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Can't Perform Upgrade Swap - iPhone 4

X

XLR8

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 19, 2009
108
0
As instructed by AT&T I ordered an iPhone from Apple's website using my wife's upgrade on her number.

As instructed when the phone arrived before doing anything in iTunes, I called AT&T. I gave the rep two numbers and when she pushed the button my current cell phone died on the spot because the SIM was now unregistered.

Now I should be ready to attach to iTunes and and activate the phone but the account in iTunes still shows that it wants to activate with my wife's number.

I thought this was possible with no drama? I asked the rep 3 times if she was sure it will work and said they do it all the time. Bummer as I have no way to call AT&T now. Suggestions?
 
Exact same issue with me when I got my phone today. The third rep I spoke to said just go to the store. I then asked if they would charge me for a new micro-sim, and she said she can't guarantee that I won't have to pay.

That's so ********, they messed up the activation in the first place :mad:
 
XLR8 said:
As instructed by AT&T I ordered an iPhone from Apple's website using my wife's upgrade on her number.

As instructed when the phone arrived before doing anything in iTunes, I called AT&T. I gave the rep two numbers and when she pushed the button my current cell phone died on the spot because the SIM was now unregistered.

Now I should be ready to attach to iTunes and and activate the phone but the account in iTunes still shows that it wants to activate with my wife's number.

I thought this was possible with no drama? I asked the rep 3 times if she was sure it will work and said they do it all the time. Bummer as I have no way to call AT&T now. Suggestions?
Click to expand...

It sounds like the rep you spoke with tied the SIM's ICCID number to your wife's line. There are two different activations when it comes to the iPhone. First, your SIM is "activated" on AT&T's network. This entails tying the ICCID or SIM card number to a line in AT&T's system, and they push that through their network, which adds that info to the SIM card. Then there's the Apple activation, which is the "plug in the phone, let it talk to the iTunes service, then iPhone says your iPhone has been activated".

What it sounds like happened is the AT&T rep pushed the activation of the SIM through with your wife's line, even though she deactivated your line... which strikes me as odd, because I was under the impression from the VERY LARGE number of activations I've done over the past 5-6 years managing my company's AT&T account, the line only becomes deactivated when a new SIM card is tied to the line or you terminate service on the line altogether. That's happened to me a few times before.

I could be mistaken...if your wife's phone works, I couldn't tell you what the rep did (other than screw up...but is that any surprise?)
 
I was going to post if anyone was successful in doing this. I want to do this for my wife, but dont want any problems.

I was wandering if you could just plug up the phone in itunes without calling att and have it recognize the number your putting it in?
 
Corruptitudes said:
I was going to post if anyone was successful in doing this. I want to do this for my wife, but dont want any problems.

I was wandering if you could just plug up the phone in itunes without calling att and have it recognize the number your putting it in?
Click to expand...

It tells me there is a problem with the SIM card. Even thought this is what AT&T told me to do.

So... looks like I am headed to an AT&T store.
 
Did something last week. Went to AT&T store and they gave two new sim cards.
 
You do not need to call AT&T to do this. For anyone else who has done this all you need to do is plug the new iphone 4 into iTunes. It will ask you to input the last 4 digits of the SSN on the account and the phone number you want activate. When you did this you should put your number in their and not your wifes number as the line you want to activate

I do this all the time between my brother any myself as our contracts are up every other year. Never had a problem with it. I never call AT&T cause most of the time their customer service just messes things up.
 
Dstopsie said:
You do not need to call AT&T to do this. For anyone else who has done this all you need to do is plug the new iphone 4 into iTunes. It will ask you to input the last 4 digits of the SSN on the account and the phone number you want activate. When you did this you should put your number in their and not your wifes number as the line you want to activate

I do this all the time between my brother any myself as our contracts are up every other year. Never had a problem with it. I never call AT&T cause most of the time their customer service just messes things up.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's the case anymore. There was no place to put in a phone number. Anyway, AT&T fixed me up. :D
 
Dstopsie said:
You do not need to call AT&T to do this. For anyone else who has done this all you need to do is plug the new iphone 4 into iTunes. It will ask you to input the last 4 digits of the SSN on the account and the phone number you want activate. When you did this you should put your number in their and not your wifes number as the line you want to activate

I do this all the time between my brother any myself as our contracts are up every other year. Never had a problem with it. I never call AT&T cause most of the time their customer service just messes things up.
Click to expand...

Ive wondered if this was the case, but then a google search shows that some believe this to be true, and others have had to call to get the IMEI numbers switched.

I wonder what makes one do an IMEI switch to get it to work? Any ideas?
 
Dstopsie said:
You do not need to call AT&T to do this. For anyone else who has done this all you need to do is plug the new iphone 4 into iTunes. It will ask you to input the last 4 digits of the SSN on the account and the phone number you want activate. When you did this you should put your number in their and not your wifes number as the line you want to activate

I do this all the time between my brother any myself as our contracts are up every other year. Never had a problem with it. I never call AT&T cause most of the time their customer service just messes things up.
Click to expand...
It did not work for the iPhone 3GS and your method will not work for the iPhone 4 when using an "upgrade swap". The IMEI and the ICCID are parked on the line that the new iPhone was ordered against and the field in iTunes is populated once iTunes checks with the Activation servers via the internet.

You don't get a chance to edit or change the phone number until the iPhone is activated in the Activation server. Note: this is different than unlocking the device. This just removes the "Connect to iTunes" and allows you then activate the iPhone on any line or with as many new SIM cards as you want once you do the first "Activation"

Dave
 
Did this without issue on my wife's line this past Saturday. Ordered the phone under my line, then called AT&T and told them i wanted to activate phone on her line. They asked for the iccid # and the imei #. I had called from my wife's phone and in mid call, they did the swap and her phone stopped working and the line disconnected. i decided to plug the iphone into itunes at that point and it did its thing then said activated....the number that popped up was my wife's number. So this is possible, just probably need to get a competent rep on the phone....
 
Maybe this will help...

I'm getting ready to do the same thing and found this on Google. Maybe it'll help:

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/iphone4upgradesupport.jsp


Thank you for your recent purchase of iPhone 4!
As we prepare to ship devices, we want to make sure that we set your service up the way you want it. Your iPhone 4 has a micro-SIM card that is inside the device. This micro-SIM will be activated to the upgrade eligible phone number that you used to place your order. If that is the same phone number you plan to use with your iPhone 4, you are all set. Just follow the step-by-step activation instructions that arrive with your shipment.
However, if the number you used to order your device is NOT the number you intend to use with your iPhone 4, follow these simple steps when your device arrives and an ATT representative will help you activate.
1. As soon as you receive your new iPhone 4, charge your device fully.
2. Contact AT&T at 1-800-331-0500 or 611 from a different wireless device. At the prompt, enter the wireless number that received the upgrade to iPhone 4.
3. At the next prompt, choose option #2 to activate your phone on a different mobile number, and an AT&T representative will help you from there.
4. After speaking with the AT&T representative, you will be instructed to launch iTunes (www.itunes.com) and connect your device.
Please call 1-800-331-0500 or 611 from a wireless phone if you have further questions. We're here to help ensure you have a great experience with your new device.
 
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