How to Enable EDGE/APN Editing on Jailbroken iPhone

by Simon Ng on September 7, 2009



iPhone - Cellular Data Network SettingSince the release of iPhone 2.0, you’re allowed to edit APN settings for the cellular data network connection of your iPhone. Normally, you can access this setting by tapping Settings -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network. However, as I know, not everyone can edit the APN setting, no matter you’re using EDGE or 3G. Apple provides a configuration tool for carriers and lets them to determine if they want the users to edit the APN settings. Some carriers prefer to preset the APN setting for its users but disallow the editing by disabling the option.

It’s not a problem if you bought your iPhone from the official carrier. But if you’re using an unlocked iPhone with other carriers, you’ll need to edit the APN setting for connecting to the Internet.

So, what if you can’t find this option after jailbreaking & unlocking your iPhone? Here is the solution. [Thanks to altfx2 for sharing the tip!]

Before diving deep into the solution, make sure you know how to use SSH to transfer file between iPhone and your computer. You’ll need to copy a file from iPhone to your PC/Mac for editing and then transfer it back to iPhone. You can refer to this guide if you’re not very familiar with SSH:

Let’s get started

1. First, connect to your iPhone using WinSCP for Windows or Cyberduck for Mac. Navigate to /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/.bundle. Here, refers to the carrier you’re using. Say, for me, I’m using Hutchison Hong Kong. is “Hutchison_HK”.

2. Copy the “carrier.plist” file from iPhone to your computer.

For Mac User
3. You can simply double-click on the “carrier.plist” to open it. Check the “AllowEDGEEditing” checkbox to enable it.

Edit plist file on Mac

For Windows User
3. Download Property List Editor and use it to open “carrier.plist”. Add the following code:

<key>AllowEDGEEditing</key>
<true/>

Property List Editor - Enable APN Setting

4. Save the change and transfer the file back to iPhone. Put the file back to the same folder you use in step 1.

5. Once done, restart your iPhone. You should be able to edit APN setting by tapping Setting -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network

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{ 2 trackbacks }

Anonymous
November 5, 2009 at 12:12 am
Anonymous
November 7, 2009 at 7:06 pm

{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

1 VISH September 7, 2009 at 10:02 pm

nice post .. helped a lot

Reply

2 iphone September 13, 2009 at 3:57 am

wonderful post, considering APN Editing is down in Cydia.

Will click on a few ads for you. :)

Reply

3 Tim September 20, 2009 at 10:03 am

So I’ve found this same information posted on numerous different sites and was hoping that it would help me get Visual Voicemail working on my iPhone again. Unfortunately, having followed this information to a T, I’m unable to get the Cellular Data Network button to appear. Everything else appears to be working properly on my phone.

I have a Jailbroken 3GS running 3.0.1. I’ve tried carrier profiles and numerous other tweaks. And not that I’d really use this feature much, I just hate having features disabled by service providers like AT&T.

Any ideas why this might not be working for me?

Reply

4 George September 21, 2009 at 7:47 pm

Hey, what application are you using for editing the .plist like that on the Mac ? Mine opens it in a strange encoding in textedit, and i got to open it with textwrangler the same way the windows one looks, but i don’t have the code there, i think i need to add it manually.
thanks

Reply

5 Simon Ng September 21, 2009 at 9:17 pm

@George, you can open the file with Property List Editor.

Reply

6 George September 21, 2009 at 9:38 pm

Thanks, it worked perfectly.

Reply

7 gamezz October 22, 2009 at 10:31 am

i cant seems to find the EDGE tag?? anyone know why that is??

Reply

8 Daniel November 5, 2009 at 1:50 am

Is there an Property List Editor for Windows XP?

Thank you.

Reply

9 ttllkk November 14, 2009 at 5:56 pm

On 3.1.2 – I was able to get it fixed only after modifying the carrier file on var/mobile/library/Carrier in addition to the file in /System/Library/Carrier Bundles/ mentioned in this post (maybe the first one is even enough).
I want to use the opportunity to thank Simon for this amazing blog. Thanks.

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