Old iPhones Unusable on AT&T?

[gkarris]

My friend's T-Mobile agreement is up, he is going to be activating his iPhone next month on AT&T - or at least plans to.

According to this article, old iPhones that have been replaced with new ones will not work on AT&T anymore:

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9717097-1.html

Q: Let's say I bought my iPhone last year and I want the iPhone 3G. Can I give my old iPhone to my sister or sell it on eBay?
A: No, once an existing iPhone user activates service for an iPhone 3G, their first-generation handset will be unusable as a phone. You won't be able to replace it with another AT&T SIM card and use it to make calls. This also means that you can't buy an old iPhone on eBay and expect to activate it on AT&T's network. However, you can use it as a media player and a Wi-Fi device for browsing the Web.

This sounds like bunk to me - what if you sell your old iPhone off? If you put an AT&T SIM in it, and it is in "Connect to iTunes" mode, it should take you to the iTunes Activation page?

But, with in store activation, is the iTunes iPhone Activation for older phones completely going away?

How do people with old iPhones activate on AT&T? Go to the store?

 

[gloss]

Yeah, that's B.S.. All AT&T phones, as far as I'm aware, can be passed on and used with new SIMs. Shouldn't be any different with an iPhone.

 

[gkarris]

^^^^ Thanks - makes more sense.

If the iTunes Activation is going away, I assume you can take the phone to AT&T for activation. AT&T won't turn any new customers with the old iPhone away....

 

[fishkorp]

That actually makes sense. The only way it'll work is if you unlock the phone. From what I understand, iPhones are "married" to the SIM they come with. You can't pop any random AT&T SIM into an iPhone and expect it to work, it'll only work with the one that came with it. If you activate a new phone, the activation process probably blacklists the old SIM number for your account, so it's no longer a valid SIM. That SIM isn't valid, the iPhone doesn't work. So the only way around it is to unlock the phone, even if using it on AT&T, then pop any SIM in there. Not saying that's how it will happen, but it's not hard for them to do.

 

[earnjam]

If they were to "blacklist" your old sim, then that just means less money for AT&T. I don't think they would want that.

I'm sure they would prefer that you give or sell your iPhone to someone else who could start up a plan with them and give them more $$.

 

[SFStateStudent]

Not feasible, and won't happen. Sounds like a VZ or Sprint loyalist.

 

[elistan]

From what I understand, iPhones are "married" to the SIM they come with.

Not true. I took my iPhone to an Apple store two days after I got it, because WiFi was having difficulties. They determined the issue was with the iPhone, grabbed a new one out of the back, swapped SIMs, and gave me the new one. Been working perfectly ever since.

 

[fishkorp]

Not true. I took my iPhone to an Apple store two days after I got it, because WiFi was having difficulties. They determined the issue was with the iPhone, grabbed a new one out of the back, swapped SIMs, and gave me the new one. Been working perfectly ever since.

When my first phone blew up they gave me another phone and SIM, left the old SIM in the old phone. Interesting. Guess you can get rid of your phone then without problems.

 

[Detlev_73]

How about...

My phone numbers, my music, my photos, my contacts, my everything else? Is iTunes going to automatically figure out that I just bought a new
iPhone 3G, and say to itself, "Oh, Mr. XYZ just activated a new 3G iPhone to replace his old one, let me go ahead and update the new one just like the old one!"

Apple: if I have to enter in all my old information and lose my photos and the like, I will be really PO'd!

 

[gloss]

My phone numbers, my music, my photos, my contacts, my everything else? Is iTunes going to automatically figure out that I just bought a new
iPhone 3G, and say to itself, "Oh, Mr. XYZ just activated a new 3G iPhone to replace his old one, let me go ahead and update the new one just like the old one!"

Apple: if I have to enter in all my old information and lose my photos and the like, I will be really PO'd!

Worst-case scenario, you just select all the same stuff you sync currently. I'm sure there'll be a restore-from-previous-iPhone option.