How to: AT&T upgrade swap.

[bunnicula]

No there is no impact on customers that already have unlimited data. The reps have been instructed to tell you that you can't move the unlimited data feature between lines. For example if your ordered the upgrade on a line that had no data plan, a vaild data plan had to be selected for that line when you pre-ordered from Apple or AT&T. If you ordered the upgrade on a line that already has unlimited data and you want to do the upgrade swap of the iPhone 5 from that line to another line, you can't move the unlimited data plan but you can move the device.

If the rep knows their job, they will not need to touch the donor line that you orderd the iPhone 5 as an upgrade.

What you all want to do is to be very carefull that you make sure that the rep understands that you don't want a new data plan on any line that already has an unlimited iPhone data plan unless it is the new LTE iPhone plan, it this is the name to verify: Data Unlimited for iPhone on 4G LTE. This is like the name change for the 4S but the LTE plan will allow you to use 5GB before any throttling is applied.

Dave

Thank you for the plan name, Dave.

My concern was more that some rep would be confused, not that AT&T would be trying to deliberately steal my data plan.

It's good to have the name though. Take some new, confused reps and put them on the phone all day long with packed phone lines and you really do have to know exactly what you're asking for.

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What about those of us who didn't preorder? I'm standing in line tomorrow, and using my wife's upgrade. AT&T rep told me tonight that I don't need to take her phone, and in fact, I can just tell them I want to use her eligibility and upgrade my line, and there's no need for a SIM swap. Should I assume I need to buy my 5 at an AT&T store, and not an Apple store?

I do not think it will matter as long as you are the account holder.

You might have an ordeal if your wife was the account holder and she wasn't present.

 

[dzm00001]

So if my dad and I both preordered the iPhone 5 in different colors could I take the sim card out of the Black iPhone that I ordered and put it into the white one that he ordered? We ordered different colors and decided we would figure out which one we wanted when they got here. TIA.

 

[dave006]

So if my dad and I both preordered the iPhone 5 in different colors could I take the sim card out of the Black iPhone that I ordered and put it into the white one that he ordered? We ordered different colors and decided we would figure out which one we wanted when they got here. TIA.

If this is for an AT&T iPhone, it would be quickest to complete the activation of each device based on the line it was ordered against and then yes, you can swap the Nano-SIMs. The phone number follows the active Nano-SIM.

It would also be a good idea to call Customer care next week to get the IMEI numbers swapped in the system. This will be very helpful if you plan to unlock the iPhone after your contract is over.

Dave

 

[dzm00001]

If this is for an AT&T iPhone, it would be quickest to complete the activation of each device based on the line it was ordered against and then yes, you can swap the Nano-SIMs. The phone number follows the active Nano-SIM.

It would also be a good idea to call Customer care next week to get the IMEI numbers swapped in the system. This will be very helpful if you plan to unlock the iPhone after your contract is over.

Dave

Thanks for the response. I have one more question for you. If I activate on the device that I ordered, wouldn't that mean that my apple id would then be associated with that device? Would i wipe the device before switching to the other phone? I guess my confusion stems from what the actual activation of the device means, if that makes any sense at all.

 

[Xarthan]

Thanks for the response. I have one more question for you. If I activate on the device that I ordered, wouldn't that mean that my apple id would then be associated with that device? Would i wipe the device before switching to the other phone? I guess my confusion stems from what the actual activation of the device means, if that makes any sense at all.

apple id's are entered in manually, not automated.

 

[dave006]

Thanks for the response. I have one more question for you. If I activate on the device that I ordered, wouldn't that mean that my apple id would then be associated with that device? Would i wipe the device before switching to the other phone? I guess my confusion stems from what the actual activation of the device means, if that makes any sense at all.

Well you raise an interesting question. The answer depends on how you activate. If you use iTunes then just swaping the Nano-SIMs is fine and reconnect to iTunes after you login to your individual Apple ID if you are sharing a computer.

If you use the "Setup Assistant" for OTA activation using WiFi or your carrier's network then it would be very quick to reset the devices and re-run the Setup Assistant by doing:

Reset iPhone: Go to Settings > General > Reset, then choose an option:

1. Reset all settings: All your preferences and settings are reset.
2. Erase all content and settings: Your information, and settings are removed. iPhone cannot be used until it’s set up again.

Dave

 

[Captainobvvious]

I will either wait and see how other people fare or I will just go directly to the AT&T store.

I can't risk deactivating my Mother in-law's phone. She is on vacation far far away.

I think I will just take the nano sims out of the new iPhones and take the phone down to the AT&T store and tell them I need two new nano sims for the new iPhone and need them associated with the numbers that I intend to use with them... Remove all chance of trouble... Tell him I just need two new nano sims programmed for X numbers... No complication, no upgrade swap talk... Just get two new sims and install them.

 

[iproductsuser]

Ugh this is concerning to me. I ordered from apple.com on my moms line (who is 2 hours away) and wanted to upgrade swap over the phone with AT&T hoping it would be easy. This thread is not reassuring. I don't see any reason why they would need my moms phone (donor line)....I would imagine if I don't turn the iPhone 5 on, they should be able to reassign the SIM and phone to the proper line not affecting hers.

 

[Captainobvvious]

From what I understand you can't reprogram a SIM.

For instance you can't reprogram the SIM in your current phone to work on someone else's line, you need a new SIM card.

So the Apple.com orders come with a SIM already programmed for the line it was ordered on and that can't be changed. So you would need to go to an AT&T store and get a new SIM card.

I imagine if you don't activate the phone and instead just go get a new SIM card you should be able to activate the new phone without interrupting the donor line's service in any way.

From what I can gather in the past the AT&T phones from AT&T have shipped without the SIM being pre-programmed and thus could be assigned to a different number... My concern is that the AT&T phone reps may not know the Apple.com ones can't be changed but tell you they can be... They tell you its all good then you go and turn the phone on only to deactivate the donor line.

Its so "he said she said" right now. Some people are saying that Apple.com phones no longer come with a preprogrammed SIM but I don't know.

I am going to play it safe and take the new phone down to AT&T and just ask for a new SIM programmed for my number and throw the one that came with it in the trash. Eliminate any chance for error.

 

[jtp098]

Hi,

Just wanted to give a update on the cross upgrade for AT&T. I just got off the phone with customer care. First when I called I called from my home line and keyed in my gfs line which is the one I upgrade it seems AT&T has flipped the switch as it asked would you like th upgrade your new device. press 1 to upgrade on this phone number or press 2 to upgrade for another line on the account. I of course pressed 2. So I spoke with the rep and you will need the imei number and the nano-sim number which you get from the sim inside the iPhone 5.


Looks like I will wait till later haha when I actually have the phone that should be fun.

 

[Captainobvvious]

The question is though did you order from Apple.com or from AT&T directly?

From what I'm seeing in the past the Apple.com ordered iPhones already had programmed SIM cards and thus needed new ones to switch to a different number.

We don't know if its different now.

 

[iproductsuser]

From what I understand you can't reprogram a SIM.

For instance you can't reprogram the SIM in your current phone to work on someone else's line, you need a new SIM card.

So the Apple.com orders come with a SIM already programmed for the line it was ordered on and that can't be changed. So you would need to go to an AT&T store and get a new SIM card.

I imagine if you don't activate the phone and instead just go get a new SIM card you should be able to activate the new phone without interrupting the donor line's service in any way.

From what I can gather in the past the AT&T phones from AT&T have shipped without the SIM being pre-programmed and thus could be assigned to a different number... My concern is that the AT&T phone reps may not know the Apple.com ones can't be changed but tell you they can be... They tell you its all good then you go and turn the phone on only to deactivate the donor line.

Its so "he said she said" right now. Some people are saying that Apple.com phones no longer come with a preprogrammed SIM but I don't know.

I am going to play it safe and take the new phone down to AT&T and just ask for a new SIM programmed for my number and throw the one that came with it in the trash. Eliminate any chance for error.

In regards to this, the SIM is dead until you power up the phone at which point, it becomes active and programmed thus the reason why AT&T says to leave the phone off. At this point, I believe the switching can be done on AT&T's end so it can activate and be programmed properly when powered on.

 

[Captainobvvious]

In regards to this, the SIM is dead until you power up the phone at which point, it becomes active and programmed thus the reason why AT&T says to leave the phone off. At this point, I believe the switching can be done on AT&T's end so it can activate and be programmed properly when powered on.

That's what I would have assumed but others in this thread and from what I have read is that when they're shipped from Apple.com the SIMs come preprogrammed.

Of course there is all kinds of conflicting information but some people say that previous iPhones bought from Apple needed new SIM cards as the ones that came with it were already assigned to the number it was bought on.

 

[iproductsuser]

Hi,

Just wanted to give a update on the cross upgrade for AT&T. I just got off the phone with customer care. First when I called I called from my home line and keyed in my gfs line which is the one I upgrade it seems AT&T has flipped the switch as it asked would you like th upgrade your new device. press 1 to upgrade on this phone number or press 2 to upgrade for another line on the account. I of course pressed 2. So I spoke with the rep and you will need the imei number and the nano-sim number which you get from the sim inside the iPhone 5.


Looks like I will wait till later haha when I actually have the phone that should be fun.

Exactly as I imagined would be the case.

 

[CosmoPilot]

In regards to this, the SIM is dead until you power up the phone at which point, it becomes active and programmed thus the reason why AT&T says to leave the phone off. At this point, I believe the switching can be done on AT&T's end so it can activate and be programmed properly when powered on.

Yeah, but can you get the SIM number and IMEI number without powering up the device. I'm assuming the IMEI comes off the box, and we'll have to take the SIM out of the iPhone during the phone call?

Can't wait for the first Guinea pig to try this out and report back.

 

[Captainobvvious]

Exactly as I imagined would be the case.

In my OP I said that I was able to call 611 and got to the message that said "Press 2 to activate on different line"... The question is does that only apple to phones bought through AT&T and not Apple.com.

From what others are saying phones bought from Apple.com have SIMs that are already preprogrammed with the phone number it was bought on and can't be changed. A new SIM would be needed.

I don't know if that's true for the iPhone 5 though.

I just can't risk deactivating the donor line... I hope someone tries this soon with an Apple.com purchased iPhone.

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Yeah, but can you get the SIM number and IMEI number without powering up the device. I'm assuming the IMEI comes off the box, and we'll have to take the SIM out of the iPhone during the phone call?

Can't wait for the first Guinea pig to try this out and report back.

On the 4S the IMEI and ICCID number are on the sticker on the box.

 

[bova80]

Don't call AT&T from the new phone or the line you are upgrading.

 

[kmichalec]

Here's an extra wrinkle. I have two iphone lines for my wife and myself, and then a regular old Motorola Razor "dumb phone" line added on to our AT&T family plan for $9.99 for my mother. She uses maybe 20 minutes a month, and no text or data. It's basically an emergency phone for her. I want to use my mother's line for the upgrade, as it's eligible. I'm thinking I would have to take her phone into AT&T, have the iP5 activated on her line temporarily, agree to the new 2 year agreement, and they will add on an iphone data plan at that time. Then, turn around, and say that I want to move the iP5 to my line (which already has an iPhone data plan from my 4S), and cancel the data plan on my mother's line, and reactivate the Razor on her line.

Do you think they will give me a hard time about doing it this way? Is that 2 year agreement just agreeing to keep service, or does the data plan fall under the 2 year agreement? I know that it says you have to keep a data plan on an iphone line, but if I move the Razor back to that line and an iPhone is no longer on that line, am I within my rights to get rid of the data plan?

Thoughts?

 

[boshii]

Here's an extra wrinkle. I have two iphone lines for my wife and myself, and then a regular old Motorola Razor "dumb phone" line added on to our AT&T family plan for $9.99 for my mother. She uses maybe 20 minutes a month, and no text or data. It's basically an emergency phone for her. I want to use my mother's line for the upgrade, as it's eligible. I'm thinking I would have to take her phone into AT&T, have the iP5 activated on her line temporarily, agree to the new 2 year agreement, and they will add on an iphone data plan at that time. Then, turn around, and say that I want to move the iP5 to my line (which already has an iPhone data plan from my 4S), and cancel the data plan on my mother's line, and reactivate the Razor on her line.

Do you think they will give me a hard time about doing it this way? Is that 2 year agreement just agreeing to keep service, or does the data plan fall under the 2 year agreement? I know that it says you have to keep a data plan on an iphone line, but if I move the Razor back to that line and an iPhone is no longer on that line, am I within my rights to get rid of the data plan?

Thoughts?

You buy the phone using her line. Before activation, you tell them you want it activated on your line. Drop the data plan that was added to her line since the iPhone is no longer on her line. That's it.

 

[randy98mtu]

Watching this thread to see how this goes for folks. I ordered my iPhone 5 through Apple.

My situation may be a bit unique. My mom (the donor line) has a dumb phone. I am giving her an iPhone 4S. So last Sunday I went to AT&T to set up her 4S. He gave me a new sim, but was unable to do anything. Her number was locked to the iPhone 5. He said exactly what others here have said, don't power up the iPhone 5 and they can do the swap. He of course told me to bring them both to the store. I'm going to try to do it by phone. Luckily in my case, my mom has her dumb phone and the 4S with her. If something goes wrong, the dumb phone sim gets deactivated, she still has the 4S with an unactivated sim in it. I have the IMEI and ICCID numbers (screen captured the settings page and iMessaged it to myself.) So if her line gets screwed up, at least I have the information and an unactivated sim number to set it back up for her without her needing to do anything.

So I'm looking forward to hearing how this goes for folks. Phones should be in hands any minute. I won't be home to try this until 5:30pm eastern.

 

[kmichalec]

You buy the phone using her line. Before activation, you tell them you want it activated on your line. Drop the data plan that was added to her line since the iPhone is no longer on her line. That's it.

Ok. Thanks, boshii. Was just concerned that they would try to tell me that I had to keep a data plan on her line for 2 years, since basically, I'm only paying $9.99/mo for her line, so even with the subsidy/etf, it doesn't equal the total cost of the phone outright.

So has anyone successfully done this with the iP5 yet?

 

[iproductsuser]

I'll be taking this up at the AT&T store since I don't have another phone in order to call to do the upgrade swap.

 

[bova80]

I'll be taking this up at the AT&T store since I don't have another phone in order to call to do the upgrade swap.

i'm using google voice

 

[Captainobvvious]

I hope the AT&T stores have new nano SIMs... They should right?

 

[jtp098]

I don't get why people think there is so much conflicting information. There is but all wrong.....

1) yes the sim comes set up for the line you upgraded.
2) AT&T can reformat the sim with the SIM card number and attach it to the imei of that phone.
3) so on power up the phone connected to the network and sees it needs to update........

The steps are

1) call AT&T with the imei and SIM card number
2) press 2 for upgrading but switch the lines
3) tell rep and they are care of it....

here is my backup!
http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB411462#fbid=H8VMnfGIoLl

YOU DO NOT NEED A NEW SIM!!! and this is from a order from apple.com. Just a FYI. and I still do not need a new SIM...

This is for AT&T.. Figured I would add that. Same goes for Verizon though....

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I hope the AT&T stores have new nano SIMs... They should right?

Please read my last post...l. Why do yo u need a nano sim...