Changing to Family Pack advice

[quadgirl]

I have dot mac / mobileme individual account that will expire in a couple of months. It was a purchased box account and Apple don't have a credit card attached to automatically renew. I now need a Family pack for my partner. In Mobileme account settings, there isn't a Billing link (yet) to upgrade individual to family account (as discussed on the Apple support forums). I'm also thinking that a different Apple ID would suite @me.com (as apposed to @mac.com) better as the dot mac id was named after our business name, so do I ....

1) Wait for mobileme to update the upgrade options and change it to a family pack. We don't know when that will be fixed in .me account settings.

2) Buy a new boxed family pack (they are cheaper on Ebay)

3) As point 2 but make a new master account (better suited to .me) This is the preferred option but will there be a problem with my iPhone linked to my Apple ID? Is the iPhone activated to your Apple ID? Are there any other problems? I'd really like to ditch the expiring ID and get a new .me ID and family pack.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[JNB]

I think your preference is option 3, and I really don't see a problem with that. You should try to register a trial account now under the new preferred name; you'll have 60 days to upgrade to full membership, and by then the Family memberships will certainly be straightened out.

 

[quadgirl]

You should try to register a trial account now under the new preferred name; you'll have 60 days to upgrade to full membership, and by then the Family memberships will certainly be straightened out.

That's a good idea, although it doesn't sort my partner out with mobileme. Fingers crossed they'll sort it soon. Perhaps a call to Apple support might help? Do you think they can upgrade it over the phone?

 

[JNB]

Honestly, this is probably the worst time to try and do anything along those lines. I'd wait at least a few days (if not a week or thereabouts) and let all the dust settle from the iPhone 3G/Firmware 2.0/MobileMe upgrades & transition to settle.