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iPhone 5s as a Christmas present

C

cburton

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 17, 2008
173
10
Here's the situation. Went to AT&T store to get my wife an iPhone 5s as a Christmas present. It will be replacing her 4s. AT&T says I cannot buy one without turning off service to her current phone. Anyone able to buy one as a gift and not interrupt service to their current phone from say Apple Store, Wal Mart, Target ... AT&T says this is because the 4s is 4g and the 5s is LTE and the sim is different. Would like this to be under the tree and taking her into the store to upgrade the phone would ruin the surprise.

Chris
 
cburton said:
Here's the situation. Went to AT&T store to get my wife an iPhone 5s as a Christmas present. It will be replacing her 4s. AT&T says I cannot buy one without turning off service to her current phone. Anyone able to buy one as a gift and not interrupt service to their current phone from say Apple Store, Wal Mart, Target ... AT&T says this is because the 4s is 4g and the 5s is LTE and the sim is different. Would like this to be under the tree and taking her into the store to upgrade the phone would ruin the surprise.

Chris
Click to expand...

Sorry but the sim is different so as far as I know you would need to take it to a store. But if you find a at&t that's open really early in the morning you could steal it and change it then put it back so she could wake up tomorrow and find a 5s(i know tomorrow is not Christmas but this would probably need to be done early) That would be cool wake up and find a 5s right where you left you 4s. Good luck!
 
cburton said:
Here's the situation. Went to AT&T store to get my wife an iPhone 5s as a Christmas present. It will be replacing her 4s. AT&T says I cannot buy one without turning off service to her current phone. Anyone able to buy one as a gift and not interrupt service to their current phone from say Apple Store, Wal Mart, Target ... AT&T says this is because the 4s is 4g and the 5s is LTE and the sim is different. Would like this to be under the tree and taking her into the store to upgrade the phone would ruin the surprise.

Chris
Click to expand...

i bought one for my wife and we didn't activate it for a few weeks. She was still able to use her iPhone 4 until her birthday.

Edit: ON AT&T
 
TofSanity said:
i bought one for my wife and we didn't activate it for a few weeks. She was still able to use her iPhone 4 until her birthday.

Edit: ON AT&T
Click to expand...

Where did you purchase it? The guy at AT&T said it might just be the software that they use in the corporate stores.

Chris
 
You can go to the Apple store and get a gift card or go to Best Buy… I asked the same question when I was there. AT&T is f'in with you. Buying in store and activating it later is just like buying online. Go to Best Buy, save $75. Activate later.
 
Doubt it would get here for Christmas but ordering from the apple store online will get you a phone that gets activated by you.
 
mofunk said:
You can go to the Apple store and get a gift card or go to Best Buy… I asked the same question when I was there. AT&T is f'in with you. Buying in store and activating it later is just like buying online. Go to Best Buy, save $75. Activate later.
Click to expand...

This. Whoever you talked with wasn't very bright. Go ahead to Best Buy and purchase the phone, wrap it up and give her a good present for Christmas. Then give her the phone afterwards.
 
JGWolven said:
This. Whoever you talked with wasn't very bright. Go ahead to Best Buy and purchase the phone, wrap it up and give her a good present for Christmas. Then give her the phone afterwards.
Click to expand...

Thanks you two. I'll be trying Best Buy later tonight. Hopefully I'll have a positive experience to report.

Chris
 
TheAppleFairy said:
That's funny if you buy it online they will ship it to you with a new SIM and it won't shut off her current phone until she activates the new one, it's a little late in the game for this though, you'd have to pay for next day delivery.
Click to expand...

I checked on that yesterday ... Next day delivery = Dec 26 :/

I tried to ask them what the difference was if I bought on the apple store (the app or the website) and picked up in store vs. just buying in the store and they didn't seem to know anything except if you pick up in person you have to activate.

My fault for waiting so long but I didn't know it was this much of an issue haha. I'm getting ready to call the local Best Buy and see what they say.

Chris
 
Buy now, activate later

I bought 2 iPhone 5S's for my two boys from AT&T (online) when they were running a special on them (16 gig version for $99). This was a deal I couldn't pass up.

I got the 2 phones about a month ago and haven't activated them yet (they're Christmas gifts). They both have 4S's now and have continued to use them without any problem.

We'll activate the new ones on Christmas day; I'm not anticipating any issues whatsoever with the activation process -- should be just as straightforward as when i activated my 5S (from a 4S). I didn't wait until Christmas. :)
 
cburton said:
Thanks you two. I'll be trying Best Buy later tonight. Hopefully I'll have a positive experience to report.

Chris
Click to expand...

Maybe things have changed, but when I bought a phone at Best Buy my old phone immediately shut off. I even asked them not to activate it or open the box.
Ordering online is the way to go. Or if you have an upgrade you could upgrade your line and then just get a replacement SIM card for your line so you can use your existing phone. Of course then you need to go to the AT&T store on or after Christmas to get a new SIM card for your wife.
 
Best Buy on-line CSR confirms you have the option of instore activation or activation at home within 15 days from purchase. We'll see what happens when I get to the store!

Chris
 
I had the same situation. My carrier (us cellular) let me buy it for the subsidized price but we'd have to take it into the store for activation because of the lte sim problems.
 
I wanted to buy an iphone 5c as a gift. Went to Best Buy and they were adamant that they HAD to activate the phone in-store. Hate that they do this. Last year I ordered a Galaxy Note 2 online through AT&T. When it arrived via UPS, the phone had been opened and activated.
 
I bought one for a gift at Best Buy a couple of days ago. She said when it is opened and turned on it will go through activation. All set here.

EricE
 
No go on this end. Had to go the early present and get the wife involved. Oh well was worth a shot.

Chris
 
cburton said:
Where did you purchase it? The guy at AT&T said it might just be the software that they use in the corporate stores.

Chris
Click to expand...

At my local Apple store. Told them I would activate it when she opened it
 
cburton said:
No go on this end. Had to go the early present and get the wife involved. Oh well was worth a shot.

Chris
Click to expand...

Sucks man, I ordered one from bestbuy on Friday & it just came today. You should've posted this thread last week lol
 
cburton said:
No go on this end. Had to go the early present and get the wife involved. Oh well was worth a shot.

Chris
Click to expand...

The only way to really do this is you have to pay full price for the phone as far as I know. I just did this for my GF for her christmas present.

You have to say you want a iPhone 5s AT&T contact free at the Apple store. It will come with a sim for AT&T and you just have to call AT&T and have them activate the new sim on her line.
 
cburton said:
Here's the situation. Went to AT&T store to get my wife an iPhone 5s as a Christmas present. It will be replacing her 4s. AT&T says I cannot buy one without turning off service to her current phone. Anyone able to buy one as a gift and not interrupt service to their current phone from say Apple Store, Wal Mart, Target ... AT&T says this is because the 4s is 4g and the 5s is LTE and the sim is different. Would like this to be under the tree and taking her into the store to upgrade the phone would ruin the surprise.

Chris
Click to expand...


Like most of the posters have said, you don't have to activate it straight away. I got my friend a 5S as an upgrade to her 4S. She didn't activate for about 2 weeks. This was on AT&T and purchased through Apple.com.

EDIT: My post is a moot point now since you already did it.
 
@OP Did you go to the actual Best Buy Store? I swear I went last week and they asked if I wanted to activate now or later. I told them that I wanted to activate one in store… later I was gonna come back and get another iPhone but not activate it til Christmas. They said it was fine.

If you are looking online or just calling in, you will get a general info. Every thing I researched online was different in store.


wow interesting you had a different experience.
 
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