Swap upgrade with someone else on Family Plan?

[martinmartin]

Well that's good to hear.

So I should go to an AT&T Corp store as opposed to an Apple store?

Also, did you need the phone for the line you are taking the upgrade from with you at the AT&T store?
Because I'd be taking the upgrade from my grandpa, but he's in Florida and I'm in New York.

While I prefer buying from the Apple store when possible, I'd recommend the ATT store for this as they can do whatever they have to in terms of using upgrades from 1 line but activating for another.

You won't need the other person's phone [as long as you're the account holder/able to make changes].

 

[cedgeton]

saDeRmac - could you PM me? I can't get PMs working and I don't want to bore the rest of the people on this forum with my question

THANKS!

 

[Stangs55]

Okay...I had THOUGHT I had known what to do...but after reading umpteen different iterations of what to do...I'm confused.

I'm on a 2 line family plan. I have a 3G iPhone and my wife has a crappy flip-phone which she loves. I used her eligibility to buy a 3GS at the discounted price which is now waiting for me at my house for when we get home from vacation.

Now...I was under the impression from a previous post on macrumors that I was supposed to:
1. Open new 3GS and immediately remove the SIM
2. Open my old 3G and put that SIM into the new 3GS
3. Save the SIM that had shipped with the 3GS for a rainy day and stick it in a drawer.
4. My wife's Nokia flip-phone NEVER has to be touched as long as I never activate the new SIM.
5. Call AT&T and make sure the $30 data plan is removed from her account.

Is this correct?

Maybe I misunderstood sadermac, but he made is sound like I need to go to a store to accomplish something...

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

Now...I was under the impression from a previous post on macrumors that I was supposed to:
1. Open new 3GS and immediately remove the SIM
2. Open my old 3G and put that SIM into the new 3GS
3. Save the SIM that had shipped with the 3GS for a rainy day and stick it in a drawer.
4. My wife's Nokia flip-phone NEVER has to be touched as long as I never activate the new SIM.
5. Call AT&T and make sure the $30 data plan is removed from her account.

Is this correct?

No.

1) Activate the new phone on YOUR computer but leaving the SIM card in
2) Sync over all data, activate
3) Switch SIM's so that the phone has the right number.
4) Call ATT, tell them what you did, and read to them the IMEI number.

Simple.

 

[Ron21]

Okay...I had THOUGHT I had known what to do...but after reading umpteen different iterations of what to do...I'm confused.

I'm on a 2 line family plan. I have a 3G iPhone and my wife has a crappy flip-phone which she loves. I used her eligibility to buy a 3GS at the discounted price which is now waiting for me at my house for when we get home from vacation.

Now...I was under the impression from a previous post on macrumors that I was supposed to:
1. Open new 3GS and immediately remove the SIM
2. Open my old 3G and put that SIM into the new 3GS
3. Save the SIM that had shipped with the 3GS for a rainy day and stick it in a drawer.
4. My wife's Nokia flip-phone NEVER has to be touched as long as I never activate the new SIM.
5. Call AT&T and make sure the $30 data plan is removed from her account.

Is this correct?

Maybe I misunderstood sadermac, but he made is sound like I need to go to a store to accomplish something...

This won't work. That is exactly what I did. The problem is, the sim card from your old 3G won't be able to activate the new 3GS. You have to use the included sim card to activate the 3GS. Once you activate the 3GS, the Sim Card on the other line will stop working. So you need to give that person the sim card that came with the 3GS.

Now, you can put your 3G sim card into the 3GS. At this point I had to call ATT and swap the sim ids on my account. It was a complete mess but luckily the CS rep was very knowledgeable and he set everything up for me.

 

[Munitalp]

This won't work. That is exactly what I did. The problem is, the sim card from your old 3G won't be able to activate the new 3GS. You have to use the included sim card to activate the 3GS. Once you activate the 3GS, the Sim Card on the other line will stop working. So you need to give that person the sim card that came with the 3GS.

Now, you can put your 3G sim card into the 3GS. At this point I had to call ATT and swap the sim ids on my account. It was a complete mess but luckily the CS rep was very knowledgeable and he set everything up for me.

I used my old 3G sim card simply because of the activation problems yesterday afternoon, and it worked fine... still is working fine. I just put it in and it worked from that moment on, (I did go through the iTunes activation with the old 3G sim card though).

 

[Ron21]

I used my old 3G sim card simply because of the activation problems yesterday afternoon, and it worked fine... still is working fine. I just put it in and it worked from that moment on, (I did go through the iTunes activation with the old 3G sim card though).

Yes, it would work if your old 3G and new 3GS are on the same line. It won't work with a sim from another line. Won't activate.

 

[BrownManUPS]

I posted this in another thread. I just did it.

Scenerio: One person on your family plan is eligible for an early upgrade but you aren't. You have an iPhone 3G or something and that other person has another phone (in my case, a blackberry). Let's call the person on the plan that is eligible for the upgrade SP (subsidized pricing).

1. Get SP to agree to 2 more years of AT&T(toughest part?)
2. Go to the Apple Store with: Last four digits of social, the phone number eligible, and the billing zipcode.
3. If eligible, you will get an iPhone 3GS! But, the sim inside is for the number eligible. Oh and SP's phone will no longer work. =(
4. Hurry home to the SP and you take out the sim card in the iPhone 3GS (before plugging into iTunes) and put it back into SP's phone (the blackberry in my case).
5. Put your sim from your iPhone into the new iPhone 3GS!
6. You may start syncing and activating the iPhone 3GS. Meanwhile, we need to fix SP's blackbeerry (or other phone) again for normal service.
7. Call AT&T (611) and explain what you did. This is perfectly allowed and isn't illegal. They will need the IMEI of the phone (or will have it in their system). In 2 minutes, their phone should be good as new. You will need to reboot SP's phone.
8. NOTE: If the SP had a blackberry data plan this IS NOT the same as an iPhone plan, and the connection will refuse. So, you must call AT&T to change this.
9. Done! And now you have a new phone and your cool family member just sat there and took the two years! Hug that person for good measure!


I had to do this. But it was painless! Hooray good customer service!
__________________

 

[Rat-Boy]

Okay, I am going to give MY story on how today went.

It was a VERY successful day.

Here is where I started the day on my family plan.

Me: iPhone 3G, no upgrade eligibility.
Wife: iPhone 3G, no upgrade eligibility.
My Mom: Blackberry Pearl, upgrade eligible.
Wife's Mom: Regular phone, upgrade eligible.
My Son: Regular phone, no upgrade eligibility.

Steps I took:

1) Went to Apple store and upgraded both mom's phones to 3GS.

2) Person helping me then took me and wife's SIMS out of the 3G's and put them in the 3GS phones.

3) Person helping me took My Mom's SIM from one of the new 3GS' and put it in one of the old 3G phones.

4) I went across the street to an ATT store.

5) Added the iPhone Data Plan to my son's line.

6) Got the iPhone Data Plan just added to my wife's mom's phone removed.

7) Put my wife's mom's SIM back in her regular phone.

8) Took my son's SIM out of his current crap phone and put it in the other old 3G phone.

So, at the end of the day:

Me: iPhone 3GS
Wife: iPhone 3GS
My Mom: iPhone 3G
Wife's Mom: Regular phone
My Son: iPhone 3G

(Oh, and then spent HOURS on iTunes getting all four iPhones back to operational status.)

 

[oghowie]

I think I'm gonna have to go into a store because a phone rep fed me some bs about not being able to remove iPhone data plans within the first 30 days.....

 

[Rat-Boy]

I think I'm gonna have to go into a store because a phone rep fed me some bs about not being able to remove iPhone data plans within the first 30 days.....

Well, for the record, I was told this before too from ATT.

But the person at Apple said we can do it, and when I went to the ATT store, they removed it in a heartbeat.

Strange, but it worked.

 

[oghowie]

Well, for the record, I was told this before too from ATT.

But the person at Apple said we can do it, and when I went to the ATT store, they removed it in a heartbeat.

Strange, but it worked.

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[neilp4453]

I have two eligible lines to do this with...but does it warrant another 7 month contract........I'm so undecided.

 

[madcatz7]

I'm sure this has been answered but I just need clarification.

We are NOT on a family plan, but we are all under 1 account.

I am not 3Gs eligible for the cheapest pricing.
My mother is.

I'm sure she'll agree to letting me use her line to upgrade as long as she doesn't have to pay for the extra plans.

How can I go about doing this? Can I just walk into an ATT store and ask them to switch it all around for me? or am I going to have to swap the sims and go in?

 

[Rat-Boy]

How can I go about doing this? Can I just walk into an ATT store and ask them to switch it all around for me? or am I going to have to swap the sims and go in?

You can walk in to an ATT Corporate Store and just say you want to do an upgrade swap I believe.

They shouldn't even need your mom's phone to do it.

Unless she is the primary account holder, then I believe she will have to be there.

 

[Stangs55]

I posted this in another thread. I just did it.

Scenerio: One person on your family plan is eligible for an early upgrade but you aren't. You have an iPhone 3G or something and that other person has another phone (in my case, a blackberry). Let's call the person on the plan that is eligible for the upgrade SP (subsidized pricing).

1. Get SP to agree to 2 more years of AT&T(toughest part?)
2. Go to the Apple Store with: Last four digits of social, the phone number eligible, and the billing zipcode.
3. If eligible, you will get an iPhone 3GS! But, the sim inside is for the number eligible. Oh and SP's phone will no longer work. =(
4. Hurry home to the SP and you take out the sim card in the iPhone 3GS (before plugging into iTunes) and put it back into SP's phone (the blackberry in my case).
5. Put your sim from your iPhone into the new iPhone 3GS!
6. You may start syncing and activating the iPhone 3GS. Meanwhile, we need to fix SP's blackbeerry (or other phone) again for normal service.
7. Call AT&T (611) and explain what you did. This is perfectly allowed and isn't illegal. They will need the IMEI of the phone (or will have it in their system). In 2 minutes, their phone should be good as new. You will need to reboot SP's phone.
8. NOTE: If the SP had a blackberry data plan this IS NOT the same as an iPhone plan, and the connection will refuse. So, you must call AT&T to change this.
9. Done! And now you have a new phone and your cool family member just sat there and took the two years! Hug that person for good measure!


I had to do this. But it was painless! Hooray good customer service!
__________________

Now this is what I had thought I was supposed to do....yet the above reply to my question (quoted below) says that this is the wrong way...

This won't work. That is exactly what I did. The problem is, the sim card from your old 3G won't be able to activate the new 3GS. You have to use the included sim card to activate the 3GS. Once you activate the 3GS, the Sim Card on the other line will stop working. So you need to give that person the sim card that came with the 3GS.

Now, you can put your 3G sim card into the 3GS. At this point I had to call ATT and swap the sim ids on my account. It was a complete mess but luckily the CS rep was very knowledgeable and he set everything up for me.

 

[Rat-Boy]

This won't work. That is exactly what I did. The problem is, the sim card from your old 3G won't be able to activate the new 3GS.

Worked just fine for me TWICE.

I upgraded TWO non-eligible lines.

Then took the SIMs out of the two new 3GS phones, and put me and my wife's SIM cards from our 3G phones into the 3GS phones.

Plugged in to Itunes, did a restore from backup, and it was just that easy.

 

[Roller]

Related question: iPhone w/o data plan

We have four FamilyTalk lines: one iPhone, 3 non-iPhones. I just upgraded my 2G to a 3G S on Friday. My son wants to use my old iPhone, but without the data plan. This hack shows how to do it, but I'd prefer an AT&T sanctioned method. Is there one? The rep at my local AT&T store said that there isn't.