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Then you got very lucky and the rep was doing you a favor. It’s against their policy. It’s been this way for years. It’s to prevent scalping.
Actually I guess it depends on the rep? Because with walk-in reservations, they don't ask what carrier you have. They simply ask you want carrier, size, color you have preference. I was also able to do walk-in when Apple.com showed availability for Verizon model. Went to the store right at the Store opening, queued me up and was able to walk out with one. They did not even ask what carrier I was with.
 
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Actually I guess it depends on the rep? Because with walk-in reservations, they don't ask what carrier you have. They simply ask you want carrier, size, color you have preference. I was also able to do walk-in when Apple.com showed availability for Verizon model. Went to the store right at the Store opening, queued me up and was able to walk out with one. They did not even ask what carrier I was with.
It's not just walk-in reservations. I just walked in without a reservation, told the rep what I wanted, paid with a credit card and walked out without any questions as to carrier.
 
Actually I guess it depends on the rep? Because with walk-in reservations, they don't ask what carrier you have. They simply ask you want carrier, size, color you have preference. I was also able to do walk-in when Apple.com showed availability for Verizon model. Went to the store right at the Store opening, queued me up and was able to walk out with one. They did not even ask what carrier I was with.

It's not just walk-in reservations. I just walked in without a reservation, told the rep what I wanted, paid with a credit card and walked out without any questions as to carrier.

Then my local stores are complete sticklers. I have never been able to just walk in and get a phone for a different carrier. Either my stores do things differently or I have bad luck. I’ve purchased iPhones from 6 different Apple stores.
 
It's not just walk-in reservations. I just walked in without a reservation, told the rep what I wanted, paid with a credit card and walked out without any questions as to carrier.
Every Apple store has it's own way of handling this kind of things. Apple Store near me does ask what carrier, size, color you want, they ask for your phone number for the reservation and they queue you up. Tax-Free states don't allow any walk-ins and strictly online order pick ups (not sure if that is lifted yet). YMMV.
 
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Then you got very lucky and the rep was doing you a favor. It’s against their policy. It’s been this way for years. It’s to prevent scalping.

This is false again. He never got lucky and the rep wasn't doing him a favor. The rep was doing the same thing as every other rep in every other Apple store around the country except for the ones in tax free states. It is standard practice to allow walk-in's (those who stand in line without placing an order online) to select a carrier and purchase the phone without having to input any Verizon or other carrier account details. On launch day, even through I had already ordered my silver iPhone X for launch day delivery through Verizon.com, I got buyers remorse and thought I wanted a Space gray instead. So at 3am I went to the Apple store at Grand Central station in NYC and stood in line. When the store opened, I was allowed to purchase 2 Verizon phones without having to provide any account details or my phone number. In addition, there was a family in front of me who were all allowed to purchase 2 phones each (the 7 year old children included), paid for in cash, and without having to provide any carrier account information at all, well because they don't have any. If you go to the Apple store thread, you will see every other poster who purchased an iPhone X via a walk-in, confirm what I just stated above. I understand you are only trying to help others and mean well, but your facts being thrown out are simply incorrect.

I am still skeptical that unused sim cards will be activated automatically, but will wait and see if this is in fact true.
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Then my local stores are complete sticklers. I have never been able to just walk in and get a phone for a different carrier. Either my stores do things differently or I have bad luck. I’ve purchased iPhones from 6 different Apple stores.

Are you maybe in a tax-free state? Apparently Apple stores in tax free states have been disallowing walk-in's to prevent the gold rush to their stores by scalpers'
 
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This is false again. He never got lucky and the rep wasn't doing him a favor. The rep was doing the same thing as every other rep in every other Apple store around the country except for the ones in tax free states. It is standard practice to allow walk-in's (those who stand in line without placing an order online) to select a carrier and purchase the phone without having to input any Verizon or other carrier account details. On launch day, even through I had already ordered my silver iPhone X for launch day delivery through Verizon.com, I got buyers remorse and thought I wanted a Space gray instead. So at 3am I went to the Apple store at Grand Central station in NYC and stood in line. When the store opened, I was allowed to purchase 2 Verizon phones without having to provide any account details or my phone number. In addition, there was a "foreign speaking" family in front of me who were all allowed to purchase 2 phones each (the 7 year old children included), paid for in cash, and without having to provide any carrier account information at all, well because they don't have any. If you go to the Apple store thread, you will see every other poster who purchased an iPhone X via a walk-in, confirm what I just stated above. I understand you are only trying to help others and mean well, but your facts being thrown out are simply incorrect.

I am still skeptical that unused sim cards will be activated automatically, but will wait and see if this is in fact true.
[doublepost=1512498589][/doublepost]

Are you maybe in a tax-free state? Apparently Apple stores in tax free states have been disallowing walk-in's to prevent the gold rush to their stores by scalpers'
I live in California. And two other people have already confirmed the auto-activation of SIM cards. So I don't really care if you are skeptical or not, I'm not the only one claiming it.

At this point I really don't care what you have to say, you are telling me my experiences are not my experiences and thats utter nonsense. You are not living in my shoes and thus you cannot tell me what I am experiencing.
 
How can that be when the phone X hasn't even been on sale for 60 days? Gotcha
Maybe you should learn to read. Two other people have also been told by Apple that the SIM card will auto-activate. There was no lie to catch me it. Nice try though. I see you are really working for it. ;)
 
So for all of the folks claiming that SIM cards are auto-activating. Can you explain why the SIM card in my SE, that I didn't use as a phone for 5 months, did NOT activate? And yes, it was on every day being used for purposes other than as a phone.
 
So for all of the folks claiming that SIM cards are auto-activating. Can you explain why the SIM card in my SE, that I didn't use for 5 months, did NOT activate? And yes, it was on every day being used for purposes other than as a phone.

This is something new. Apparently it started with the iPhone 7 last year according to Shadow.

Actually it is true. Last year, when I purchased the 7 plus via iUP. I choose the "Activate Later", and I asked the apple associate helping me how long I had, and their P.O.S device message came up stating that it will activate it self in 30 days if not activated. Store manager at the Apple store confirmed as well

So it sounds like this year changed from 30 days to 60, because I was told 60.


It never used to be like this. Throughout the years I would purchase a phone for my mother for Xmas, and just activate it once it was opened. This new auto-activation is definitely new. But it could also be carrier related as well. Its too hard to pinpoint, but its definitely a thing now.
 
This is something new. Apparently it started with the iPhone 7 last year according to Shadow.
That may be, but my using the SE unactivated was occurring this year, I just shifted back to the SE about 2 months ago. Swapped the in use SIM from the 6S to the SE, no fuss no muss.
 
At this point I really don't care what you have to say, you are telling me my experiences are not my experiences and thats utter nonsense. You are not living in my shoes and thus you cannot tell me what I am experiencing.

Ignorance can be a roaring giant if not mowed down swiftly by that king slayer called FACT. It can be fixed with honesty and introspection. To acknowledge the situation is a sign of strength because it allows for the fixing to start. To deny it, is to combine ignorance with arrogance and that will only lead to heartache.

FACT - The OP can swap iPhones without ever telling Verizon
FACT - The OP can purchase a Verizon iPhone without having to provide any account details
FACT - Not a single person who has purchased an iPhone X has experienced the SIM card activating automatically because 60 days went by
 
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That may be, but my using the SE unactivated was occurring this year, I just shifted back to the SE about 2 months ago. Swapped the in use SIM from the 6S to the SE, no fuss no muss.
We are talking about at the time of purchase, if you had the SE, thats a different story. Again, additionally, its possible its a carrier thing. We don't have enough information to give a concrete answer. All we know is Apple themselves have stated to more than one person, the SIM will auto activate.
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Ignorance can be a roaring giant if not mowed down swiftly by that king slayer called FACT. It can be fixed with honesty and introspection and to acknowledge the situation is a sign of strength because it allows for the fixing to start. To deny it, is to combine ignorance with arrogance and that will only lead to heartache.

FACT - The OP can swap iPhones without ever telling Verizon
FACT - The OP can purchase a Verizon iPhone without having to provide any account details
FACT - No a single person who has purchased an iPhone X has experienced the SIM card activating automatically because 60 days went by

FACT - You cherry pick statements to help your point.
FACT - Shadowbench clearly stated that he was told it would auto-activate after 30 days, with the purchase of his iPhone 7 (over a year ago).
FACT - My local stores ask for carrier information.

Stop telling me what my experiences are.

I won't waste my time anymore with you.
 
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We are talking about at the time of purchase, if you had the SE, thats a different story. Again, additionally, its possible its a carrier thing. We don't have enough information to give a concrete answer. All we know is Apple themselves have stated to more than one person, the SIM will auto activate.
They can't activate it if they don't have my particulars. I don't care what Apple says. If I go into Apple and buy a phone, they don't get my info, no phone #, no okay from me, nothing. All they know is what they have on file re my credit card and the fact that I bought a, in my case, Verizon phone. Verizon can't/won't authorize it without my okay. Explain please why my 6s, which was activated and now has a non-activated sim will get activated?
 
You're not entirely following exactly what I am saying.

This obviously applies to those stores that DO require you to give your phone number and carrier information. This also does not apply to previous phones that were activated and then the SIM was swapped.

If you purchase a brand new iPhone TODAY and remove the SIM card that it came with (after providing the Apple store with your phone number and carrier) then swap out the SIM card for your current one. In 60 days, the one that originally came with your phone will auto-activate. Obviously if you purchase a SIM-free model, or at a store that does not require your information, this cannot happen. But for every store in SoCal within a 100mile radius of Los Angeles, they require you to provide your carrier information if you are purchasing a carrier phone. AZ clearly does things differently than SoCal.

Again ALL of this is moot now that SIM free is available.
 
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You're not entirely falling exactly what I am saying.

This obviously applies to those stores that DO require you to give your phone number and carrier information. This also does not apply to previous phones that were activated and then the SIM was swapped.

If you purchase a brand new iPhone TODAY and remove the SIM card that it came with (after providing the Apple store with your phone number and carrier) then swap out the SIM card for your current one. In 60 days, the one that originally came with your phone will auto-activate. Obviously if you purchase a SIM-free model, or at a store that does not require your information, this cannot happen. But for every store in SoCal within a 100mile radius of Los Angeles, they require you to provide your carrier information if you are purchasing a carrier phone. AZ clearly does things differently than SoCal.

Again ALL of this is moot now that SIM free is available.
And you aren't hearing exactly what I am saying. At some point this last year, I walked into an Apple store, asked for a Verizon phone, NOT a sim free phone, and THEY DID NOT ASK ME FOR MY ACCOUNT INFO even though I did not ask for a sim free phone. That has been the crux of this whole discussion. What I bought was a Verizon phone, NOT SIM FREE, and when I got home I put my SE sim into that phone and voila, I was on Verizons network and the sim that came with that 6S phone did not auto-activate because it can't.
The whole point of this thread was whether or not one can swap phones without telling Verizon and the answer is yes. The auto authentication came into the thread and confused the issue.
 
Why after all that has been said in this thread is it so hard for people to understand that it seems that various stores can and in fact do end up doing things differently? It seems that in some stores some things are done one way and in others a different way (which can also even change at times). So, based on different experiences that have been posted, while something might be doable for someone it might not be for someone else depending on the store they visit.

Is it so hard to just admit that's the reality and move on rather than try to prove that it's always one way or another for everyone and that someone's experience is therefore incorrect even though that's not the case?
 
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And you aren't hearing exactly what I am saying. At some point this last year, I walked into an Apple store, asked for a Verizon phone, NOT a sim free phone, and THEY DID NOT ASK ME FOR MY ACCOUNT INFO even though I did not ask for a sim free phone. That has been the crux of this whole discussion. What I bought was a Verizon phone, NOT SIM FREE, and when I got home I put my SE sim into that phone and voila, I was on Verizons network and the sim that came with that 6S phone did not auto-activate because it can't.
The whole point of this thread was whether or not one can swap phones without telling Verizon and the answer is yes. The auto authentication came into the thread and confused the issue.

And as some have said in here, it depends on your state and store. In SoCal you CANNOT walk into a store and just ask for a Verizon phone, they will VERIFY you are a Verizon customer. Its been this way for years. I already said this and you completely ignored it because YOUR experience is DIFFERENT.

Everyone needs to stop claiming only THEIR experiences matter. EVERYONE will have different experiences based on different STATES and STORES.

People need to stop claiming other experiences are wrong. That is blatantly wrong and has been proven in this thread. Everyone has a different experience. Stop getting hung up on issues that may or may NOT affect you and move on.


Why after all that has been said in this thread is it so hard for people to understand that it seems that various stores can and in fact do end up doing things differently? It seems that in some stores some things are done one way and in others a different way (which can also even change at times). So, based on different experiences that have been posted, while something might be doable for someone it might not be for someone else depending on the store they visit.

Is it so hard to just admit that's the reality and move on rather than try to prove that it's always one way or another for everyone and that someone's experience is therefore incorrect even though that's not the case?

Thank you. Couldn't have said it better myself.


---

This thread needs to be closed. Its going no where.
 
And as some have said in here, it depends on your state and store. In SoCal you CANNOT walk into a store and just ask for a Verizon phone, they will VERIFY you are a Verizon customer. Its been this way for years. I already said this and you completely ignored it.

Everyone needs to stop claiming only THEIR experiences matter. EVERYONE will have different experiences based on different STATES and STORES.

People need to stop claiming other experiences are wrong. That is blatantly wrong and has been proven in this thread. Everyone has a different experience. Stop getting hung up on issues that may or may NOT affect you and move on.




Thank you. Couldn't have said it better myself.
I agree with all of the above. Except I didn't completely ignore your comments any more than you didn't completely ignore mine.
 
You'll get a call from Verizon. It will go something like this...

"I don't know who you are or why you're swapping phones, but I have a particular skill that I have acquired over a long career. I will find you. I will make you pay that activation fee." :D

Basically you will have no problems, but may end up paying an activation fee. Especially if you call. You can do this online. There is even a section about swapping two devices on one line. Check here.

Good luck!
 
FACT - Shadowbench clearly stated that he was told it would auto-activate after 30 days, with the purchase of his iPhone 7 (over a year ago).
.

Read Shadowbench's statement (attached below) very carefully my friend. I bolded the key parts in red.

"Actually it is true. Last year, when I purchased the 7 plus via iUP. I choose the "Activate Later", and I asked the apple associate helping me how long I had, and their P.O.S device message came up stating that it will activate it self in 30 days if not activated. Store manager at the Apple store confirmed as well."

Now please reconcile this back to the OP's current situation in the present. If you go to the Apple store app, select a phone and select Verizon, there is an option to "activate later". Carry on through the process and you will notice that nowhere does it ever ask you for any carrier account details. I even made it as far as the final payment screen, and nowhere does it ask for any carrier details. So, once this phone is delivered to me (lets say I choose the delivery option), is your position still that the SIM card that comes with the phone will auto-activate on it's own?
 
Apple will not sell you the phone without making sure you have a legit Verizon account. You must give Apple your phone number and passcode to the account (if any). Doesn't matter if you pay in full or not. I bought two iPhone Xs in full, but it required all my AT&T account information and the phone number for each line. Until SIM free is available, it goes through carrier.

Yes you can activate later, but Apple will not sell it to you unless its tied to a phone number. And you must activate it with the number you purchased it before you swap out SIM cards. Its a new "security" measure Apple has added to prevent scalping. I had to activate my X with my phone number before giving it to a family member. Just inserting the family member's SIM card was not enough to "activate" the device. It must be activated with the SIM card it came with and the number it was purchased with.

Absolutely incorrect

If you’re paying full price on the spot they don’t need that...

I just did it the other day when I had to buy a sprint phone (unlocked) I paid cash and he asked me for my sprint details and I told him I have none since I’m using my T-Mobile sim.

He required absolutely no information and popped in my sim and left

Same thing with my friend who bought the Verizon version and he’s in T-Mobile.

So again if you’re paying full price with no installment plans, no details are needed unless you have an employee who’s an idiot
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Then you got very lucky and the rep was doing you a favor. It’s against their policy. It’s been this way for years. It’s to prevent scalping.

How if me and a friend just did it on Black Friday? Our T-Mobile Versions were sold out and were both forced to get a Verizon and sprint phone. We paid cash in full, they put in our T-Mobile sims and we were done...
 
Absolutely incorrect

If you’re paying full price on the spot they don’t need that...

I just did it the other day when I had to buy a sprint phone (unlocked) I paid cash and he asked me for my sprint details and I told him I have none since I’m using my T-Mobile sim.

He required absolutely no information and popped in my sim and left

Same thing with my friend who bought the Verizon version and he’s in T-Mobile.

So again if you’re paying full price with no installment plans, no details are needed unless you have an employee who’s an idiot

Sigh, please read the thread. This has been hashed out a half dozen times now. Different states and different stores have different policies. Plain and simple as that.

So instead of calling employees idiots, please familiarize yourself with the policies of different stores and states. Thats just plain rude and disrespectful.

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How if me and a friend just did it on Black Friday? Our T-Mobile Versions were sold out and were both forced to get a Verizon and sprint phone. We paid cash in full, they put in our T-Mobile sims and we were done...


See above. Please don't quote me for every single post I made. Its all been hashed out already.
 
Sigh, please read the thread. This has been hashed out a half dozen times now. Different states and different stores have different policies. Plain and simple as that.

So instead of calling employees idiots, please familiarize yourself with the policies of different stores and states. Thats just plain rude and disrespectful.

[doublepost=1512507195][/doublepost]


See above. Please don't quote me for every single post I made. Its all been hashed out already.

Yes because you’re wrong

If I’m paying cash and my device is not in stock, I’m not required to enter details for a carrier I don’t have
 
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