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ATT Directions to Swap Phone/Line and Activate New Iphone

N

nostresshere

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Dec 30, 2010
2,730
341
Congratulations your order has shipped! ! We are so excited you chose AT&T! Thank you again for choosing AT&T, the nations’ largest 4G network.

Did you know? You can use the upgrade eligibility of another number on your account to upgrade your own device!
To take advantage of this offer, follow these steps:
Upgrade the line that is eligible.
When your device arrives, call 1-800-331-0500 or 611 from a different wireless device. Enter the wireless number that received the upgrade.
Select option #2 to activate your phone on a different mobile number.



Follow the steps to activate your iPhone;

1. Charge your iPhone if needed.
2. Check all voicemail messages on your existing device. Once your new iPhone has been activated, all voicemail messages and greetings on the former device will be lost. (Existing AT&T Customers Only).
3. Turn on your iPhone and follow the steps to activate it by using Wi-Fi or connecting it to your computer via the included USB cable. Your iPhone may prompt you to connect to iTunes. Install it for FREE at iTunes.com
4. Activate your device online at att.com/Activations or by calling 1-866-895-1099 from another phone.
5. Turn ON your iPhone and make a test call. If your call is not successful, wait one hour to allow the activation process to complete then try to make another call.
 
I posted this on another thread but its gotten very long so...

There was a back and forth discussion about whether these steps work on phones purchased from Apple.com. The idea was that previous iPhones from them came with the SIM already attached to the number it was upgraded on and a new SIM was needed.

At the end of the thread a poster has confirmed that he bought his iPhone 5 from Apple.com as an upgrade swap with AT&T and was able to activate it to the number he wanted over the phone.

Just don't turn the phone on at all when you get it. Take out the SIM, get the number off of it and the IMEI number. Don't call AT&T on either the donor line or the line you want it activated on.

Should be OK. I will report back as soon as I get my UPS delivery and get through.
 
Captainobvvious said:
I posted this on another thread but its gotten very long so...

There was a back and forth discussion about whether these steps work on phones purchased from Apple.com. The idea was that previous iPhones from them came with the SIM already attached to the number it was upgraded on and a new SIM was needed.

At the end of the thread a poster has confirmed that he bought his iPhone 5 from Apple.com as an upgrade swap with AT&T and was able to activate it to the number he wanted over the phone.

Just don't turn the phone on at all when you get it. Take out the SIM, get the number off of it and the IMEI number. Don't call AT&T on either the donor line or the line you want it activated on.

Should be OK. I will report back as soon as I get my UPS delivery and get through.
Click to expand...

On with them now doing mine...
 
bitslap47 said:
Not going well... they have no clue what they are doing. They are asking me to choose options not even presented on the phone during activation.
Click to expand...

I agree... I've been on the phone 20 minutes already, and got passed to technical support who is trying to help now. I did flat out ask her if she knew what she was doing, and she assured me she did... we shall see... LOL
 
Complete failure. I have to go to a store now and have them do it. The reps excuse was that Apple submitted the order wrong.

I bet :rolleyes:
 
bitslap47 said:
Complete failure. I have to go to a store now and have them do it. The reps excuse was that Apple submitted the order wrong.

I bet :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

No success yet... I'm on hold and they assure me they are doing it... LOL...
funny thing is, right on the phone it says "if you want to activate on a different number, call AT&T..."
 
iRabbit said:
I have to go into the store as well. When they tried to activate, it said the sim card was already in use. LOL
Click to expand...

Second line this was the excuse they gave me as well... that one was a standard activate on the same line as upgraded on... and even that failed.
 
My Experience

Hi guys....I did the swapped upgrade with out much issue....I never turned on the new phone before talking to the customer service rep....once the rep confirmed that the they had made the switch...one way I confirmed was that my phone had no service....after I confirmed...I went through the activation process even though the wrong number was showing up...once I completed the activation the number was correct...it was nerve racking but it did work
 
So let me get this straight. I'm an existing AT&T customer with an iPhone 4. I ordered my iPhone 5 via the Apple Store app and it should be here any minute. In order to get it "activated", I'm going to need to call AT&T? From my current iPhone 4? And should I do this BEFORE or AFTER I plug the new iPhone 5 into iTunes and go through the startup process?
 
pgrider said:
So let me get this straight. I'm an existing AT&T customer with an iPhone 4. I ordered my iPhone 5 via the Apple Store app and it should be here any minute. In order to get it "activated", I'm going to need to call AT&T? From my current iPhone 4? And should I do this BEFORE or AFTER I plug the new iPhone 5 into iTunes and go through the startup process?
Click to expand...

Only call AT&T if you want it activated on a different line than what it was ordered under. Otherwise, just turn that sucker on and enjoy!
 
takufu01 said:
Hi guys....I did the swapped upgrade with out much issue....I never turned on the new phone before talking to the customer service rep....once the rep confirmed that the they had made the switch...one way I confirmed was that my phone had no service....after I confirmed...I went through the activation process even though the wrong number was showing up...once I completed the activation the number was correct...it was nerve racking but it did work
Click to expand...

This might have worked for me. I didn't turn on the phone either, but then the woman told me to go ahead and turn it on... I think she jumped the gun and had me turn it on too soon, which is why I now have to go get a new nano-sim. All I know is AT&T better have them!

LOL
 
Is there any way to do this after call center hours?

----------

And can I call from the number I want to switch the new iphone to?
 
Yeah, didn't work.....

Just upgraded to the iphone 6 plus, was going to take my 5S and give it to a family member on my account. Apple store did the upgrade for me. When I came home and wiped the phone, called AT&T to assign the 5S to another line on my account, they told me the SIM was deactivated (says in general that SIM was not provisioned). Now..... I have to go into the AT&T store and have them fix it (though the customer service rep said I needed to BUY a new SIM). WHAT????? :mad:

----------

I just saw that the post was 2 years old! Glad to see some things have not changed! GRRRR
 
prnces11 said:
Just upgraded to the iphone 6 plus, was going to take my 5S and give it to a family member on my account. Apple store did the upgrade for me. When I came home and wiped the phone, called AT&T to assign the 5S to another line on my account, they told me the SIM was deactivated (says in general that SIM was not provisioned). Now..... I have to go into the AT&T store and have them fix it (though the customer service rep said I needed to BUY a new SIM). WHAT????? :mad:

----------

I just saw that the post was 2 years old! Glad to see some things have not changed! GRRRR
Click to expand...

Nope. You don't have to pay for a new SIM at all. Go to a corporate store. They hand out SIMs like breath mints.
 
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