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Upgrade Scenario - Haven't Seen Yet!

A

anza

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 13, 2007
28
15
Forgive me, but I've searched pretty much every thread for a scenario similar to mine and haven't found it!

I spoke to an AT&t rep who said my plan of action was possible "off the record" but I get the impression he had no idea what he was talking about...maybe not though.

My Dad, Mom and I are all on the same plan. None of us currently has an iPhone. My Dad and I just got new phones last summer, so neither of us are eligible. My Mom is the only line on the account that IS.

I should add we spoke to an AT&T rep last week who made NO mention of it being a problem for me to upgrade--so here I've been getting all excited until today when I am told I'm NOT eligible.I was going to get the 3g and just give Mom my old phone..

Anyway, "off the record"--the rep said since I am an authorized user, I could go in and get the 3g at discount on behalf of my moms line/# and renew that line for 2 years. He then said that once it was in "my hands" I could activate to whatever number I wanted.

But now I'm reading that the phone would HAVE to be activated in store--which I assume means it would have to be activated for her phone #. If so, still seems like there would be a workaround, although more elaborate--in which we'd have to activate for her number, then deactivate and change to my number and then I could still just give her the phone I'm currently using?

Any holes in this?? Hope that's clear..seems like theres some way around it if she is eligible. If this has already been discussed, PLEASE link b/c I've not been able to find it.
 
anza said:
Forgive me, but I've searched pretty much every thread for a scenario similar to mine and haven't found it!

I spoke to an AT&t rep who said my plan of action was possible "off the record" but I get the impression he had no idea what he was talking about...maybe not though.

My Dad, Mom and I are all on the same plan. None of us currently has an iPhone. My Dad and I just got new phones last summer, so neither of us are eligible. My Mom is the only line on the account that IS.

I should add we spoke to an AT&T rep last week who made NO mention of it being a problem for me to upgrade--so here I've been getting all excited until today when I am told I'm NOT eligible.I was going to get the 3g and just give Mom my old phone..

Anyway, "off the record"--the rep said since I am an authorized user, I could go in and get the 3g at discount on behalf of my moms line/# and renew that line for 2 years. He then said that once it was in "my hands" I could activate to whatever number I wanted.

But now I'm reading that the phone would HAVE to be activated in store--which I assume means it would have to be activated for her phone #. If so, still seems like there would be a workaround, although more elaborate--in which we'd have to activate for her number, then deactivate and change to my number and then I could still just give her the phone I'm currently using?

Any holes in this?? Hope that's clear..seems like theres some way around it if she is eligible. If this has already been discussed, PLEASE link b/c I've not been able to find it.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure this is very possible with any other phone. Not sure it will be with the iPhone. Give it a try though, and relay the information back.
 
in response to "Pretty sure, you'd have to keep your moms number with the iPhone.."

Really? I can't see how that'd be true..especially if you consider that she could legitimately sell it to anyone (myself included) right? How could they possibly bar a 2nd hand purchaser from activating it?
 
I am on a family plan with 5 people on it (sharing 850 minutes, total chaos every now and then, lol). I had upgraded my phone, and about 6 months later I was trying to get a new one for my mom, which she didnt quite like, so I kept the new one and gave her the old one.

All we did was use our SIM chip cards I've never used any of the ones I get with the new phones....

I guess when it comes to an iPhone you could buy it through your mom's upgrade, try to not activate new sim card, use the current one she has (excuse: 'I store my numbers on the sim card), have the plan be activated, and then switch sim cards, contact at&t and make sure that the data plan is transferred to your account. Should work, I think.
 
question fear said:
Once it is activated you could try switching the SIM and restoring it, that might reactivate it under your number.

I don't see why you can't.
Click to expand...


Agreed. I can't see how they could prevent this unless some terms of service have been significantly altered.

The only thing complicating this is that we live on different coasts, so at the very least she'd be without a phone for a couple days while I send her my current? or could she just reactivate the one she has now once I'd reset the iphone to my number?
 
I've been wondering the same thing... I'm not eligible for an upgrade but my mom is and I was hoping I'd be able to swap out the sim cards. The only thing I'm wondering is what happens if you sign up for a data plan with the iPhone... Would it stay with the original sim?

I'd be really interested to hear if this works for anyone.
 
The other thing is that, although I'm an authorized user--it's not like I have my Mom's phone/SIM anyway. How would that be dealt with?
 
Im in the same boat, looking to upgrade both my phones on my family plan but i dont qualify. my father is upgrade eligible on both his lines. i asked one rep the other week at a store and he said i could, but now im having my doubts. if i cant upgrade using his upgrade eligibility, ill probably just cancel ATT all together. im sick of the iphone being treated so differently. i have other peoples upgrades before and have given away some of my upgrades over the past 10 years.
 
I just think the idea in general that you cant swap upgrades within the same plan is ludicrous. What's the difference? They still get a renewed contract and additional $ for a data plan.

Where's the loss/loop in that for them that would move them to bar it?
 
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