slow. She was a bit hesitant and concerned that changing it would stuff up the phone but I said it would be fine. Boy, was I wrong!
That night, I tried to restore the phone using iOS3.13 file and rec-boot program but ran into problems as iTunes kept asking for the original japanese SIM card to activate the phone, which I didn’t have anymore. Faced with the knowledge that I had turned my wife’s beloved iPhone into a shiny new iBrick, I did some more researching until 2am and came across an earlier version of Pawnage Tool (v3.5), and finally got it up and running, jailbroken on iOS3.13. However my problems didn’t end there as Ultrasn0w wasn’t able to unlock it as the phone’s baseband was now 05.15.04 which couldn’t be unlocked. So now I had an expensive iPod Touch, which was better than an iBrick, but I wasn’t satisfied with that outcome. Some more researching this morning allowed me to find The Pawnage Tool 4.1.3 Unlock . I downloaded iOS4.2.1 and iPad 3.2.2 files and got through the installation process fine. I then downloaded Ultrasn0w v1.2 and rebooted the phone. VIOLA!! An unlocked, fully working iphone, and a happy wife!

rjohnson710 January 2, 2011, 1:04 am

Hey – I am in a similar situation (living overseas, upgraded my software only to have my phone lock on me; now am stuck needing a sim card from the US). Where did you get pwnage 3.5? I can’t find it anywhere. Any other advice is welcome!
Thanks

Mbonye Andrew January 21, 2011, 3:13 pm

I LIVE IN UGANDA EAST AFRICA AND I WOULD LIKE TO BUY iPhone 4.CAN IT WORK FOR ME HERE IN UGANDA WHEN MTN OR WARID SIM CARDS ARE INSERTED AFTER UNLOCKING IT?
THANX.

kathleen February 23, 2011, 7:17 am

ok , yall i need your help ,i have the iphone without the orginal sims card , but its activated already , but the only thing is the internet , every time i get on its like saying its not the correct sims , so it cant connect , and i have internet in my plan , how do i get it to work?

lili flower March 4, 2011, 10:01 am

hi everybody i have iphone 4 how can i active any sim but micro sim on it??any sim plz help me

IphoneHelp March 5, 2011, 1:42 pm

Ok guys to save you all the trouble, if you live in the U.S. go to wal-mart or a radioshack and just buy a PREPAID GOPHONE SIM CARD for ATT, put in it then your good, now for the ones overseas i have no ideal…..

pinoy0001 March 18, 2011, 3:20 pm

hi sir,, i’m from the Philippines and i got an iPhone 3g from japan. i am using globe sim card here in the Phils., i updated my iphone yesterday to 4.2 and now it stuck to emergency mode? what should i do with it?

tianbing March 29, 2011, 3:58 pm

Hello, I am a Chinese, I am using the version of IPHONE 4 03.10.1, will be able to unlock it? I have done to escape. My e-mail is [email protected] can if you can not have any idea when? Congratulations!

adaxa April 23, 2011, 5:06 pm

hi , who can help me about my iphone 3g,
I have problem with wifi:unable to join this network!
what kind of firmware versions do I have to restore
example 3.1.3 or the latest versions wich is the best for 3g!
thanks a lot.

dee June 2, 2011, 8:53 am

i have an iphone4 unlocked & i just got a new micro sim. i need to activate the new sim but i would like to use my old sim number is that possible? or is there a way i can cut my old sim to fit in the iphone4. HELP PLEASE!

Saravanan June 7, 2011, 11:29 pm

hi guys, i updated my iphone 4 locked with at&t with ios 4.3.3 & im using it in india… now im getting an message that my iphone need to be activated…. can this be activated without the original sim card…. pls help guys… im eagerly waiting….

Biggie August 6, 2011, 10:41 pm

Ok so i got this iphone 2g but it just got updated and will this work for it??

khaie13 September 17, 2011, 11:05 am

guys help…im in saudi arabia jeddah to be exact wat sim card i will used to activate my iphone4 pls help its been A week i havent used my phone plsssssss help me

Arjun July 9, 2012, 10:18 pm

Hai i got i phone 3g3 as a gift from us i unlocked it also jailbreaked it even after it says un recognised sim caard wat to do pls help

colocoquillo October 1, 2012, 2:59 pm

Hi,

Is this still being the case?? does this system still work?? or did apple change something on their servers so it stops working now?

Dalon Fowlin November 10, 2012, 7:13 pm

so yuu could call and text people with this or nahhh ? cause im thinking about getting this

daniyal khan January 28, 2013, 9:54 pm

i have updated my iphone 3gs and now it is locked.
please tell me how to set it??????

lulolulito October 1, 2013, 4:50 pm

I tried it with the iphone 5 and IOS7 and the only method that works to activate without the original SIM Card is with a GPP sim, I bought mine from amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FFW0FMQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00FFW0FMQ&linkCode=as2&tag=b06e8-20

I hope this help a few 🙂

riya patil June 6, 2014, 2:48 pm

nice one but asking about

Jasper July 24, 2015, 1:32 am

Thanks, i have a problem with my iphone first when my iphone was send to me by my uncle in london, i on the phone to activate it i sim nigeria sim card mtn it shows no service i thought it was because it was unactivated i use wifi it shows unsupported what to do help

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