Activating AT&T iPhone 6s

[jonathancoleman]

Newbie here. I upgraded on another line on our account thru AT&T with my sister-in-law who lives a few hours away. The new phone shipped tomorrow is under her number. Is there anyway I can activate it without activating the iPhone 6s and then taking her that SIM card and putting my existing SIM card in the phone?

I would love it if I could just take my sim out if my iPhone 6 and place it in the new device but for some reason it seems like last year you had to initially activate with the sim car shipped in it?

Just trying to avoid a trip for her to Att store or a trip of myself taking her the new SIM card.

 

[Trauma1]

Put in your SIM card in first before turning on the new device.

 

[nostresshere]

So sad how many folks do an "upgrade" and think they are getting a good deal.

Just buy the damn phone.

 

[chriscrowlee]

So sad how many folks do an "upgrade" and think they are getting a good deal.

Just buy the damn phone.

Educate yourself. The only way to preorder the att version was to "upgrade" by paying full price. It's buying the phone outright but att calls it an "upgrade" even though there's no contract.

You can only buy a T-Mobile phone without any carrier interaction, and you'd be a fool to do so if you have att considering the TMO version doesn't have band 30, a big enhancement in the att network which most major metros have already turned on.

 

[darknyt]

Newbie here. I upgraded on another line on our account thru AT&T with my sister-in-law who lives a few hours away. The new phone shipped tomorrow is under her number. Is there anyway I can activate it without activating the iPhone 6s and then taking her that SIM card and putting my existing SIM card in the phone?

I would love it if I could just take my sim out if my iPhone 6 and place it in the new device but for some reason it seems like last year you had to initially activate with the sim car shipped in it?

Just trying to avoid a trip for her to Att store or a trip of myself taking her the new SIM card.

I have similar situation but with two new phones sitting next to each other. My contact said to activate each with their own sim then swap.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Educate yourself. The only way to preorder the att version was to "upgrade" by paying full price. It's buying the phone outright but att calls it an "upgrade" even though there's no contract.

You can only buy a T-Mobile phone without any carrier interaction, and you'd be a fool to do so if you have att considering the TMO version doesn't have band 30, a big enhancement in the att network which most major metros have already turned on.

Maybe he ordered from At&t and is doing a 2 Year upgrade.

 

[redboxcar]

Put in your SIM card in first before turning on the new device.

This ^^

Last year I purchased three iPhone 6, all using someone else's upgrade. As soon as we got the phones, before we even turned them on, just swapped the SIMs... once on, no problems whatsoever.

 

[redboxcar]

I have similar situation but with two new phones sitting next to each other. My contact said to activate each with their own sim then swap.

They will tell you to do that, but you don't have to. In my opinion, just makes the setup harder when you do it that way.

 

[RabbitLuvr]

I'll be passing my current 6 to my husband. After I activate my 6s+ (assuming at&t actually delivers), can he take the sim from his 5s and put it in the 6??

Do we need to go in to at&t for something? Or can we just do it ourselves?

 

[redboxcar]

I'll be passing my current 6 to my husband. After I activate my 6s+ (assuming at&t actually delivers), can he take the sim from his 5s and put it in the 6??

Do we need to go in to at&t for something? Or can we just do it ourselves?

You can just swap sims, no need to go into AT&T or call or anything.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Yes.

 

[darknyt]

They will tell you to do that, but you don't have to. In my opinion, just makes the setup harder when you do it that way.

It may work, but he cautions that is best way to ensure you get the new features working reliably out of the gate. I'm gonna trust my corp rep.

He's a god among men.

 

[redboxcar]

It may work, but he cautions that is best way to ensure you get the new features working reliably out of the gate. I'm gonna trust my corp rep.

He's a god among men.

Lol, that's cool. I mean, there's nothing wrong with activating with sims then swapping them. It's just my personal preference not to. I upgrade every year and have never had an issue with new features by swapping sims prior to activation. Save myself the extra time/effort to activate... just shred/toss the sim that came with it and good to go until the next round.

 

[Cayden]

I would recommend just putting your old sim in it and setting up from a backup. My phones have usually activated by the time the backup is done and its good to go after that

 

[NewdestinyX]

I read today.. That you MUST use the new SIM in the S phone to get the LTE30 band unique to the A1633/34 ATT models. Your old SIM doesn't do that. Could I have read bad info there?

 

[NewdestinyX]

And doesn't the activation process ask you which phone line to activate to anyway? Why all the SIM swapping?

 

[mb2008]

Educate yourself. The only way to preorder the att version was to "upgrade" by paying full price. It's buying the phone outright but att calls it an "upgrade" even though there's no contract.

You can only buy a T-Mobile phone without any carrier interaction, and you'd be a fool to do so if you have att considering the TMO version doesn't have band 30, a big enhancement in the att network which most major metros have already turned on.

WHAT? I ordered 2 AT&T phones through Apple, no carrier interaction. Reserved for the Apple Upgrade (but I've decided to pay full price). Will get 2 unlocked AT&T phones. Also ordered a subsidised phone from AT&T, which is an actual upgrade on a unlimited data plan and will received a locked AT&T phone. Also could have ordered using Next, through Apple or AT&T.

 

[ljusmc]

ATT told me to just call them when I got the phone and dont follow the instructions the phone gives you to activate. They can do it on their end.

 

[darknyt]

I read today.. That you MUST use the new SIM in the S phone to get the LTE30 band unique to the A1633/34 ATT models. Your old SIM doesn't do that. Could I have read bad info there?

This is something similar to what my rep was saying as well.

 

[darknyt]

Lol, that's cool. I mean, there's nothing wrong with activating with sims then swapping them. It's just my personal preference not to. I upgrade every year and have never had an issue with new features by swapping sims prior to activation. Save myself the extra time/effort to activate... just shred/toss the sim that came with it and good to go until the next round.

Well, it will work right up until it doesn't, lol.

 

[redboxcar]

I read today.. That you MUST use the new SIM in the S phone to get the LTE30 band unique to the A1633/34 ATT models. Your old SIM doesn't do that. Could I have read bad info there?

I doubt the info is bad, what you're saying makes sense. My earlier posts were referring, in general, about the need to activate a sim on a cross-upgraded phone.

And doesn't the activation process ask you which phone line to activate to anyway? Why all the SIM swapping?

sim swap if you're doing a cross upgrade.

 

[NewdestinyX]

I don't even think SIM swap is necessary for cross grade. I do a crossgrade every other year… My wife never wants a new phone so I use her account which is exactly upgradable one year apart from mine on 2yr. I never recall ever having to swap a Sim. I think maybe on the years where I use her crossgrade I just call AT&T and give them the IMEI and other number and they do it for me. Maybe that's how I do it. This year I'll be using her crossgrade.

But this year for sure you definitely don't want to do any Sim swapping. Or you will miss out on the LTE 30 band which is only associated with the new Sim card

 

[redboxcar]

I don't even think SIM swap is necessary for cross grade. I do a crossgrade every other year… My wife never wants a new phone so I use her account which is exactly upgradable one year apart from mine on 2yr. I never recall ever having to swap a Sim. I think maybe on the years where I use her cross great I just call AT&T and give them the IMEI and other number and they do it for me. Maybe that's how I do it.

But this year for sure you definitely don't want to do any Sim swapping. Or you will miss out on the LTE 30 band which is only associated with the new Sim card

Yeah, that's exactly it. If you swap the sim, you don't have to call AT&T and give them the info to activate. Just put your old sim in and it works easy peasy. As I mentioned, both ways work and it's just a personal preference of mine to swap sims before power up so I don't have to call in.

In any case, good call about the sim thing this year for LTE 30. Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't been following the new service aspect.

 

[NewdestinyX]

Yeah, that's exactly it. If you swap the sim, you don't have to call AT&T and give them the info to activate. Just put your old sim in and it works easy peasy. As I mentioned, both ways work and it's just a personal preference of mine to swap sims before power up so I don't have to call in.

In any case, good call about the sim thing this year for LTE 30. Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't been following the new service aspect.

Yeah. Don't want to lose your LTE30 band.

But refresh my memory… How does a newly unopened phone know what phone number you upgraded from -to activate to - anyway when you do it via the activation screens? It has no way of knowing what phone number you upgraded from - does it? So what about the activation screen process tells it what number to activate to anyway? With a new Sim that is…

 

[chriscrowlee]

WHAT? I ordered 2 AT&T phones through Apple, no carrier interaction. Reserved for the Apple Upgrade (but I've decided to pay full price). Will get 2 unlocked AT&T phones. Also ordered a subsidised phone from AT&T, which is an actual upgrade on a unlimited data plan and will received a locked AT&T phone. Also could have ordered using Next, through Apple or AT&T.

The system doesn't let you select "Full Price" without carrier interaction when you select an AT&T iPhone. I don't do in-store pickup... maybe that process is done in-store, but 100% for sure you have to validate the account when buying from Apple.