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iPhone 3GS upgrading question

uanuglyfool

uanuglyfool

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 8, 2009
193
0
The Moon, CA
I want the iPhone 3GS, but like many who currently have the iPhone 3G I will have to pay full price. I am on a family plan with my dad and mom. My mom and I have the iPhone 3G and my dad has the old iPhone. My dad is the only one who qualifies for the $199/$299 upgrade. He doesn't want the new phone so he is going to take my iPhone 3G. I was wondering if there was a way that I could take his upgrade seeing as we are on the same contract. Should I buy the phone with under my dads line and then when I get the phone just swap out the sim cards and activate using my sim card through iTunes? What do you guys think?

Thanks
 
im pretty sure you could do this,

you would have to active the phone in store under your dads line, but once home, just swap sim cards, and sync over your media.
 
saving107 said:
im pretty sure you could do this,

you would have to active the phone in store under your dads line, but once home, just swap sim cards, and sync over your media.
Click to expand...

hmmmm but wont it be lock to my dads phone? Wouldn't it say something like "wrong sim"?
 
uanuglyfool said:
hmmmm but wont it be lock to my dads phone? Wouldn't it say something like "wrong sim"?
Click to expand...

No it won't say something like wrong SIM. AT&T's iPhones are locked to AT&T (can't use T-Mobile's SIM, etc), not a specific SIM of AT&T's. You can easily just put your SIM from your current 3G into the new 3GS you buy using your dad's line.
 
Thanks demiurgical, I guess imma try to swap the sims then.

Has anyone heard of what the activation process will be like? Is it going to be like last year when apple made us activate in store? (I got the phone on the morning it was released and was actually sent home and I activated it through iTunes)
 
Update

Just an update for anyone still following this thread. I pre ordered the iPhone 3GS under my dads line this past sat. When I get it delivered, I'm going to take it to At&t and tell them that I want to do an upgrade swap. I'll update again soon
 
Im doing this also, swaping the sims should work. But ifnot the ATT store should be able to do what ever we need. You can buy them without a contract so im sure it can be done, how easy/fast dont know.

Does anyone have another regular 3g phone they can just test the sim swap? I dont know anyone with another 3g. The 3gs uses the same data plan as the 3g, so that shouldnt matter.
 
For those of you following this thread, here is the response I got, from AT&T, to my question. Hope this helps.

My question:
Hi, I currently have an iPhone 3G and am not eligible for an upgrade
till May 2010. One of my friends is buying an iPhone 3G S on 06/19/09.
My question is can I swap my phone with hers and both of us keep our
respective numbers? We are not on the same plan. Thanks in advance.

Answer from AT&T:
Dear xxxxx xxxxxx,

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail AT&T regarding swapping a phone
with a friend that is purchasing the iPhone 3G S. My name is Stacy
Wells, and I am happy to help you with your inquiry.

If your friend is purchasing an iPhone 3G S and would like to trade with
you for the iPhone 3G, you may do so. Simply take the SIM card from your
phone and place it in the new iPhone 3G S and vise versa. You will need
to contact Customer Care at 1-800-331-0500 with the 2 phones available
as well as your friend if you are not on the same account. We will need
to change the equipment information for each phone in question. The IMEI
numbers, which is a serial number that tells the kind of phone that is
being used, will need to be moved from one phone to the other. You can
find this number on either phone by pressing *#06# on phone and the
number will display on the screen. You will then call Customer Care and
have them place the right IMEI number with the correct phone.

Do keep in mind that the 2 year contract will apply to the line that is
originally completing the upgrade as well as the $18 upgrade fee. Also
both lines will still be required to have the $30 iPhone data feature
and accept all Terms of Service related to the activation and usage of
each phone.

We greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve you since 2006. Please let us know if we can assist in any other way, and
thank you for choosing AT&T. Again my name is Stacy Wells, and if this
answers all of your questions, then there is no need to reply back. Be
sure to take advantage of our online services at www.wireless.att.com
for all of your account needs. To send additional requests via email,
please follow these steps:
1. Log in to your "My Wireless" page at www.wireless.att.com
2. Click on contact us, which is located by the search link on the top
right hand corner of page
3. Scroll down to bottom and select the link to email us.
4. Follow prompts to send us an email.

If you would like to comment on my service, please complete the online
survey via the link located below.

Sincerely,
Stacy Wells
AT&T
Online Customer Care Professional
Please allow me to remind you of our * Services.
 
Same deal for me

I was just in the AT&T store yesterday and went throught the same situation. The guy told me to buy the iphone 3g s as my moms upgrade (she was the only one eligible) and when it came time to pick it up, he would just register it under my number in store; no need to swap sims.
 
PapaSmuffs said:
I was just in the AT&T store yesterday and went throught the same situation. The guy told me to buy the iphone 3g s as my moms upgrade (she was the only one eligible) and when it came time to pick it up, he would just register it under my number in store; no need to swap sims.
Click to expand...

Sounds even better.
 
Final Update

Final update for anyone that still cares.

I got my iPhone 3GS delivered to my house on June 19th just like Apple promised. I did not activate the iPhone; I just took it straight to AT&T thinking they would know what to do. As soon as I got there I talk to this lady and explained to her that I was doing an "upgrade swap". She had no clue what I was talking about (I hate it when the customer knows more than the employees). I said that I bought the iPhone 3GS under my dads line because he had the upgrade. She said that all I needed to do was activate the phone and swap sims. I was like "you sure? Don't you have to change the IMEI's?" Again she didn't know what I was talking about. She ended up just activating the iPhone there, under my dads line with the new sim that came in the box (which I could have done at home). She added the 3G data plan to my dad’s line. He didn’t want the 3G data because he was going to keep using his iPhone 2G. I asked her to change it back and she said that I couldn't so my dad was just going to have to use my old iPhone 3G, but he didn't want to. She took my old iPhone 3G and just put my sim in the 3GS. She told me that I didn't need the new sim card and that my dads sim card could just be placed into my old iPhone 3G. (I didn't believe her but I just wanted to go home)

When I got home I immediately called the customer support line to verify that everything was done correctly. I spoke to Samantha (who was EXTREMELY helpful) and I said upgrade swap and she knew exactly what I meant. I didn't even have to ask her to change the IMEI's she told me that she needed to check them. I grabbed my new iPhone and my dad’s iPhone 2G (which for some strange reason had NO SERVICE hmmmmm *sarcasm*) She changed the IMEI's and also made sure to change back the data plan for my dad (Which I didn't even have to ask about because she knew her job THANK YOU). After all that was done my dads phone still said NO SERVICE. I explained to her that the lady at the store kept the new sim because she said I didn't need it. Well she was WRONG lol....... Samantha apologized and said that I needed to head back to the store to get a new sim. She added a free sim card to the account so I just went back and asked for a sim card and then went back home.

My dads phone still wasn't working so I called back customer service and after talking to three different reps they finally got it working again. The whole process only took almost 4 hours, which I figured wasn't to bad and was totally worth it. Now I have my iPhone 3GS and I love it.

Can't wait to do this again next summer LOL dam
 
Thanks for the update. My friend is getting her 3GS today and will be doing the swap. Hopefully everything will work out. Will post an update with my series of events.

Next year I am guessing should not be an issue becasue I will be eligilbe for an upgrade and should be fairly straight forward, I hope. Cant wait to do this again in two years.
 
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