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Can you Upgrade to New iPhone and Swap Phones?

spyda said:
If what truciet is saying is correct, if you were to call AT&T after you activated your phone, wouldn't the upgraded line in which the purchase was made SIM be 'dead' at that point, so how would this "switching" numbers around work exactly?
Click to expand...

The thing is, you DON'T activate it.

What I did in the past and what I plan on doing on June 24th is:

Option 1: Work not busy :D

Preorder for home delivery at my work address.

Once I get the phone, I will take the phone to the AT&T down the block to activate the phone using my line. They will give me a new sim card and they will not deactivate the upgraded line's sim card.

Option 2: Work busy :mad:

Once I get the phone, I will call AT&T on my lunch break and just call to activate it. I hate doing this because I will have to read them the sim card's serial :(
 
spyda said:
If what truciet is saying is correct, if you were to call AT&T after you activated your phone, wouldn't the upgraded line in which the purchase was made SIM be 'dead' at that point, so how would this "switching" numbers around work exactly?

EDIT: I noticed you said "when" you activate, so I'm assuming before you actually go through the activation process then?
Click to expand...

Yes. Sorry for not clarifying that bloop.:)

I should have said "right before". Or "during"
 
Revelation78 said:
It's because you don't. When you connect it to iTunes for home activation you type in the account number and the actual number your activating the sim under - not the line it was ordered under.

It has no effect on the ordered line unless you put in the wrong number at activation.
Click to expand...

Hmm for the past 2 years, I've NEVER had the option to enter any info at the iTunes screen. It would always automatically activate the phone with the new sim inside and deactivate the old sim card right away.

Yes the phone does come unactivated. However, AT&T has it on their server preloaded and ready to activate. Reason why it's so quick once you plug it up to iTunes.
 
truciet said:
You can do that actually. However, you will still need to call into AT&T and accept the 2yr agreement manually. Otherwise, AT&T/Apple has the right to charge the difference of retail - activation price to your credit card or account.
Click to expand...

Ok so I activate the iPhone 4 and leave her new sim in there. Call AT&T and accept the agreement then I can just switch the sim cards?
 
truciet said:
Hmm for the past 2 years, I've NEVER had the option to enter any info at the iTunes screen. It would always automatically activate the phone with the new sim inside and deactivate the old sim card right away.

Yes the phone does come unactivated. However, AT&T has it on their server preloaded and ready to activate. Reason why it's so quick once you plug it up to iTunes.
Click to expand...

Wait, so are you saying you've never had the option to enter in the number of the line you want to activate? Because, earlier you said something about activating the phone for your line and it deactivating your moms sim.

I'm under the impression that you have
1. Upgraded on someone elses line
2. Activated your line
3. As a result, the line in which the phone was upgraded/purchased on SIM became deactivated

But again, you're saying you've never had the option to type in a number during the activation process, so that's where confusion stirs up once again.
 
Some confusion going on earlier in this thread. I just went through this process last year. Using an upgrade swap, the phone they send you MUST be activated via iTunes on the line that was eligible (i.e. the other person's line). This activates the new SIM and kills the SIM of the other person's line. The new SIM became the other person's SIM and they moved the iPhone on my account back to my line and killed the data plan on the other phone. I simply took my old iPhone SIM out an popped it into the new iPhone.

I had both AT&T and second tier Apple support on the line through this process and they could not get anything to happen until I activated via iTunes on the new SIM as the eligible line's number. Because the phone was ordered against the eligible line's phone number it simply could not be used in any way without first activating on that line.

Now, a couple of things. 1) The techs could have been full of poo, but they weren't the worthless front line defense and as a 20+ year IT professional my estimation is that they were pretty aware of what options they had available to them. 2) The process (ordeal) I had to go through simply won't be possible this year due to the introduction of a micro SIM into the mix. My hope is that they have a well planned, better method for the upgrade swap.

My guess on the reality of what will happen? Confusion all over the place, a variety of methods used, and a LOT of people heading to AT&T stores to pick up a new SIM to replace one that got killed in the process. ;)
 
Step1
iphone_3g_setup_3.jpg


Step2 (notice the phone number field)
iphone_3g_setup_4.jpg


Final
iphone_3g_setup_6.jpg



images provided by ipod.about.com
 
Kadman said:
Some confusion going on earlier in this thread. I just went through this process last year. Using an upgrade swap, the phone they send you MUST be activated via iTunes on the line that was eligible (i.e. the other person's line). This activates the new SIM and kills the SIM of the other person's line. The new SIM became the other person's SIM and they moved the iPhone on my account back to my line and killed the data plan on the other phone. I simply took my old iPhone SIM out an popped it into the new iPhone.

I had both AT&T and second tier Apple support on the line through this process and they could not get anything to happen until I activated via iTunes on the new SIM as the eligible line's number. Because the phone was ordered against the eligible line's phone number it simply could not be used in any way without first activating on that line.
Click to expand...

If it simply can't be done on any other line other than the one used for purchasing the phone, why this option then?
itunes-iphone-existing-number.png
 
spyda said:
Wait, so are you saying you've never had the option to enter in the number of the line you want to activate? Because, earlier you said something about activating the phone for your line and it deactivating your moms sim.

I'm under the impression that you have
1. Upgraded on someone elses line
2. Activated your line
3. As a result, the line in which the phone was upgraded/purchased on SIM became deactivated

But again, you're saying you've never had the option to type in a number during the activation process, so that's where confusion stirs up once again.
Click to expand...

Every time I've order an iPhone, all you do is plug it up to iTunes and it'll activate automatically. Nothing else. Nothing to enter, nothing to fill. New sim inside the iPhone becomes activate and my previous sim card gets deactivated.

For lines that I'm swapping, I go into the store and do it so it doesn't deactivate the current sim card.
 
truciet said:
I've always skipped this step lol
Click to expand...

And that works, unless you want to do what the OP wants to do. That's why I still recommend just going in to the retail store. The OP will also need to get the data plan removed from the other line anyways - that is if it was a non-iPhone on the line originally.
 
Revelation78 said:
Take the LINK and see for yourself, I left out 9 pages of pictures because I posted the ones that were pertinent to the discussion about ENTERING the phone number....
Click to expand...


Look...if you read it yourself, you will see that this is just REGISTERING for warranty purposes only. Nothing else. I promise you that you CAN NOT swap the iPhone to another line without calling AT&T.

iphone_3g_setup_1.jpg


Notice Register Later or Continue...

You will get this screen as soon as the iPhone is activated silently. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO ANYTHING TO ACTIVATE. No box, no data to enter, nothing. It'll just connect to the server and activate.
 
spyda said:
If it simply can't be done on any other line other than the one used for purchasing the phone, why this option then?
Click to expand...

I know this screen well. It's the one where I would put in MY number and would get the error something to the affect of "This is not the correct number" or something similar. Yes, both lines are on the same account. The techs and I went through this numerous times as they "jiggled the handle" in their systems to try to get it to accept activation with my number.
 
truciet said:
Look...if you read it yourself, you will see that this is just REGISTERING for warranty purposes only. Nothing else. I promise you that you CAN NOT swap the iPhone to another line without calling AT&T.

iphone_3g_setup_1.jpg


Notice Register Later or Continue...

You will get this screen as soon as the iPhone is activated silently. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO ANYTHING TO ACTIVATE. No box, no data to enter, nothing. It'll just connect to the server and activate.
Click to expand...

Watch the video at 5:15

Same process, has to enter his phone number to ACTIVATE the iPhone...
 
Kadman said:
I know this screen well. It's the one where I would put in MY number and would get the error something to the affect of "This is not the correct number" or something similar. Yes, both lines are on the same account. The techs and I went through this numerous times as they "jiggled the handle" in their systems to try to get it to accept activation with my number.
Click to expand...

Haha alright, so typing in a number/line that wasn't used for the upgrade/purchase worst case scenario is...it just won't allow activation to occur and so a call to AT&T must be made if/when that occurs...got it.
 
I don't why anybody using someone else's upgrade are even contemplating whether or not to have it shipped. You will be in the store anyway when pick up the phone so the sales rep will be able to take care of any problems, instead of you having to either go to AT&T at a later date or waiting forever on hold on the phone.
 
I have an iPhone 3GS but I am not eligible for an upgrade until February of 2011. My mom, however, is eligible for an upgrade. She has a Blackberry and is not interested in using my iPhone. Both of our numbers are under her name.

Would I be able to use her upgrade to buy the iPhone 4 at $299 and replace my iPhone 3GS with it? My 3GS would basically be eliminated from use while the new iPhone 4 and Blackberry would be in use. I would be using the same phone number as the one currently on the 3GS.
 
Enigma68 said:
I have an iPhone 3GS but I am not eligible for an upgrade until February of 2011. My mom, however, is eligible for an upgrade. She has a Blackberry and is not interested in using my iPhone. Both of our numbers are under her name.

Would I be able to use her upgrade to buy the iPhone 4 at $299 and replace my iPhone 3GS with it? My 3GS would basically be eliminated from use while the new iPhone 4 and Blackberry would be in use. I would be using the same phone number as the one currently on the 3GS.
Click to expand...

Yes.
 
Enigma68 said:
I have an iPhone 3GS but I am not eligible for an upgrade until February of 2011. My mom, however, is eligible for an upgrade. She has a Blackberry and is not interested in using my iPhone. Both of our numbers are under her name.

Would I be able to use her upgrade to buy the iPhone 4 at $299 and replace my iPhone 3GS with it? My 3GS would basically be eliminated from use while the new iPhone 4 and Blackberry would be in use. I would be using the same phone number as the one currently on the 3GS.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same position, except for my mom has a Razr instead of a Blackberry. She just wants a phone that makes calls. So I was thinking about using her account to upgrade to iPhone 4, and then activating the iPhone 4 to replace my 3GS.

Now that Revelation78 says we can do this, my question is: can the 3GS be used by anyone else? If I sell or give away the phone, can someone else activate it?
 
eatntae said:
I'm in the same position, except for my mom has a Razr instead of a Blackberry. She just wants a phone that makes calls. So I was thinking about using her account to upgrade to iPhone 4, and then activating the iPhone 4 to replace my 3GS.

Now that Revelation78 says we can do this, my question is: can the 3GS be used by anyone else? If I sell or give away the phone, can someone else activate it?
Click to expand...
As long a you remove your sim card the phone cannot be traced back to you.
 
Just to confirm....

So if I pre-order from Apple.......

I will pre-order the phone using my wifes number which is eligible for the upgrade.

Once I receive, I will activate via iTunes

It will activate using my wife's phone number

Then I will have to call ATT and have them switch numbers between the new iPhone 4 and my old 3GS?

Or will iTunes ask me which phone # I am activating for, and I can put in my phone number (not my wifes).

Thanks again,
 
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