OK, so there are already several threads about swapping out upgrades with other lines on ATT and the problems/headaches people have been having. This is not what this is about - this is different...
I purchased my iPhone 5 through the Apple Store App and picked it up yesterday. Asked the associate if I could activate the phone at my leisure and he said yes. Good - I wasn't planning on activating the phone until next week. Within seconds of walking out the door, my current iPhone suddenly showed no service. Rebooted the phone several times and still no service. This is the only phone I have and I needed to make a call. I finally put 2 and 2 together and figured out that my old phone somehow had been deactivated and my nice, new, sealed phone that I wasn't planning on messing with for another week was activated. I opened up the box, turned it on, went through the set-up and sure enough, it was active. Got home, called ATT, talked to them for 30 minutes - they couldn't figure out what happened. They got an Apple rep on the line and they said it wasn't their fault. No solution, had to call back later. Called back again later, and after another hour on the phone they said if I wanted to get service back on my old phone, I would need to go to the ATT store and get a new SIM card and they recommended getting a new nano SIM card as well for when I decided to activate the iPhone 5. I told them that I didn't have time to go through all of this as I needed my old iPhone for the next morning and it was getting late. After all of this I got my activation charge credited back, but the best they could do in addition was give me a $50 credit. Better than nothing, but I had to postpone plans that evening so I could go to the ATT store and get new SIM cards.
tl;dr - Some stores are automatically activating new iPhone 5s right out of the store. If you are not planning to use your new phone for a while, are looking to use an upgrade to turn around and sell the iPhone 5, or if you are looking to use an upgrade line and swap phones, there may be some issues.
I purchased my iPhone 5 through the Apple Store App and picked it up yesterday. Asked the associate if I could activate the phone at my leisure and he said yes. Good - I wasn't planning on activating the phone until next week. Within seconds of walking out the door, my current iPhone suddenly showed no service. Rebooted the phone several times and still no service. This is the only phone I have and I needed to make a call. I finally put 2 and 2 together and figured out that my old phone somehow had been deactivated and my nice, new, sealed phone that I wasn't planning on messing with for another week was activated. I opened up the box, turned it on, went through the set-up and sure enough, it was active. Got home, called ATT, talked to them for 30 minutes - they couldn't figure out what happened. They got an Apple rep on the line and they said it wasn't their fault. No solution, had to call back later. Called back again later, and after another hour on the phone they said if I wanted to get service back on my old phone, I would need to go to the ATT store and get a new SIM card and they recommended getting a new nano SIM card as well for when I decided to activate the iPhone 5. I told them that I didn't have time to go through all of this as I needed my old iPhone for the next morning and it was getting late. After all of this I got my activation charge credited back, but the best they could do in addition was give me a $50 credit. Better than nothing, but I had to postpone plans that evening so I could go to the ATT store and get new SIM cards.
tl;dr - Some stores are automatically activating new iPhone 5s right out of the store. If you are not planning to use your new phone for a while, are looking to use an upgrade to turn around and sell the iPhone 5, or if you are looking to use an upgrade line and swap phones, there may be some issues.
