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Thinking of getting a 5 at Walmart. Advice needed

A

ALMF

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 20, 2012
147
1
I currently have an iPhone 4 with AT&T and eligible for upgrade. I’m thinking of getting the 5 at the current discount that Walmart is offering. My questions are:

1. How do I activate/set it up? Do they do it at Walmart or do I do this at home and how difficult will it be?

2. What are the better ways of selling my iPhone 4?

3. Do I need to get my old phone unlocked to sell and at what point do I do this?

thank you
 
macher

macher

macrumors 68040
Oct 13, 2012
3,329
1,716
ALMF said:
I currently have an iPhone 4 with AT&T and eligible for upgrade. I’m thinking of getting the 5 at the current discount that Walmart is offering. My questions are:

1. How do I activate/set it up? Do they do it at Walmart or do I do this at home and how difficult will it be?

2. What are the better ways of selling my iPhone 4?

3. Do I need to get my old phone unlocked to sell and at what point do I do this?

thank you
Click to expand...

Walmart will activate your iPhone 5.

The iPhone 4 might sell faster if it's unlocked.
 
Jordan921

Jordan921

macrumors 603
Jul 7, 2010
5,069
2,171
Bay Area
If you buy it at Walmart they will activate it for you. After you have your new iPhone 5 working just get your phone unlocked and sell it on Craigslist or eBay.
 
H

hipnetic

macrumors 65816
Oct 5, 2010
1,266
562
Don't want to hijack this thread, but I didn't want to post in that super-big thread and the subject line of this thread works for my question as well...

I have a family account with three iPhones. Only my line is eligible for an upgrade, but I'm thinking about giving an iPhone 5 to my daughter for Xmas. I'd like to get the cheapest price available (Walmart), but would ideally like it to be completely unactivated and wrapped under the tree, and then activate it (for her line) afterwards. Is there any way to make that all work with this Walmart deal?

If not, can I do the following...Buy the phone at Walmart and have them activate it for my #, but keep my old iPhone 4S active as well. I'm hoping that if I keep the new iPhone 5 powered down completely, calls would still ring into my iPhone 4S. Then, after she unwraps the iPhone 5, we'd need to go to an AT&T store and have them re-program her iPhone 5 SIM to be for her phone #.

If, on the other hand, when Walmart activates the new phone, my old iPhone 4S ceases to work with my #, that will be more of a butt pain. Then, I guess, I'd have to use the new iPhone 5 until Xmas and somehow keep it hidden from her.
 
T

travis.hansen

macrumors regular
Nov 5, 2012
108
0
ALMF said:
I currently have an iPhone 4 with AT&T and eligible for upgrade. I’m thinking of getting the 5 at the current discount that Walmart is offering. My questions are:

1. How do I activate/set it up? Do they do it at Walmart or do I do this at home and how difficult will it be?

2. What are the better ways of selling my iPhone 4?

3. Do I need to get my old phone unlocked to sell and at what point do I do this?

thank you
Click to expand...

The phone will come with a sim in it. They will activate it there upon purchase. You will leave with a working phone.

Get your iPhone factory unlocked, it will sell faster and for more money. Avoid eBay. Sell local cash only on a local classified ad

Take in a printed ad from At&t or Apple's website. Places like walmart often times charge a little more but will price match if you bring in a printed ad.


Good luck and enjoy your new device. :)
 
A

ALMF

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 20, 2012
147
1
well there was a sudden twist to my situation today. Rain, phone falls, it mostly works but can't hear people talk through the internal speaker.

so much for selling the old phone. lol
 
B

Browns2212

macrumors regular
Dec 6, 2012
161
0
Orchard Park, NY
hipnetic said:
Don't want to hijack this thread, but I didn't want to post in that super-big thread and the subject line of this thread works for my question as well...

I have a family account with three iPhones. Only my line is eligible for an upgrade, but I'm thinking about giving an iPhone 5 to my daughter for Xmas. I'd like to get the cheapest price available (Walmart), but would ideally like it to be completely unactivated and wrapped under the tree, and then activate it (for her line) afterwards. Is there any way to make that all work with this Walmart deal?

If not, can I do the following...Buy the phone at Walmart and have them activate it for my #, but keep my old iPhone 4S active as well. I'm hoping that if I keep the new iPhone 5 powered down completely, calls would still ring into my iPhone 4S. Then, after she unwraps the iPhone 5, we'd need to go to an AT&T store and have them re-program her iPhone 5 SIM to be for her phone #.

If, on the other hand, when Walmart activates the new phone, my old iPhone 4S ceases to work with my #, that will be more of a butt pain. Then, I guess, I'd have to use the new iPhone 5 until Xmas and somehow keep it hidden from her.
Click to expand...

As far as I know, once you purchase a phone (Wal-Mart, etc) as an updrade they activate your phone on the spot and your old phone is deactivated.

The only thing I can think of you doing is the following, however, I have Verizon and only know that you can do this through Verizon as I've never had a different carrier:

On VerizonWireless.com you can switch (activate and deactivate) devices on your account. I believe you would activate the new phone at Wal-Mart and then go home and reactivate your old phone. The i5 would then be deactivated. Once X-Mas happens, you can take the i5 and activate it on the other line.

It sounds complicated but whenever I upgrade I just give my wife my older phone b/c she doesn't really care about them too much. I just swap them out online under the "Change Device" tab.
 
R

robertbooth

macrumors newbie
Jun 23, 2012
17
0
Markham Il
Walmart wireless associate

It is possible to do a upgrade without activating the phone. I do it all the time when someone wants to use it as a gift. Before the end of the activation i just have to call retail support to do the upgrade on their end and we just print out the physical contract to be signed. It really depends on if that Walmart associate want to go the extra mile for you
 
H

hipnetic

macrumors 65816
Oct 5, 2010
1,266
562
robertbooth said:
It is possible to do a upgrade without activating the phone. I do it all the time when someone wants to use it as a gift. Before the end of the activation i just have to call retail support to do the upgrade on their end and we just print out the physical contract to be signed. It really depends on if that Walmart associate want to go the extra mile for you
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info!
 
adam044

adam044

macrumors 65816
Jan 24, 2012
1,095
10
Boston
ALMF said:
I currently have an iPhone 4 with AT&T and eligible for upgrade. I’m thinking of getting the 5 at the current discount that Walmart is offering. My questions are:

1. How do I activate/set it up? Do they do it at Walmart or do I do this at home and how difficult will it be?

2. What are the better ways of selling my iPhone 4?

3. Do I need to get my old phone unlocked to sell and at what point do I do this?

thank you
Click to expand...

Turn it on, put micro sim with your number into phone
Plug into iTunes click restore
No
 
N

nikhilkas

macrumors newbie
Aug 11, 2010
17
0
I got my phone at Walmart. Asked if I could activate the phone later and the rep said no. Guess the policy might differ from store to store.
 
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