Upgrade question for wife

[DustyLBottoms]

Ok, here's the deal;

I'm the primary holder of a 5 line family talk account.

I already have an iphone 3gs, and I'd like to get one as a gift for my wife at Christmas.

Problem is that our only upgrade we can take is from my mother's line.

Mom is fine with giving up her upgrade (doesn't care what kind of phone she has). But she's 245 miles away.

How do I get the upgrade before Christmas, keep both my mom and my wife's current SIMs/Phones working, and keep it as surprise for my wife?

Please help!

 

[DustyLBottoms]

Anyone? 36 views & no ideas?

 

[RobMoss]

There's me thinking you were wanting to upgrade your wife...

To answer your question, surely, all your Mum has to do is apply for the upgrade as it if was for her, then post you the replacement handset. You can then wrap this for your wife, and give it to her on Christmas Day. Your Mum keeps her SIM in her old phone, your wife keeps her SIM in her phone, then swaps it over later.

Or am I oversimplifying how this works..?

 

[Night Spring]

The part about upgrading your wife's phone using your mom's account upgrade should be doable -- call AT&T or walk into a AT&T store and explain what you want to do and a customer service rep should be able to set it up. Buying it before Christmas and not activating it immediately so you can surprise your wife is the problem, since you have to activate the phone on the spot when you buy. Perhaps you could get her an iPhone gift card from Apple to give her on Christmas, then the two of you can go out together after Chrsitmas to purchase and activate her phone. You could make it a day out for the two of you.

 

[jbanger]

since you have to activate the phone on the spot when you buy.

i didn't, i put in my previous sim once i got home and then synced with iTunes?

 

[Night Spring]

i didn't, i put in my previous sim once i got home and then synced with iTunes?

Really? Did you get it for the upgrade price ($199/299)? All I've ever heard is that it has to be activated before leaving the store (unless there is exceptional circumstances, like the AT&T servers being down). However, I could very well be wrong! I think OPs best bet is to talk to the people at the Apple or AT&T store where he plans to make his purchase. Get it straight from the source!

 

[DustyLBottoms]

Ok,I went to the At&t store today, they said as long as everyone currently has newer SIM cards (they do) that we can swap everything with just me, and no phones would stop working in the mean time. That means she gets a surprise Christmas morning!

 

[jbanger]

That means she gets a surprise Christmas morning!

and a new iPhone?

 

[jobsfnby]

have them at the att store switch the numbers on christmas eve night...ask them to give her new phone a random number then on christmas eve night swap the numbers on the sim cards