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AT&T Cross Upgrade question

A

AppleFan360

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 26, 2008
2,217
735
My wife's iPhone on my account is eligible for a full subsidized upgrade. I want to purchase the iPhone 5S and transfer the upgrade since my iPhone 5 is not eligible.

From what I understand, I need to purchase the iPhone 5S using my wife's number and then call AT&T to transfer the upgrade to my number.

Has anyone actually done this? This will be the first time for me and I want to make sure I do it correctly. What is the correct process so I don't screw this up.

Thanks.
 
Chris Blount said:
My wife's iPhone on my account is eligible for a full subsidized upgrade. I want to purchase the iPhone 5S and transfer the upgrade since my iPhone 5 is not eligible.

From what I understand, I need to purchase the iPhone 5S using my wife's number and then call AT&T to transfer the upgrade to my number.

Has anyone actually done this? This will be the first time for me and I want to make sure I do it correctly. What is the correct process so I don't screw this up.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

After you activate the 5S, just switch the SIM cards.
 
The post above is correct. Both the 5 and 5S use nano sims.

Or if you don't want to do that you can purchase the 5S Using wife's upgrade and call att before activating and request an "upgrade swap". I do it all the time because I have a $10/month dummy line on my account so I can get the new iPhone every year.

Your best bet is SIM card swap. Or just buy it at the AT&T store and they can do the swap in store.
 
I used my mom's upgrade last year. I bought the phone in the Apple store and gave them my mom's phone number. They told me it would be a simple phone call to get them switched. Turns out, the sim cards were locked to each phone. My mom's sim card for her old phone got permanently deactivated, and the sim card in my new iPhone was permanently locked to my mom's number.

So I ended up having to go over to AT&T to get a new sim with my number on it for the new iPhone. Also, my mom lives in another state so she had to go visit an AT&T store as well to get a new sim. Big headache, and I'd like to find an easier way to do this in the future. Luckily since I used my mom's upgrade last year, my line has an upgrade so I can get the 5S.
 
Guys.
Follow up q. Here

My son is away at college, I have a 6 coming to me using his upgrade. This is replacing my 5s

I plan on pulling my 5s sim and placing it in the 6, then activating. Not using the sim in the new phone as it was ordered under his #.

I want to send my 5s to him to replace his 5. I need this to function so he will have no loss of service. He is not near an ATT or Apple Store to do any bs sim swaps.

Can any confirm that this will indeed work?
Thanks!
 
I have asked ATT about this process three times. All three times they told me to call AT&T BEFORE I ACTIVATE the new iPhone and they will take care of it over the phone. Maybe replacing the SIM would work, but I'm just going to do it the way they suggest.
 
Order it through AT&T instead.

There's an option to check your upgrade eligibility and then further instruction to do a shared upgrade where you can just have them literally swap the lines' eligibility. I did this my dad's line when ordering the 6. So instead of his number being ported to the SIM, it has mine even though my line did not have eligibility. So now his new upgrade eligibility date is mine and mine his.
 
jkim3691 said:
Order it through AT&T instead.

There's an option to check your upgrade eligibility and then further instruction to do a shared upgrade where you can just have them literally swap the lines' eligibility. I did this my dad's line when ordering the 6. So instead of his number being ported to the SIM, it has mine even though my line did not have eligibility. So now his new upgrade eligibility date is mine and mine his.
Click to expand...

Little to late for that.
 
Chris Blount said:
My wife's iPhone on my account is eligible for a full subsidized upgrade. I want to purchase the iPhone 5S and transfer the upgrade since my iPhone 5 is not eligible.

From what I understand, I need to purchase the iPhone 5S using my wife's number and then call AT&T to transfer the upgrade to my number.

Has anyone actually done this? This will be the first time for me and I want to make sure I do it correctly. What is the correct process so I don't screw this up.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did the shared upgrade for the iPhone 6+. I pay for my Dad's service and so he's on my account. Since he's not the techo-geek like me, he'll never use the upgrade. (His iPhone 4S is fine for him...)

To use the shared upgrade, just log in to your AT&T account and check for upgrade eligibility and you'll see at the bottom that another account is valid for the subsidized upgrade.

Once you agree to that, then you can purchase the device through their online store.

The downside is that you can't do this thru the Apple store.

As others suggested you're a little late to the game and it'll take you a while to get your device. You're better off going to your local AT&T store and going that route probably. You probably won't be able to get a Plus model though.

Since you are living with your wife (I assume) then it really doesn't matter. You can just buy the upgrade for her and swap the NanoSIM. Again, it's late either way. You'll be waiting for your new phone for some time.

Sorry ignore the 6 references. I didn't see that you wanted the 5S. You can likely get it same day.
 
tigres said:
Surprised there is so much confusion on this. I am reading conflicting information on different threads.

Anyone know for certain?:confused:
Click to expand...

Both of your devices use the NanoSIM. If the SIM is *HIS* number then you will need to power on the device and activate the SIM. (You're not really activating the phone.)

Then you can send him the 5S with his NEWLY-ACTIVATED SIM. Your SIM will go into the 6.

If the new SIM is in your number then just simply activate the 6 and you're done. Remove and discard your old SIM. Send him the 5S.
 
cnick6 said:
Both of your devices use the NanoSIM. If the SIM is *HIS* number then you will need to power on the device and activate the SIM. (You're not really activating the phone.)

Then you can send him the 5S with his NEWLY-ACTIVATED SIM. Your SIM will go into the 6.

If the new SIM is in your number then just simply activate the 6 and you're done. Remove and discard your old SIM. Send him the 5S.
Click to expand...


The sim in the new phone is his # per the upgrade. He is not here with me.
I want to pull that sim, toss it, and put my 5s sim in the new 6.

Ship the 5s to him, have him put his 5 sim in it. Done.

Will this work?
 
tigres said:
The sim in the new phone is his # per the upgrade. He is not here with me.
I want to pull that sim, toss it, and put my 5s sim in the new 6.

Ship the 5s to him, have him put his 5 sim in it. Done.

Will this work?
Click to expand...

I have the same question. My understanding is that your assessment is correct, but I also seek confirmation! LOL

BASICALLY the SIM the phone ships with is tied to the phone number used for the upgrade (in your case your son's #). I believe if you activate the phone with the SIM that it shipped with, that will DEACTIVATE your son's phone.

Since your son is miles away, I'm assuming that is not desirable!

I have a similar scenario in that I took my sister-in-law's upgrade. She is 800 miles away it would be very angry if I inadvertently deactivate her phone. So I want to make certain that all I need to do when I get the device is to pop out the SIM shopped in the phone and insert my SIM. Then activate the new phone through iTunes as normal and her phone will still work perfectly, as will my new iPhone.

Can anyone confirm?
 
tigres said:
The sim in the new phone is his # per the upgrade. He is not here with me. I want to pull that sim, toss it, and put my 5s sim in the new 6. Ship the 5s to him, have him put his 5 sim in it. Done.
Click to expand...

Yes that will work too. As long as no one activates the new SIM he should be fine.

----------
blackjackmark said:
BASICALLY the SIM the phone ships with is tied to the phone number used for the upgrade (in your case your son's #). I believe if you activate the phone with the SIM that it shipped with, that will DEACTIVATE your son's phone.
Click to expand...

The phone has nothing to do with it. It's the SIM. As long as you DO NOT ACTIVATE the new SIM you'll be fine.
 
cnick6 said:
The phone has nothing to do with it. It's the SIM. As long as you DO NOT ACTIVATE the new SIM you'll be fine.
Click to expand...
I believe we are saying the same thing. If the SIM that ships in the new phone gets activated, the SIM in the son's phone gets killed off. So I agree, the phone has nothing to do with it other than being the method of activating the SIM inside it.
 
tigres said:
The sim in the new phone is his # per the upgrade. He is not here with me.
I want to pull that sim, toss it, and put my 5s sim in the new 6.

Ship the 5s to him, have him put his 5 sim in it. Done.

Will this work?
Click to expand...

I've never gotten this to work like this. I've always had to drop by the AT&T store for a new sim card (free) then mail the other phone and have them go to the AT&T store. They couldn't even do it on the phone.
 
blhoward2 said:
I've never gotten this to work like this. I've always had to drop by the AT&T store for a new sim card (free) then mail the other phone and have them go to the AT&T store. They couldn't even do it on the phone.
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me?
Urghhhhhhh.

What a pain. I am going to have to drop by a store then, but he will not have a way to do so, so they better sort this for my (I threaten, but really I hope)

----------
bigthanbigger said:
[url=http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1W1Zp05v4XLIE6H11EAyhAy3Mk13G1_thumb.jpg]Image[/URL]
Click to expand...

?
 
You can do it like this:

1. Take new phone out of the box and do NOT turn it on.
2. Remove the new sim and set it aside.
3. Take the sim from your 5s and put it in the new iPhone.
4. Turn it on and set it up however you like.
5. Erase your 5s and send it to your son.
6. He inserts his 5 sim into his "new" 5s and he sets up it up.

At no point do you have to call AT&T. What do you do with the sim that was originally inside the 6? Nothing!

Yes that sim is tied to his number but it's never going to be activated so his current sim will stay working. Since att/apple is mailing you a phone, the sim inside has to stay inactive so you can continue to use your current phone. It would have to stay inactive indefinitely because how they don't know how long it takes to get your phone. What if you are on vacation, what if it gets lost in the mail, etc?

I used this exact procedure going from a 5 to 5s and will do it again today with my 6. The upgrade I stole that time from our large corp account still has his/her phone working after a year and the original sim from the 5s is still sitting in a drawer somewhere. So at the end of today, the sim in my 6 will have gone from 5 to 5s to 6 without ever calling AT&T.
 
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