I'm pretty annoyed with how difficult it is to switch this phone to my new phone. I guess I need a new microsim and no at&t's around me have them. I now have my brothers phone number on my new iPhone 4 and can't get it off.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
ATT doesn't let me activate my phone (Upgrade SWAP) (UPDATE)
- Thread starter i-Engineer
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'm pretty annoyed with how difficult it is to switch this phone to my new phone. I guess I need a new microsim and no at&t's around me have them. I now have my brothers phone number on my new iPhone 4 and can't get it off.
Keep calling around, all the AT&Ts here in Tampa have spare MicroSIMs. If the store is selling iPhones tomorrow, they should have a stock of MicroSIMs.
I just called an AT&T store and they told me that they have them but they can't sell them until tomorrow.
Sell them? I didn't buy my replacement...it's not the phone owner's fault that they can't transfer the phone to a different number without using another MicroSIM. I'd try convincing them to allow a replacement asap.
Okay, after numerous conversations with AT&T, I finally feel satisfied that the information that everyone here seems to agree on is the correct information (as I suspected). I've been a long time reader of the forums, but finally decided to register because of my own frustration with this whole process that everyone else seems to also be experiencing.
I am doing an upgrade swap but because of the pre-order snafu I ended up with just a reservation at the Apple store. My concern was not being able to purchase the iPhone 4 at the reduced price because of all the issues that have been going on. I was told by AT&T 611 customer service the first time around that Apple could not do upgrade swap. I then went by the AT&T store and spoke with the manager, who said it would not be an issue, that Apple just had to contact AT&T during the activation process. This was last week.
Today I called 611 because I've been reading about all these upgrade swap issues. The first rep I spoke to was rude and dismissive; she said I would need to purchase two new SIM cards. I told her that per the AT&T upgrade guide on their website this did not appear to be the case - she did not appear to care. I ended up calling back to 611 and speaking with a much nicer rep. She initially told me the same thing as the first rep but when I asked about the info on the website (and read it to her) and about what the store said, she said that based on what the website said, I would be correct. She also put me on hold to check it out with her supervisors (whoa, follow up!) and she came back and told me that the info online was correct. I will be able to activate tomorrow at the Apple store, I will just need to call AT&T with the IMEI number first before Apple starts the activation process.
Although, I'm prepared to have issues tomorrow, at least I feel equipped with good information.
I am doing an upgrade swap but because of the pre-order snafu I ended up with just a reservation at the Apple store. My concern was not being able to purchase the iPhone 4 at the reduced price because of all the issues that have been going on. I was told by AT&T 611 customer service the first time around that Apple could not do upgrade swap. I then went by the AT&T store and spoke with the manager, who said it would not be an issue, that Apple just had to contact AT&T during the activation process. This was last week.
Today I called 611 because I've been reading about all these upgrade swap issues. The first rep I spoke to was rude and dismissive; she said I would need to purchase two new SIM cards. I told her that per the AT&T upgrade guide on their website this did not appear to be the case - she did not appear to care. I ended up calling back to 611 and speaking with a much nicer rep. She initially told me the same thing as the first rep but when I asked about the info on the website (and read it to her) and about what the store said, she said that based on what the website said, I would be correct. She also put me on hold to check it out with her supervisors (whoa, follow up!) and she came back and told me that the info online was correct. I will be able to activate tomorrow at the Apple store, I will just need to call AT&T with the IMEI number first before Apple starts the activation process.
Although, I'm prepared to have issues tomorrow, at least I feel equipped with good information.
Hi, I received my phone approx. 1 hour ago and immediately tried to activate it. I put in all the necessary information and I thought I was done. It gave me a screen where it said to sync and set up your iPhone, disconnect and then reconnect. So I did that and put everything on my phone and that's that. Unfortunately, my phone is still not activated and I'm wondering if anyone else is having this problem.
Any help is much appreciated,
ChrisN
Any help is much appreciated,
ChrisN
This is basically the same position I am in. I've called AT&T several times and (like you) have been told two different things. I went to the AT&T store yesterday and spoke with a couple of different guys, who told me that the best thing to do for an upgrade swap is to have it done at the AT&T store but that it is definitely possible to do it at the Apple store, via calling AT&T. I'm going to print out http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/iphone4upgradesupport.jsp and bring it with me to show the Apple rep what exactly it is I want to do just in case.
Hopefully it'll work out for us!!
Well I just tried to do a swap with AT&T and she took down the required #'s and had me connect to iTunes but it still showed the old # so then she didn't know what to do and transferred me to Apple Support who told me they had no clue and I had to go to the AT&T store (as I suspected). I don't even know why she transferred me to them.
This is frustrating. I hope my store has the micro-SIMs in.
This is frustrating. I hope my store has the micro-SIMs in.
Having the same issue as above. On hold with them now after supposedly transferring IMEI and ICCID.
I'm running into the same situation. Called AT&T from my 3G and gave them the IMEI and ICCID for the new iPhone. She does something and in the process disconnects me and now my 3G has no service and nor does my iPhone 4
So I go to the AT&T store and they tell me that my phone # is associated with the iPhone 3 IMEI and ICCID and I need to go home and activate via iTunes
Thinking all is well, I hook the phone up to iTunes and it is showing the upgrade # rather than mine. I don't want to screw anything up with my fiance's number so I haven't done anything yet in terms of activation
I'm waiting for her to come home so I can use her 3GS to call AT&T back and see if they can fix this issue without swapping sims, etc as I haven't activated anything yet
So I go to the AT&T store and they tell me that my phone # is associated with the iPhone 3 IMEI and ICCID and I need to go home and activate via iTunes
Thinking all is well, I hook the phone up to iTunes and it is showing the upgrade # rather than mine. I don't want to screw anything up with my fiance's number so I haven't done anything yet in terms of activation
I'm waiting for her to come home so I can use her 3GS to call AT&T back and see if they can fix this issue without swapping sims, etc as I haven't activated anything yet
I got quite a run around from AT&T on the phone. It seems that they had a problem since I had already activated the iPhone 4 before calling them.
I went into my local AT&T store and they issued me new SIMs for the old iPhone 3G and my iPhone 4. Got the numbers switched in a few short minutes in the stores.
I went into my local AT&T store and they issued me new SIMs for the old iPhone 3G and my iPhone 4. Got the numbers switched in a few short minutes in the stores.
upgrade swap was a breeze...
I called ATT and had them switch the phone to my line before activating, I didn't even have to give them the sim or serial numbers.. They just needed the two phone numbers involved in the swap. It took 2 minutes and then connected to itunes and I was up and running.. Pretty painless!
I called ATT and had them switch the phone to my line before activating, I didn't even have to give them the sim or serial numbers.. They just needed the two phone numbers involved in the swap. It took 2 minutes and then connected to itunes and I was up and running.. Pretty painless!
Good luck with this.. it was quite a mess for me too..
Just calling and having them put the ICID/IMEI onto the recipient account/phone number won't work for most, I believe...
I ended up getting a new microsim (since the process invalidated my microsim) and activating the iphone 4 on the donor's phone #. I then trimmed the SIM on the recipient iphone and used that in the iphone 4. That worked fine.. I used the new microsim in my original Iphone via a make-shift adapter...
what a total flail
Just calling and having them put the ICID/IMEI onto the recipient account/phone number won't work for most, I believe...
I ended up getting a new microsim (since the process invalidated my microsim) and activating the iphone 4 on the donor's phone #. I then trimmed the SIM on the recipient iphone and used that in the iphone 4. That worked fine.. I used the new microsim in my original Iphone via a make-shift adapter...
what a total flail
this sounds like the appropriate way for them to do it rather than manipulating the ICID/IMEI onto another account
I did an upgrade swap this afternoon without ANY problems. I ordered an iPhone 4 using my mom's upgrade. When it arrived, I didn't even open the box. I called AT&T, gave them the IMEI and ICCID numbers off the bottom of the box and told them the number of the line that I wanted to use the iPhone 4 with. Took less than 5 minutes. Opened the box, plugged it into iTunes, and the activation worked fine and showed my phone number.
Yes, before. I took it out of the box, showed it off to some folks in the office, then called. My MacBook didn't even come out of my bag until after I got off the phone with AT&T.
I called ATT first thing after I got my phone as well to do an upgrade swap (as they told us to in that email and text message they sent over the last couple days). The CSR agent was intensely confused, as was her manager. So, after wasting our time, walking us through registration on iTunes and other unrelated, useless crap, they transferred us to APPLE--and of course the Apple CSR knew what we were referring to and knew that only ATT could do it. I had to call ATT back, and the new CSR knew what we needed--it took her probably 10 minutes to determine exactly how to do it, but it all worked out in the end.
I thought for sure that ATT was going to screw it up to where we would have to come into a store to complete it. Wasted an hour of my time, but they figured it out as soon as I got someone with half an ounce of technological know-how on the phone.
What a cluster f*&k!
After 5 hours of dealing with this I'm finally straight... I also followed the directions from the AT&T email and they screwed me up. Ended up at the AT&T store and they were worthless. After burning thru 2 sim cards I finally called Apple. They were helpful, but couldn't resolve the issue. They got me in touch with AT&T again, but this time the rep was amazing! He knew what he was talking about and knew where the other people screwed up. I got his, and his boss's, email addresses to thank him for his dedication to getting this done and his knowledge.
There seems to be 2 sets of directions floating around out there, and I think the right way is to activate the phone before trying to do the swap...
The new iPhone sure seems awesome so far... once activated!
After 5 hours of dealing with this I'm finally straight... I also followed the directions from the AT&T email and they screwed me up. Ended up at the AT&T store and they were worthless. After burning thru 2 sim cards I finally called Apple. They were helpful, but couldn't resolve the issue. They got me in touch with AT&T again, but this time the rep was amazing! He knew what he was talking about and knew where the other people screwed up. I got his, and his boss's, email addresses to thank him for his dedication to getting this done and his knowledge.
There seems to be 2 sets of directions floating around out there, and I think the right way is to activate the phone before trying to do the swap...
The new iPhone sure seems awesome so far... once activated!
What a cluster f*&k!
After 5 hours of dealing with this I'm finally straight... I also followed the directions from the AT&T email and they screwed me up. Ended up at the AT&T store and they were worthless. After burning thru 2 sim cards I finally called Apple. They were helpful, but couldn't resolve the issue. They got me in touch with AT&T again, but this time the rep was amazing! He knew what he was talking about and knew where the other people screwed up. I got his, and his boss's, email addresses to thank him for his dedication to getting this done and his knowledge.
There seems to be 2 sets of directions floating around out there, and I think the right way is to activate the phone before trying to do the swap...
The new iPhone sure seems awesome so far... once activated!
Please elaborate. If we activate the phone before the swap then we are in the position of going to AT&T and replacing sim cards and inconveniencing the donor account
Please please let us know what they did to get it to work. I'm on with AT&T right now and the CSR has noooo clue
Did you buy the phone from AT&T or from Apple? I think it's a different process depending on where you bought it from. I got 1 phone from each and the screen when you plug it into iTunes is different.What a cluster f*&k!
After 5 hours of dealing with this I'm finally straight... I also followed the directions from the AT&T email and they screwed me up. Ended up at the AT&T store and they were worthless. After burning thru 2 sim cards I finally called Apple. They were helpful, but couldn't resolve the issue. They got me in touch with AT&T again, but this time the rep was amazing! He knew what he was talking about and knew where the other people screwed up. I got his, and his boss's, email addresses to thank him for his dedication to getting this done and his knowledge.
There seems to be 2 sets of directions floating around out there, and I think the right way is to activate the phone before trying to do the swap...
The new iPhone sure seems awesome so far... once activated!
If you bought from Apple, any ideas what they did, or a name/number we can call? (You can PM it to me if you don't want to post it). As soon as my phone came I called AT&T to do the swap, just like the instructions say. He swapped the IMEI and SIM info in their system and said all is good to go. The phone that had that number (3GS) had the "no signal," so I knew they moved the account to the new phone. Well, when I plug it into iTunes it insists on activating it with the number it was bought with. I called Apple, they said I have to activate it with that number, then do the swap. Well, I tried (even though the swap was already done), and I get the error that I need a new SIM. So now I have no working phone on that account since AT&T stores are closed. So if I can take care of this over the phone with AT&T tonight it would be great.
The rep I spoke to knew exactly what to do.. She took my upgrade # and the number I wanted to activate on.. After 2 minutes she told me to connect to itunes. She even waited on the line and then gave me a test call. The upgrade line was not affected and my phone was working properly with my number.. I was shocked it was that easy..
The way mine worked was that it had to be activated, but not set up yet. Follow everything on iTunes to the point where it asks if you want to restore from backup or set up as a new phone. I disconnected it, and at that point ATT should just need your sim number (ICCID) and the instructions of which phone number the phone should be using. Reconnect and you're golden.