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How to use old iPhone for wifi/apps?

D

DotComCTO

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 17, 2006
312
43
OK. At the risk of getting told to search Google and search MR, I'm putting up this post. I did check both Google and MR; however, I'm either not using the right search terms and/or I'm not getting the right results.

So...

I have my new 3GS and all is great. I swapped the SIM card from my 2G iPhone, activated and restored...perfect. Now, I put the SIM card that came with the 3GS into the 2G; however, I see that the 2G is asking me to activate the old iPhone (connect to iTunes). I don't want to experiment with my AT&T account, so I'm asking here if someone can point me to the right place. Ultimately, I want to use the 2G iPhone for apps, music, video and wifi *without* jailbreaking. I know this can be done. I'm just not sure what the right process is.

Many thanks!

:apple:

--DotComCTO
 
gr8tfly said:
First off, you need to use the SIM card which came with the 3GS. Not the old one.

To use the 2G, you leave the previously activated SIM in the phone. iTunes will "activate", then everything (except cell, obviously) will function.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3406
Click to expand...

Bah! So I put the old SIM in the 3GS and activated, etc, etc. Do I now swap it back again and keep the new SIM in the 3GS? What will happen with the 3GS if I do that?

Thanks!

--DotComCTO
 
OK. So here's the answer from Apple support (and it works great):

Just take the SIM card out of the old iPhone.

"gr8tfly" thanks again for the support article. That was helpful as I referenced that during the call. The rep thanked me for being very prepared!

:D

--DotComCTO
 
DotComCTO said:
OK. So here's the answer from Apple support (and it works great):

Just take the SIM card out of the old iPhone.

"gr8tfly" thanks again for the support article. That was helpful as I referenced that during the call. The rep thanked me for being very prepared!

:D

--DotComCTO
Click to expand...

Glad it's working. I saw someone else had used the old sim in the new phone (from 3G to 3GS), but I know they recommend using the one shipped.

My 2G is now a fancy iPod Touch. No reactivation needed, since it was synced to the same Mac.
 
I was under the impression that you take the SIM out of the old phone and put it in the new phone.
So do we just leave the SIM in the old phone and activate the new phone (with new SIM) in iTunes?
I assume this will automatically de-activate the old SIM, correct?
 
i put my old 2g sim in my 3gs and it is working with no problems, it is a 3g sim car. Should I not have done this?

Should I put the new sim card back in the 3gs and reactivate?
 
ATT is not really down with the whole swapping sim cards thing. It confuses them. I've had real support issues doing this. They completely messed up my billing with a previous upgrade and I had to get a lecture from the phone support agent on not swapping the sim cards.

They usually ship the upgrade phone with the sim in. You make a call on the new phone and it goes through an automated activation process which activates the new phone and deactivates the old sim at the same time. It actually works pretty well.

If you swapped, just swap the new one back in and make a call. It should go through the setup.
 
Snide said:
I was under the impression that you take the SIM out of the old phone and put it in the new phone.
So do we just leave the SIM in the old phone and activate the new phone (with new SIM) in iTunes?
I assume this will automatically de-activate the old SIM, correct?
Click to expand...

That's what the Apple support article says to do. Wish I read that first! Nevertheless, the "remove the SIM approach" works perfectly.

:D

--DotComCTO
 
bluequaTTro said:
i put my old 2g sim in my 3gs and it is working with no problems, it is a 3g sim car. Should I not have done this?

Should I put the new sim card back in the 3gs and reactivate?
Click to expand...

Apple seemed fine with the way I did it. At no time did the rep say, "Uh oh. You need to swap those back." So, I'm sticking with that approach.

Frankly, I thought the SIM swap was the standard mechanism for moving things over to a new device.

:confused:

--DotComCTO
 
SqB said:
ATT is not really down with the whole swapping sim cards thing. It confuses them. I've had real support issues doing this. They completely messed up my billing with a previous upgrade and I had to get a lecture from the phone support agent on not swapping the sim cards.

They usually ship the upgrade phone with the sim in. You make a call on the new phone and it goes through an automated activation process which activates the new phone and deactivates the old sim at the same time. It actually works pretty well.

If you swapped, just swap the new one back in and make a call. It should go through the setup.
Click to expand...

doesn't do anything. just says no service. also doesn't do anything when i connect to itunes.

guess im stuck with my old sim card
 
Yes, thank you for the support acticle...
I am giving my 2G phone to my daughter to use as an iPod Touch as she doesn't want to leave Verizon because all her friends are on it and they don't have to pay for calls to one another...that, and the fact that she doesn't want to pay for a data plan...LOL (even though I offered to put her on my plan and pay for it)...
She is 24 and doesn't want her Dad paying for her phone bill...LOL
She is a very wonderful and responsible young lady...I'm very proud of her...:D

ANyway, so all she has to do since I did a restore to the 2G (it has 3.0 on it but nothing else and has the original sim card in it) is connect the 2G to iTunes (8.2) and it will activate (except for the calling part) right? Does she need to set it up as a "new iPhone"?
 
Ronnoco said:
Yes, thank you for the support acticle...
I am giving my 2G phone to my daughter to use as an iPod Touch as she doesn't want to leave Verizon because all her friends are on it and they don't have to pay for calls to one another...that, and the fact that she doesn't want to pay for a data plan...LOL (even though I offered to put her on my plan and pay for it)...
She is 24 and doesn't want her Dad paying for her phone bill...LOL
She is a very wonderful and responsible young lady...I'm very proud of her...:D

ANyway, so all she has to do since I did a restore to the 2G (it has 3.0 on it but nothing else and has the original sim card in it) is connect the 2G to iTunes (8.2) and it will activate (except for the calling part) right? Does she need to set it up as a "new iPhone"?
Click to expand...

I didn't have that situation, here, as my 2G stayed synced with the same computer - there was no "re-activation" needed, so I don't know exactly what iTunes will display outside of the KB article. I believe the re-activation process will detect there is no wireless account assigned to that SIM and simply activate the phone w/o wireless service. Since there wasn't any iPhone on that computer before, it should only have the option for "new iphone" anyway.
 
gr8tfly said:
I didn't have that situation, here, as my 2G stayed synced with the same computer - there was no "re-activation" needed, so I don't know exactly what iTunes will display outside of the KB article. I believe the re-activation process will detect there is no wireless account assigned to that SIM and simply activate the phone w/o wireless service. Since there wasn't any iPhone on that computer before, it should only have the option for "new iphone" anyway.
Click to expand...

Thank you ...that seems correct. I spoke to Apple care (they were very happy to help and the gentleman told me that they are fielding many many calls about this issue) and was told to definitely leave the sim card in the old phone. iTunes on the new computer will see the phone as new (as you stated) and activate the phone without service. All wifi services should work correctly according to the AC rep...
Thank you for your advice...
 
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