Clear released a new version of the iSpot software today, and with it they made a few changes. The web-jailbreak no longer works, nor does the downgrade method, or config method. At the moment, no jailbreaks exists for the new version of iSpot software. Head over to the forum to find out more.

I will be making updates to this site as we make progress with the firmware.

FORUM LAUNCHED!

This wasn’t planned, but I’ll be opening the forum up now for people to ask questions. You can find the forum over at http://ispotunrestricted.com/forum/phpBB3/ we have some guides up for older versions of the jailbreak as well.

Before the iSpot required you to upload a firmware or config file to the device in order to remove the restrictions. However, now all you need to do is point your browser to a specific URL and it does all the work for you. The only 2 things you need to do is one, make sure you are currently connected to your iSpot with a valid service plan. And second, ensure that it has the default IP as 192.168.1.1. The best part about this new way to remove the restriction is that it works on ALL current iSpot firmwares.

If you don’t know how to check that the IP is 192.168.1.1, then you most likely already have it at 192.168.1.1. But if not, it’s just easier to do a Factory Reset (hold the power button for over 30 seconds, and let go).  Once you meet those 2 requirements, head on over to http://ispotunrestricted.com/2.0/. Once there, you just need to wait until the device restarts and it should be all ready to go.

If you have problems and you meet the 2 above requirements, the other page will have a few more steps you can do if you’re having issues. Happy unrestricting!

http://ispotunrestricted.com/2.0/

As many of you know Clearwire released a firmware on August 15th that removed the ability to upload your own custom configs. This removed the original solution to “jailbreak” the iSpot. As you may know a second solution created by myself was also tested for a short time. I originally was planning on releasing this solution as well, but something else came along that is much better and more reliable. But more on that later.

I heard a lot of chatter about Clearwire updating the iSpots OTA (Over the Air), and new users that purchased an iSpot on or after August 15th also said that it came with the new firmware. However, from what we can tell none of this is actually true. There was a bit of a communication failure in firmware versions and software versions. So let’s try and get that straighten out right now.

Clearwire released a firmware called iSpot_Firmware_v1994 and so many of us working on hacking the devices called this firmware v1994. The issue with this is that all iSpots technically are running firmware v1994. It should have actually been called R1821 as it was a software update and not really a “firmware” upgrade in the traditional sense. So the only users that shouldn’t be able to upload their own config are the one’s that updated manually to this update.

As for the OTA updates, I have not seen a single device do this myself yet. I have heard people say they had their device update overnight, or that their new devices updated after starting them up. But in all reality, I haven’t seen this happen to any of my own iSpots and I have left them on all night and day waiting for this update to happen. It is certainly possible that somehow an OTA update or something happened but at this point I don’t think Clearwire is pushing out updates. I think it’s more likely that users noticed the v1994 on their iSpot after the initial warning about it removing the ability to upload configs and didn’t verify much after that.

Now then, on to the good part. A solution for extracting, packing, downgrading and creating firmwares has been developed. Pretty much all of this is thanks to oz_paulb over at http://hackspot.net/iSpotBlog. I have been chatting with oz_paulb over the past week about the firmware structure, updating procedure and pretty much everything else related to the iSpot firmware and hardware. oz_paulb was able to create a tool which he simply calls “fwtool” which will let you extract and re-pack firmware files, as well as change some header information and md5 sums.

What’s awesome about this is that we can now downgrade back to older firmware versions and upload our own custom configs again. However what is even better than that is the fact that we can essentially create our own custom firmwares, that are free from restriction and add\remove features that we find over time to be useful or a waste. Creating your own firmware does require the use of the fwtool, but it’s still not technically for everyone. I will be creating a write up about how one can do that a bit later, but for now it’s recommended to only use the tool if you understand what you are doing.

I hope this post clears up any confusion over firmware versions and software versions, as always feel free to post any questions or comments.

This post is going to be quick and straight to the point.

You can downgrade your firmware with this file, it will take you back to the August 5th version, the version number might be different but it is the same rootfs.bin and kernel.bin files. It will not have the updated OUIs that the Aug 15th file has. However, you will be able to upload custom configs again. The firmware was created with the use of the fwtool created by oz_paulb over at http://hackspot.net/iSpotBlog/.

Just download the firmware file below, and update your iSpot like any other firmware.

August 5th – Downgradable Firmware

WARNING: THIS CAN AND WILL MOST LIKELY VOID YOUR WARRANTY AS WELL AS YOUR SERVICE PLAN WITH CLEARWIRE!

DOWNLOAD THIS CONFIG FILE AVAILABLE RIGHT HERE.
IF YOU ALSO WANT TELNET ENABLED WITH A ROOT USER, DOWNLOAD THIS FILE.

IF YOU ARE NOT ON THE AUGUST 5TH FIRMWARE, IT IS RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO FOR BEST RESULTS. YOU CAN FIND THE FIRMWARE HERE.

What does this config file do?
Works with all firmwares before the v1994 firmware update
Removes the WiFi restrictions
Enables USB tether mode
Disables the known Clearwire Auto-Update features (OMA-DM & upgrade.conf)
Sets, ENABLE_INB_MAGENT, ENABLE_INB_CAL,ENABLE_INB_TELNET,ENABLE_INB_FTP all to NO.
Only the telnet-enabled.bin file will ensure that telnet is enabled and add a new user.
User: iSpot (case sensitive)
Pass: iSp0tUnR3strict3d
Change the password immediately after logging in by doing “passwd iSpot”

Instructions:
Load the new config file (file must end in .bin) in the admin panel on the iSpot web portal. Do not load this as a firmware, it will not work. After you are done loading the config file, the iSpot will turn off. Once you turn it on, one of two things will happen. Either:

You will see a new access point called “IMW-C600W” without any encryption, besure to re-enable those settings.
or
You will see a new access point called “iSpot – Unrestricted“, which is WPA encrypted with a password of “unrestricted“.

After it’s back up and running you will be able to enjoy the unrestricted features of the iSpot. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to contact me by email or on twitter @Jaku.