I'm following instructions from here. Here goes nothing...

1. I've downloaded all those bits of hacking software and patches and restoration packs etc.
2. I've set the phone to restore mode.
3. iTunes has detected I'm in restore mode and I've now told it to downgrade its internal software to version 1.1.1 that I downloaded earlier. It is now downgrading... how very exciting! At the moment though, the phone part is still not hacked. All I'm doing here is making the iphone actually work as a web browser, youtube viewer, google maps user etc etc without signing up with O2 first.
4. Bit of a drama. iTunes reports an error code 1015 but apparently this is normal and can be ignored. Yikes.
5. Shut down iTunes. Breath deeply.
6. Now its time to hack into the vulnerable 1.1.1. software and activate all the features.
7. OK. Problem here. The "independence" software won't open. It keeps quitting itself. I'm going to reboot the computer and see if that helps.
8. OK it turns out I forgot to read the "readme" file. I've now installed "independence properly" and am up to the next step. Time to follow this youtube video. Fingers crossed now.
9. I've got stuck halfway through the youtube video. This could be a tricky one. But if it goes wrong I can just restore the phone and start again.
10. OK I sussed it out. That was fun actually.
11. I have done the jailbreak thingy and the phone is now fully functioning. I am now updating the firmware back to 1.1.2 for increased functionality and then I've just got one more piece of software to run and then I should be home and dry... apart from the phone/text features, which is very sad but it should be unlocked soon. I can't decide whether to go with the hacked simcard idea or wait for a software hack. I think I'll just go for the simcard thing.
12. Couple more hickups but I'm working through them. Any second now..... any.... second..... now.....
13. OK it's all gone wrong. I think I unplugged a cable at a critical moment and ruined everything. I've got to start back at step 1 now.
14. Actually I think I simply forgot to install the final bit of software and I'm not if I ruined it all in the process of trying to figure out what happened. I'm now trying to run the final bit of software but its popped an error message at me. I'm trying to get around it though...
15. Sack it I'm starting again
16. OK good, we're back on track now. Things are going well. I'm up to step 11 above now lol
17. Whoops, an unknown error occurred. That's not good. Restart itunes and see what happens.... nothing. D'oh!
18. Back to step 1. This is frustrating but I'm getting much quicker at all of the steps with each new attempt
19. I've been through it all again but got the same error code (1602) again. Time to ask the experts on the iphone web dev forum

(1 comments below)