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Switch out sim with I6
- Thread starter wratran
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New SIM card may be a better/newer revision than the ones that came with our iPhone 5's two years ago.
This depends on the carrier. I believe that if you switch SIM cards to a new phone without telling your carrier, your phone calls will definitely work without any problem, and obviously wifi does not depend on the SIM card. However, I think that some carriers (like AT&T) require that you register the IMEI # of the phone with them before you can use cellular data, so you *might* need to call them up to let them know the IMEI number on your new phone. I had to do this once when I bought an upgrade phone using my wife's line, but wanted to activate it for myself.
Of course, if you used your phone # when you ordered the phone (either through AT&T or Apple), you shouldn't even need to switch SIM cards. Your phone will have a new SIM card in it, and when you power it on and activate it, the new SIM card will become your SIM card, and the old one will be deactivated.
Two years ago, I ordered an iPhone 5, gave my phone number as a part of the order process, and chose Verizon as my new carrier (I was on AT&T). When my new phone arrived, I just turned it on and registered it, and it immediately started working. I expected to have to jump through some hoops to get the number ported to Verizon, but apparently Apple and Verizon did all of this before my phone even arrived.
Your giving out bad information for at&t. Their system will recognize your phone and sim. All you need is an activated sim or the new sim plus activation. IF you buy in an apple store they will activate it using the new card because thats what papa told them to do. When it comes in the mail all you have to do is put your old sim in it and turn it on.
Usually you can just switch sims. Sometimes, like when AT&T went from 3G to LTE you needed a new sim to support LTE. Also, if you switch from Android to iPhone sometimes you need to call and make an account update as services can be provisioned differently, but for the most part you just switch and you're good to go.
The new phones are advertised as being already "activated", but that is a bit misleading since they really can't be activated or your existing phone (if you're upgrading) would not work. When you plug it into iTunes it will do the activation so just switch sims *first* before plugging into iTunes and everything should be registered with AT&T correctly.
Its not bad information for AT&T ... it is what I had to do, although maybe things have changed in 2 years.
Note that this only applies if you did not buy the phone through Apple or AT&T for that specific phone #. In my case, I had bought the phone for my wife's line, but wanted to activate it with my SIM. I took the SIM card from the new phone and put it in my wife's phone, and I put my SIM in the new phone. Things did not work, and I needed to spend time on the phone with AT&T to get it straightened out.
With Verizon, switching SIMs worked without any issues.
I'm doing a cross upgrade and yes I can put my 5s card in it and turn it on which I have done with past upgrades but I will call first just so the SIM card will be matched to the IMEI. If they tell me there is no difference from last years nano SIM card I will use the old card and have the new one activated on my 5s for my daughter since it will be her phone. Hopefully that will save me a trip to the ATT store for another SIM card.