Permanent iPhone Unlock Without Jailbreaking?

A couple of years ago, people used to jailbreak their phones to unlock it and use it on other carriers besides AT&T. These days, iPhone fans can always buy a Verizon phone but that has not stopped jailbreaking by any means. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could unlock your iPhone without jailbreaking it? A couple of services have popped up that promise to do just that. They do that remotely too.

Cut Your Sim and GSM Phone Source are two of these services that promise to unlock your phone remotely. They are not free though. You will have to pay $169.99 or $179.99 respectively to take advantage of these services. Those of you interested should provide these services with your IMEI number and wait till the process is completed.

Apparently, these solutions are permanent and do not void your warranty. The folks at BGR seem to have had no major issues with this approach. But as they suggested, this solution is anything but permanent. Besides, what is the point of unlocking the iPhone in the U.S., when Verizon and AT&T are offering the device (with T-Mobile being acquired by AT&T).

Is this approach even legal? That is not clear at this point. We do know that jailbreaking is legal. Device unlocking is a whole other issue. One thing is for certain: Apple will most likely find a way to combat this problem.