Upgrading from the crappy Nokia that 7 Eleven sells you to an iPhone 3Gs. Phone had 4.2.1 installed and the previous owner had unlocked and jailbroken it. However phone is now stuck in a restore loop, with the only option being updating to 5.01 via iTunes.

If I update this 3Gs to 5.01 will I be able to use it with Speakout? Not sure what network the phone is originally locked to but don't think it's Rogers. Of course once I update there's no going back. The nice thing about 5.01 is that there's now an untethered JB for it. But not sure what baseband I have in there now since I can't turn the phone on to check. So if I update to 5.01 in order to get the phone working and hopefully, jailbroken, I may be stuck with a nasty surprise due to possible baseband incompatibility. Has anyone here updated their iPhone 3gs to 5.01 and had success unlocking it to work with SO?

Oh and for some reason I cannot restore the phone back to 4.2.1, even via DFU mode. iTunes says the device isn't eligible for the requested build, even though I"m trying to install the original firmware. Not sure what was done to this phone but hoping to fix it, so if anyone has any advice, i'd like to hear it. Thanks

Hey, thanks I did manage to finally get the iphone 3Gs working with Speakout. It took quite the effort to see that word displayed at the top left side of the iphone but it's a lovely sight. As it turns out the phone I had just purchased had issues and it wasn't that easy getting it going as it wouldn't even turn on or accept any firmware.

For anyone that has a crappy nokia phone from 7 Eleven and is considering an iphone, there's hope as most iphones will work. But not all. If you're considering getting one there are certain models that won't work at this time depending on the serial number. So do your research first. In short I got this iphone 3Gs updated to 5.0.1 and fully unlocked to work with Speakout (as well as jailbroken but apparently that's off topic) and really happy with the outcome. I live in the far south end of Calgary and get excellent reception and signal bars.
The process wasn't as straight forward and it had to have its baseband replaced with that of the ipad in order for it to be unlocked. But all went well after many hours spent on this. Again, do your research and don't hesitate to ask questions if you're considering an iphone to work with the Spekout sim.

While in the subject it would seem that Speakout isn't the best companion for a device as sophisticated as the iphone (or any smart phone for that matter). I mean, aside from making calls and sending messages without pictures, I still need to figure any other use for Speakout. I mean, do they allow you to send a text message from a computer? Back when I was with Fido I could text someone from my email program by sending it to xxx@fido.ca and my message would appear on the recipient's phone. Does 7 Eleven even let you do this?

Well the C3 is a fine phone as far as I know for messaging as it has a full keyboard. But after my horrible experience with the Nokia 1661 and 1616 I'm glad I no longer use these. Not so much for messaging but due to the horrible volume that is simply impossible to hear. How Nokia produced a phone that has a volume so low that renders the phone unusable is beyond me. How 7 Eleven would happily sell this junk is also beyond me.
Guess it's my fault for falling for the whole free phone marketing bs with the $100 voucher. I still like the plan but never again will use another cheapo nokia.

Nokia has many problems. Wife spent $700 on a Nokia N95 when these came out a few years ago just to stop using it due to horrible battery life. We're talking useless. How useless? It hasn't been used in years. $700 well spent isn't it? Yet that was one incredible phone, the first to sport a 5 megapixel camera and great video capture. But they failed miserably with a battery that is useless. So at the end: major fail.

Sure, one shouldn't expect much from a low end phone and lets face it, these cheapo nokia phones are rugged and never die. yes, we dropped one in the Bow river and it worked fine the next day. We got a bit of condensation into a Blackberry that was put inside a bag with the kid's sippy cup and the phone died completely. But for Nokia to make a phone that is impossible to hear is not acceptable, be it free or not.

That's my point when I refer to Nokia as crappy phones. It has cost us enough, so never again. Last week I also bought a cheapo sony ericsson to use as a back up and it's a great little phone with a decent camera, good volume and all. Why can't nokia put a half decent camera on their low end phones? I mean, have they not figured out that VGA is not acceptable?