How to active an iPhone 4 for prepaid AT&T SIM?

[nightfly13]

Right so I convinced my dad to use his eligibility for an AT&T upgrade to buy an iPhone 4, which he's going to give to me. They'll get another upgrade in Sept. then we'll be able to do Facetime while my family and I are overseas. I'm just not sure how to activate it without compromising his existing AT&T SIM (lest the Blackberry he's still using cease to work).

I will put my temporary (cut to size - done this before successfully with iPad) AT&T SIM card in for the time being, then I'll figure out how to JB/UL when I leave the country in early August. My point of confusion was that even when we tried to put an iPad Micro SIM in the iPhone 4 (just to play and test) iTunes still knew the phone was associated with his account.

Input really appreciated! Thanks MacRumors collective!

 

[Applejuiced]

You can do an upgrade swap. Just bring your simcard and his phone to AT&T and they can transfer your stuff and give you a microsim that works with it.

 

[nightfly13]

That's good news! Any chance that can be done over the phone? Guess not with the different simcard sizes...

 

[Applejuiced]

That's good news! Any chance that can be done over the phone? Guess not with the different simcard sizes...

It can but you will have to cut your sim to microsize and hope you dont screw it up.
I'd say bring it in and have them do it for you and give you a microsim instead.

 

[nightfly13]

Well, I haven't cut it yet. Will proably do as you say and go to the AT&T store. The reason for this is that I'm kind of getting conflicting vibes from iTunes and the AT&T rep on the phone. The AT&T guy basically said 'yeah go for it, I can't guarantee the cutting will work, but conceptually, activating with another AT&T SIM should work fine'. However, looking at the activation options in iTunes, I flat out don't think it'll work. iTunes is basically forcing me to forcing me to activate it with my dad's phone number/account info, then call AT&T to ask them to change it.

Since my dad's phone is a business tool, I don't want to have any down-time when the accounts aren't working properly, so I'll just go to the brick and mortar store and get it done, reluctantly.

The other option iTunes mentioned was calling 1-800-MY-IPHONE but they're not 24h. Might give that a try tomorrow before the 25min drive to the AT&T store.

 

[SpaceKitty]

You mentioned that iTunes was logged in on your Dad's account. This will change automatically once you sync it to your iTunes.

Also, you can go to settings/store and login with the correct account on your phone.

 

[Hellafornia]

I'm trying to do the same thing, will i have to activate the iPhone 4 under the original upgraded line before putting my trimmed sim in? Or can I activate it with my trimmed sim keeping the micro sim blank and not having the need to have my girlfriends old sim deactivated due to activating the micro sim with her original upgraded line?