I need to replace my phone asap but am still under contract with AT&T until September and not eligible for an upgrade without paying through the roof until then. My wife's phone was financed through AT&T Next, and just paid off completely a month ago. She's happy to keep using it and hold off on upgrading, so I'd like to use her account to get me a new phone. From what I've read, I can buy a new phone under her name and activate it on my line, but I'm fuzzy on the details. Ideally, she would then upgrade her current phone using the upgrade options that will become available on my AT&T account later this year. So is this possible and can it be done through the apple store or do we need to go into an AT&T store to handle our out of the ordinary activation needs?
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Can you cross-upgrade an iPhone purchased through AT&T Next financing program?
- Thread starter SheridanMac
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If you're on a Family Plan, you should have no problem at all.
I just did this. My son's line (5S) was due for an upgrade, mine (6) wasn't. Ordered a new SE off his line, then swapped SIMS when it arrived. (Took my SIM out of the 6 and put it into the SE. Took the SIM out of his 5S and put it into the 6. Kept the "new" SIM in a box!!) After a few minutes of RESTORING data from backups, all was well. Only problem we had was with WiFi Calling. Apparently part of the magic is an IMEI verification. 5 Min call to make sure the right IMEI's were on the right line and all was well!! No hassle from AT&T at all.
Of course, if you're you're on individual plans/accounts, this might not work as easily!!
Ken
I just did this. My son's line (5S) was due for an upgrade, mine (6) wasn't. Ordered a new SE off his line, then swapped SIMS when it arrived. (Took my SIM out of the 6 and put it into the SE. Took the SIM out of his 5S and put it into the 6. Kept the "new" SIM in a box!!) After a few minutes of RESTORING data from backups, all was well. Only problem we had was with WiFi Calling. Apparently part of the magic is an IMEI verification. 5 Min call to make sure the right IMEI's were on the right line and all was well!! No hassle from AT&T at all.
Of course, if you're you're on individual plans/accounts, this might not work as easily!!
Ken
They're GSM phones. It doesn't matter if he's in a family plan or not.
Get/order a new device using her upgrade credit. Once you receive it, take that sim out and put your sim in. If they activated the new sim along with the new device you will need to put that sim in her old phone. Otherwise her original sim can stay where it is.
Get/order a new device using her upgrade credit. Once you receive it, take that sim out and put your sim in. If they activated the new sim along with the new device you will need to put that sim in her old phone. Otherwise her original sim can stay where it is.
Before we get too far into the weeds, how about some more information on what your current phone is to see what SIM options are available. It would also be helpful to know if both of your lines of service are on a FamilyTalk plan or already on a AT&T Mobile Share Value® plan or even two different lines of service.
Your original plan for a Cross-Upgrade is not going to work like it did in the past. However, you can still get a new iPhone using AT&T Next program from Apple online or in-store on her line. You can also do it online with AT&T or in-store. You really can't directly activate it on your line but there are several options.
Provide a little more detail on your current phone and rate plans and we can suggest options.
Dave
Thanks for the replies. I suspected it'd involve switching sim cards. My wife's current phone is a 5S and I'd be buying a new 6S Plus. These phones all use the same type of sim card, right? But I'm guessing that if I order the phone over the website or let the apple/at&t store employee know in advance what we want to do, then I'll have a near 100% chance at swapping sim cards in new phone before its activated and thus won't have to do anything with wife's phone. Does that sound right?
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We have separate accounts. My wife is on a mobile share value plan. She financed her phone through Next program and just made her last payment so it's all paid off. I'm on a traditional contract (want to keep my grandfathered in unlimited data for now) that renews in the Fall. (two years from whatever the 6 Plus release date was).
Does that info change the equation at all? In a perfect world I'd be able to use my current phone until the 7 comes out but it's starting to fail and after looking at it Apple Store told me only option is to replace for $300. I'm not too thrilled about some of the rumors I'm hearing about the 7 anyway, so figure I can live with a 6S plus.
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We have separate accounts. My wife is on a mobile share value plan. She financed her phone through Next program and just made her last payment so it's all paid off. I'm on a traditional contract (want to keep my grandfathered in unlimited data for now) that renews in the Fall. (two years from whatever the 6 Plus release date was).
Does that info change the equation at all? In a perfect world I'd be able to use my current phone until the 7 comes out but it's starting to fail and after looking at it Apple Store told me only option is to replace for $300. I'm not too thrilled about some of the rumors I'm hearing about the 7 anyway, so figure I can live with a 6S plus.
Good information. Since she is an existing customer, she can use AT&T Next at apple.com, Apple in-store or from att.com or AT&T in-store for replacing a phone on her account with a new iPhone.
I will make an assumption and use a Next purchase until we here back from you. The default suggestion would be to have your wife is to use another Next purchase to get the iPhone 6S Plus that you want. It is your choice where you want to do the actual purchase. I will suggest that you do it online with Apple. Once you get the iPhone 6S Plus just go ahead and complete the activation steps as prompted on the iPhone as "New". This will activate the Nano-SIM on your wife's line and deactivate her existing Nano-SIM. Note: Complete this step while she is with you and you have access to all 3 devices.
Once the activation is complete, just take the new Nano-SIM out of the iPhone 6 Plus in put it into your wife's iPhone 5S. Now take your existing Nano-SIM and install it in the iPhone 6S Plus and restore your information from iCloud or iTunes. This will keep your legacy account unchanged and there is no risk to your Unlimited Data Plan (UDP) and there will be no changes to your wife's existing Mobile Share Value® plan.
The reason that I suggest that you use the new Nano-SIM in the activation step is that the iPhone 6S Plus is going to be locked to AT&T since you financed via AT&T Next. There are other options but this is the quickest and easiest.
Please let us know which you are using for your final backup (iCloud or iTunes) on your iPhone 6 Plus for specific suggestions on restoring / moving your data to your new iPhone 6S Plus.
Dave