The iPhone 3G is one of the more desirable handsets to date, and it has an impressive track record to back up that particular statement. How many people have thrown a glance of envy at somebody who walks by while fiddling with their iPhone? I myself have clamored for one, but the prohibitively high price tag when purchased unlocked ($599 for the 8GB and $699 for the 16GB model from AT&T themselves) is a major stumbling block. For those who want to have their cake and eat it, here’s one method to stay ahead of Apple’s own game by unlocking a supposed contract-tied iPhone to choose a network operator of your choice. While the latest iPhone firmware and baseband updates have already closed up a great many of the commonly exploited software loopholes, the UnlockAnyiPhone.net (www.unlockanyiphone.net) solution still has not been circumvented (much to the chagrin of the folks at Apple I presume) as it offers a safe, physical SIM insert designed to work with any iPhone model without having to cut or cause any loss of service.

According to Peter Smit of UnlockAnyiPhone.net, “Our solution is one of the most reliable unlocking products on the market, and we’re proud to offer our customers an easy route to unlocking their iPhone. Unlike many of our competitors, our SIM unlock solution is completely unaffected by the latest updates from Apple, and as a result, UnlockAnyiPhone.net customers can still enjoy safe, legal and easy unlocking thanks to our product. Those that provided software unlocking solutions have been closed off in later models, with Apple successfully closing down the security loopholes that made software unlocking possible. However, our physical unlock will continue to function regardless of modifications made to the 3G handset’s programming, allowing the user to bypass the automatic network configuration to choose their own preferred operator.”

You can pick up unlocking solutions for both models of the iPhone from $29.95 onwards.

4Media provides various iPhone software: 4Media iPod Transfer (Win/Mac), 4Media iPhone Ringtone Maker (Win/Mac), and 4Media DVD to iPhone Converter (Win/Mac).