I just got off the Phone with AT&T. I added a line to get the subsidized price on the iphone 5 so I will need to swap the # of the Iphone 5 to my existing #. I asked if this could be done over the phone before I activated the new line and she said it could. I thought well that's good because it will save me a trip down to the at&t store on Friday. So as we were talking about the process she says since you have grandfathered features you have to be very careful to explain everything to the rep who does the swap because if you lose them they won't be able to put them back anymore. She said it would be very easy to leave the plan that is on the iphone 5 now and just switch the # over and if that happens you will lose the grandfathered plans. I told her of my plan to activate the phone on the new number and then go down to at&t store and get a nano sim for my existing line and just swap the sims. She said that would be safer as there would then be no way you would lose the grandfathered features that way. So I think I am going to stick to my original plan to activate the phone on the new # and then go get a nano sim and switch it out. It's not worth taking the risk to me. I thought some people might be doing the same thing so I wanted to let them know this info.
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If you have AT&T grandfathered Data/Text & doing a # swap please read
- Thread starter snook911
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Did your order from AT&T or Apple?
Every year there have been different activation steps depending on where you ordered your new iPhone. Make sure you check back here on Friday before you start the activation process for the lastest updates.
Just a couple of reminders if you want to "just" activate the iPhone on the line that it was ordered for: If the donor line is not already an iPhone line with visualvoicemail then that will be activated also and they will lose their existing voicemail settings and any saved voicemails. Also if you just "activate" on the donor line, their exisiting SIM will be killed and their phone will not work. Please make sure that they understand what you are doing.
Every year we hear about what get's broken during attempts at an Upgrade Swap.
One final warning: going to AT&T does not prevent a rep from making a mistake and killing your unlimited data plan. So be very clear what you want them to do and make sure they understand that you just want a new Nano-SIM for your phone number and to register the IMEI of the new iPhone 5 on your line. You will also need a new SIM for the donor line since their active SIM will be a Nano-SIM.
Dave
Every year there have been different activation steps depending on where you ordered your new iPhone. Make sure you check back here on Friday before you start the activation process for the lastest updates.
Just a couple of reminders if you want to "just" activate the iPhone on the line that it was ordered for: If the donor line is not already an iPhone line with visualvoicemail then that will be activated also and they will lose their existing voicemail settings and any saved voicemails. Also if you just "activate" on the donor line, their exisiting SIM will be killed and their phone will not work. Please make sure that they understand what you are doing.
Every year we hear about what get's broken during attempts at an Upgrade Swap.
One final warning: going to AT&T does not prevent a rep from making a mistake and killing your unlimited data plan. So be very clear what you want them to do and make sure they understand that you just want a new Nano-SIM for your phone number and to register the IMEI of the new iPhone 5 on your line. You will also need a new SIM for the donor line since their active SIM will be a Nano-SIM.
Dave
Thanks for the info Dave. I ordered the phone from apple. The way I understand it, and please correct me if i am wrong, On Friday when I get the iphone 5 I will activate in on the new number I recieved when I added the line. From that point all I have to do is go the at&t store and request the give me a nano sim for my existing line. I don't think I need the rep to do anything but give me the sim. Once I have the sim I can just swap it out with the sim that's in the phone and the system will update the IMEI with my existing phone number. I am not going to be using the line that I added so i have heard conflicting info on what I do next. I have heard I will have to get a non smart phone and a regular sim then put the sim in the non smartphone so i can then cancel the data line making that line cost only the additonal $10 a month. However the rep at the at&t store told me that if I don't plan on using the line at all they could register the line as a dumbphone by putting all 9's in the IMEI acomplishing the same thing without me having to buy a dumbphone. What do you think Dave?
Again, check back here first on Friday before you Activate for any updates.
You can also help by posting your activation steps, it will help others understand this year's Apple ordered AT&T activations process. For now we are assuming that it will be like previous launches where Apple orders pre-set with the phone number that ordered the iPhone 5.
In your specific situation, you can activate on the new line and then head to AT&T. Once there you will need more than just a new blank Nano-SIM. The rep will need to assign the new ICCID of the Nano-SIM to your account with your existing phone number. The rep will also register the IMEI of your new iPhone 5 on your exiting line.
Once this is done, ask the rep to update the new line to remove the data plan and enter an IMEI of all 1s or all 9s for that "SIM" only line. Worst case you would owe a minimum of $1 for the data plan. If you want the rep can provide you with a Mini-SIM or Micro-SIM to keep should you ever need to use a device on your "new" line.
Dave
You can also help by posting your activation steps, it will help others understand this year's Apple ordered AT&T activations process. For now we are assuming that it will be like previous launches where Apple orders pre-set with the phone number that ordered the iPhone 5.
In your specific situation, you can activate on the new line and then head to AT&T. Once there you will need more than just a new blank Nano-SIM. The rep will need to assign the new ICCID of the Nano-SIM to your account with your existing phone number. The rep will also register the IMEI of your new iPhone 5 on your exiting line.
Once this is done, ask the rep to update the new line to remove the data plan and enter an IMEI of all 1s or all 9s for that "SIM" only line. Worst case you would owe a minimum of $1 for the data plan. If you want the rep can provide you with a Mini-SIM or Micro-SIM to keep should you ever need to use a device on your "new" line.
Dave
Definitely please keep us updated on what you do. I'm in the same boat as you.
I plan on being ready in the morning & as soon as I get it in my hands on Friday, I'm heading to the AT&T store. I will post an update on what I did as well. Great information! Thanks!
EDIT: I used a family member's update, so it'll be under her phone number, then I'll swap it to mine with my 'grandfathered' unlimited data.
I plan on being ready in the morning & as soon as I get it in my hands on Friday, I'm heading to the AT&T store. I will post an update on what I did as well. Great information! Thanks!
EDIT: I used a family member's update, so it'll be under her phone number, then I'll swap it to mine with my 'grandfathered' unlimited data.