My mom has an env Touch, and has an upgrade as of a month ago. She isn't looking to upgrade any time soon. Is it possible to preorder the iPhone on her line, activate when it gets here, deactivate a few minutes later, and sell on eBay? Then after all that just reactivate the Touch? Will this incur any fees or charges? Thanks!
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Buy iPhone 4S, activate, deactivate, sell?
- Thread starter autigers1101
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You use the $400 you made off of it to get another phone..
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Plus, its a family plan. I just got the 4S and another phone just went to the Blackberry in the last 2 weeks, so the family plan will still be under contract for 2 years either way.
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Plus, its a family plan. I just got the 4S and another phone just went to the Blackberry in the last 2 weeks, so the family plan will still be under contract for 2 years either way.
That's what I did at the iPhone 4 launch last year.
A 32GB cost me 500$ with early upgrade and commitment renewal (instead of 879$), then I sold it for 900$.
Then I broke my contract, paid 300$ fees, and signed a new contract to get a 16GB for 160$.
That's in Canada, commitments are really messed up and it's often cheaper to trick the system than to just go and upgrade your phone.
Considering I sold my old 32GB 3GS for 350$ once I got my iPhone 4,
I made 90$ profit just by upgrading my 3GS to an iPhone 4.
![true_story_by_truestoryplz-d41r0te.png]()
A 32GB cost me 500$ with early upgrade and commitment renewal (instead of 879$), then I sold it for 900$.
Then I broke my contract, paid 300$ fees, and signed a new contract to get a 16GB for 160$.
That's in Canada, commitments are really messed up and it's often cheaper to trick the system than to just go and upgrade your phone.
Considering I sold my old 32GB 3GS for 350$ once I got my iPhone 4,
I made 90$ profit just by upgrading my 3GS to an iPhone 4.
the question is this -- will they require me to stick with the $30 data plan if I activate it even for 10 minutes and go back to a basic phone?
Another phone off contract....so there goes all your profit. Waste of time.
Nope, each individual line has a separate contract. There is no contract for the "Family Plan". That's just a plan you can have when you have multiple lines on one account.
theres phones to buy on ebay for cheaper than the full $400. I don't think its a dumb decision. I just need an answer on if they will require me to stay in the $30 data plan?
Ugh, scalpers!
Couple of things to watch out here for are:
1) What if the iPhone isn't sold out... what if the supply is high enough that anyone who wants one can walk into an Apple store and get one. That would make it unlikely you can make much of a profit. Although, I guess if you sell it for around $600 or so, you'd still make a little bit of money.
2) You may have to pay for at least one full month of $30 a month data, or at least a few days worth of data. I am sure if you call customer service and tell them your brand new iPhone was JUST dropped into water or fell on the floor, maybe they will allow you to just pay a prorated amount or something. But then again, they may also say that they can only change it starting the following billing cycle. Who knows.
3) Keep in mind there is a $36 activation fee when you upgrade. That will not be refundable even if you make up a sob story to get out of paying for the data for more than a few days.
I see your point here, but if she is fine with a regular dumb phone, then if the current phone is broken or lost, the OP could just buy an unlocked GSM phone on eBay or NewEgg or something.
Last I checked, you can even get a RAZR (which works awesome btw, my wife used one until 3 months ago when we upgraded to iPhone 4) for around $49 unlocked.
I also went into one of them Tiger Direct stores in my area and saw that they sell some smart phones for $100-$200 without a contract as well. Not as good as a "Free" upgrade or a good smart phone, but then if OPs mom is not a technical person and just uses the phone for calls, texts, and occasionally snapping a picture there's plenty of options.
Its not like the olden days of 2004 and such when even the cheapest, crappiest contract-free phone was like $200+.
Couple of things to watch out here for are:
1) What if the iPhone isn't sold out... what if the supply is high enough that anyone who wants one can walk into an Apple store and get one. That would make it unlikely you can make much of a profit. Although, I guess if you sell it for around $600 or so, you'd still make a little bit of money.
2) You may have to pay for at least one full month of $30 a month data, or at least a few days worth of data. I am sure if you call customer service and tell them your brand new iPhone was JUST dropped into water or fell on the floor, maybe they will allow you to just pay a prorated amount or something. But then again, they may also say that they can only change it starting the following billing cycle. Who knows.
3) Keep in mind there is a $36 activation fee when you upgrade. That will not be refundable even if you make up a sob story to get out of paying for the data for more than a few days.
I see your point here, but if she is fine with a regular dumb phone, then if the current phone is broken or lost, the OP could just buy an unlocked GSM phone on eBay or NewEgg or something.
Last I checked, you can even get a RAZR (which works awesome btw, my wife used one until 3 months ago when we upgraded to iPhone 4) for around $49 unlocked.
I also went into one of them Tiger Direct stores in my area and saw that they sell some smart phones for $100-$200 without a contract as well. Not as good as a "Free" upgrade or a good smart phone, but then if OPs mom is not a technical person and just uses the phone for calls, texts, and occasionally snapping a picture there's plenty of options.
Its not like the olden days of 2004 and such when even the cheapest, crappiest contract-free phone was like $200+.
I never said it was on eBay. I sold them to people I knew in real life (not friends). The point was to get an iPhone 4 for free, not to make profit.
Otherwise I wouldn't have bought the 4 and would just have skipped this version, so yeah it was totally worth it.
In my case, I want to keep my 4 and sell a 4S.
So is the correct procedure:
1. Remove SIM from iPhone 4 and put into 4S.
2. Activate 4S.
3. Remove SIM and wipe 4S clean.
4. Put SIM back into 4.
5. Activate iPhone 4.
Or do I use the SIM that comes with the 4S and then put that into the 4? Will the 4 need to be activated or will it work just as it did when I put the SIM back in? Or will I need 3 SIM cards (will iPhone 4 SIM card be deactivated when I activate the 4S, then need a new SIM card to reactivate the 4 when the 4S is wiped)?
So is the correct procedure:
1. Remove SIM from iPhone 4 and put into 4S.
2. Activate 4S.
3. Remove SIM and wipe 4S clean.
4. Put SIM back into 4.
5. Activate iPhone 4.
Or do I use the SIM that comes with the 4S and then put that into the 4? Will the 4 need to be activated or will it work just as it did when I put the SIM back in? Or will I need 3 SIM cards (will iPhone 4 SIM card be deactivated when I activate the 4S, then need a new SIM card to reactivate the 4 when the 4S is wiped)?