My Dilemma: Software vs. Hardware

Ok so this whole iPhone sim unlock thingy is really getting serious now that Apple is actively preventing people from unlocking their iPhones. The current iPhones ship with Firmware 1.1.2 and also come with a new bootloader which makes software unlocking almost impossible right now. The best solution so far is using hardware such as Stealth Sim but I would have to modify my sim card (as in cut out a portion of it). The downside is, that it is costly. Something like $100+ USD!! Ok, so the situation is like this...

Software Unlock

Pros:

• Free
  
• Relatively easy to do

Cons:

• Can't unlock FW1.1.2 Out of the box
• Not upgrade friendly (as in I have to wait for a new unlock everytime a new firmware is released)
• There are paid solutions which cost about the same as the hardware ones but you have to give your IMEI number to a third party

Hardware Unlock

Pros:

• Quite easy to do also
• Most of it is plug and play
• Upgrade friendly

Cons:

• Expensive!
• Have to modify sim which might get me in trouble with my telco

Anyway, to get an idea of how easy it is to actually use something like Stealth Sim here's a short clip on it...