Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Getting Elidgability to buy 3G

jrcsh6

jrcsh6

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 1, 2008
445
42
if i have a random phone and borrow a friends iphone, put in the 3g simcard i already have in my little nokia, sync it up to my imac and activate a plan, does this mess up my friends service when he replaces his sim card back in to his iphone.
if this works people could simply borrow and iphone, sign up. take their card out and go to att on the 11th and no problemo.......i PRAY this is the fact...so who is gonna try it out?


the whole idea being that i'd then be a current iphone user prior to july 11 which would make the cost 199/299. it should work i know but will it?
 
citron230 said:
This should work. Make sure you do it prior to the 11th though. Why don't you try it out?
Click to expand...


i think it would be fine for me but don't know about my friends account then. i don't want to mess up his iphone/att contract or billing. can someone have an iphone, hand off the iphone to another person to use for a while and then switch back without a problem? i don't know if the phone itself registers and would cause a problem.
 
From personal experience, it has nothing to do with actually using an iPhone, but having the iPhone plan on your account. My brother sold his iPhone and changed his plan to another non-iPhone plan. AT&T didn't show him eligible since he no longer had the iPhone plan.

I called AT&T and had them put the iPhone back on his line and he is now eligible. I just told them the phone had quit working due to water, but started working again and they looked up the IMEI number and everything is perfect now.
 
jrcsh6 said:
i think it would be fine for me but don't know about my friends account then. i don't want to mess up his iphone/att contract or billing. can someone have an iphone, hand off the iphone to another person to use for a while and then switch back without a problem? i don't know if the phone itself registers and would cause a problem.
Click to expand...

This is a good question, I would love to know if this actually works. I have several friends with IPhones and I was thinking about doing the exact same thing to make myself eligible prior to the 11th.
 
I think this should work... when I spoke to AT&T two days ago for about.. 2 hours concerning my eligibility, the guy said that eligibility is connected to your contract and plan, not the phone. Thus, if one were to upgrade his/her plan to the iPhone plan via activating iPhone on their acct., and thereafter giving the phone BACK to his/her friend... this would give you upgrade eligibility.

In another post somebody said they just got the iPhone 1.0 activated on their acct., and it said he was eligible for the 3g upgrade within 20 minutes on the AT&T website. I would have to think that if you have the iPhone plan, that's all that really matters.

Lets cross our fingers :rolleyes:
 
mirage2130 said:
This is a good question, I would love to know if this actually works. I have several friends with IPhones and I was thinking about doing the exact same thing to make myself eligible prior to the 11th.
Click to expand...

i'm working on one of my friends right now to let me try this. if you work on your hopefully one of us will know soon!
 
I'd like to do this to, but my friends are paranoid that it will screw them over. so if i can get some confirmation that they will be able to keep usin there phone(after i activate with it) till july 11th and get the upgrade that would be awesome!
 
Wow!

This would be spectacular... my cousin is moving back from Boston this week, and he's the only person I know with an iPhone. If we find out this works without compromising the other party's subsidized price eligibility, he'd probably let me use his. Anyone attempting this, please keep us others updated!
 
i won't have a chance to try until next week. hopefully monday
 
Wow, I just releazied something. Anyone who sold their iphone and kept their data plan on the account is still elegible. This means that someone got their iphone and activated it and the person who sold it still shows elegible to upgrade meaning that it will still work. Get it?
 
iMacUser324 said:
Wow, I just releazied something. Anyone who sold their iphone and kept their data plan on the account is still elegible. This means that someone got their iphone and activated it and the person who sold it still shows elegible to upgrade meaning that it will still work. Get it?
Click to expand...

this is exactly what I was thinking!
 
yea, the whole idea of activating a random phone to pick up a data plan seems too easy. hopefully it is just that easy! anyone post asap if they do it
 
I don't know for sure about borrowing somebody's phone to activate (which should work as long as you put your old sim card in it), but I bought a used 1st gen on Craigslist today, popped in my sim, and upon activation I was made instantly eligible for the $199 upgrade. I will sell the 1st gen when I get the 3G (just want to make sure it all works out).

I am worried AT&T will release some new details saying anyone with a data plan for less than such and such a time will no longer be eligible (though I could just keep the original then), but c'mon, just like the original phone was unlocked in days, they have to know we can find workarounds to the system! I went from being totally ticked off to a happy man in two days this week!
 
You can't activate a phone that is attached to someone else account. I sold my iPhone unlocked but the phone remains attached to my account. Once I activate the 3G iPhone my old iPhone can be activated on another account.

What you can upgrade depends on the contract. You can upgrade 2 months shy of your contract end date regardless what the contract term was. Now for 1st Gen iPhone owners they are automatically able to upgrade because they don't want to make the people that spent $400 or $600 on the 1st iPhone mad. So they are cutting us a break and I am sure it will remain this way when future iPhones come out.
 
Are you sure it's not possible to borrow someone's iPhone and activate it on your account? Does iTunes tell you that the phone is not able to activate because it is already in use by another account? If so, where can I find a really cheap 1g iphone :\

Check out this post

It seems that this user claims that it does work to borrow someone's iPhone.
 
iTunes activates the iPhone to your account but checking the IMEI. When it goes to activate it, it's going to see the IMEI is already in use. Same thing with any other cell phone. It is just with SIM based phones you don't need them active on a account to use your SIM in it. But in this case you are wanting it to be on the account. How can the same iPhone IMEI be registered to multiple accounts. And they are going to see when you activated it if anything as well. No one has iPhones in stock anywhere so they are going to wonder where you bought it from.
 
ugp said:
iTunes activates the iPhone to your account but checking the IMEI. When it goes to activate it, it's going to see the IMEI is already in use. Same thing with any other cell phone. It is just with SIM based phones you don't need them active on a account to use your SIM in it. But in this case you are wanting it to be on the account. How can the same iPhone IMEI be registered to multiple accounts. And they are going to see when you activated it if anything as well. No one has iPhones in stock anywhere so they are going to wonder where you bought it from.
Click to expand...

have you done this or have any proof? i've now read that several people have done this with no problem. what do you know as fact and what are you guessing at?
 
idk guys, when we go to upgrade someone to the new one and see they just activated a 2G iphone two days before we will know wuts up, idk how/if that will work... guess yall could take the chance.

but do yall remember the 5/27 2G iphone purchase date?? anyone who purchased one after that day is eligable to return it in exchange for the 3G, anyone before that will have to just upgrade... so im assuming that date will also stand as the "you had to of had an iphone before this" date to be eligable for the discount... makes perfect sense and gets rid of people trying to beat the system.
 
cWeems said:
idk guys, when we go to upgrade someone to the new one and see they just activated a 2G iphone two days before we will know wuts up, idk how/if that will work... guess yall could take the chance.

but do yall remember the 5/27 2G iphone purchase date?? anyone who purchased one after that day is eligable to return it in exchange for the 3G, anyone before that will have to just upgrade... so im assuming that date will also stand as the "you had to of had an iphone before this" date to be eligable for the discount... makes perfect sense and gets rid of people trying to beat the system.
Click to expand...

i agree with you however it is in print (black and white) not a gray area at all. it says activated prior to july 11th (not actual verbiage i know) so i'd guess it's just a loop hole left open
 
yea im trying to get clarification from my manager's manager's manager about the requirement... will post once i hear from them.
 
It's like having the same phone number on two separate phones. It cannot be done. When one serial number is attached to one account it is spoken for.

I activate and sell these phones for a living. If I tried a normal phone with an IMEI on one account and then try to account it on another it gives me an error saying it is attached to another account.

And also point taken if an iPhone was bought within this close to release date they aren't going to do anything probably. Getting an iPhone a week before launch does not count for upgrade I am willing to bet on.

If for some reason this does work, I guarantee AT&T and Apple will catch on to this and put a stop to it. In my opinion if your not eligible your not eligible, wait your time period or pay the price.

It's people that cheat the system that ruin it for the rest of us all the time.
 
I was at the ATT store today and was told that if the iphone was not registered to someone else it would work. The other person has to replace their iphone with another phone on their account so as not to be on 2 accounts at once. The only problem is that they will not be eligible for an up grade after you use it to get your 3G. They will have to wait for their contract to expire.

;):apple:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back