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Using someone else's upgrade, NOT on your plan?

Vinnie Madrox

Vinnie Madrox

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 23, 2009
297
0
HowELL, NJ
Ok, so a friend of mind has a family plan with her and her mom. She has a 3g and her mom has a moto razor. Both contracts are up and elegible for iphone 4s at $199-$299.

I have a family plan i started in January with my 3gs, and my girlfriend's 3gs (got mine in january, her's in may) so i am NOT elegible for an upgrade.

My friend is getting an iphone 4 with her upgrade, but her mom has no interest in getting a new phone. She's happy with her razor. Is it possible to have her order 2 iphones through att.com and activate one to her number and one to mine (i am giving her $300 cash for the 32gb one)?

I've heard that you have to call at&t and give them the number it was ordered FOR, AND my number, but i'm nervous that they will disable her mom's SIM card...

I'm just kind of confused by the whole situation, but. REALLY want an iphone 4 and dont want to pass up this oportunity....but i also don't want to sell my iphone, and be without a phone (it's on ebay now)

HELP PLEASE!! LoL
 
But if i do that, and it registers the new SIM to her mom's number, her mom's SIM in her phone will be disconnected....thats a problem....
 
wouldn't the mom have to also sign up for a data plan for the iphone on her account. It seems that she may end up paying $25 mo. for data on a razr phone.

I may be wrong.
 
jfyrfytr25 said:
wouldn't the mom have to also sign up for a data plan for the iphone on her account. It seems that she may end up paying $25 mo. for data on a razr phone.

I may be wrong.
Click to expand...

pretty sure no data plan is active until the phone is "activated" so if he brings in the phone and has AT&T activate it using his information then nothing will change with the mom's phone. I could be mistaken but that is what I have been under the impression is the case.
 
Using your friend's mom's upgrade, you could get one iPhone 4 at the $199-299 price point, but it would lock her into another 2 year agreement, so if she wanted to terminate her contract within that period she would have to pay the ETF.

Anyways, using her upgrade would work to get one iPhone 4, and once you have your microsim in there (I believe AT&T charges a small fee), she could call AT&T and say that she doesn't have an iPhone anymore to cancel just the data plan.
 
It just works said:
Using your friend's mom's upgrade, you could get one iPhone 4 at the $199-299 price point, but it would lock her into another 2 year agreement, so if she wanted to terminate her contract within that period she would have to pay the ETF.

Anyways, using her upgrade would work to get one iPhone 4, and once you have your microsim in there (I believe AT&T charges a small fee), she could call AT&T and say that she doesn't have an iPhone anymore to cancel just the data plan.
Click to expand...

She doesnt care about the contract, we talked to her about that already. So i can just get a blank micro sim from at&t, plug it into the new iphone, then call at&t to activate the new sim?
 
Would i also have to get a new regular SIM for her razor since her's will be disactivated when activating the micro sim on the iphone?
 
Vinnie Madrox said:
Would i also have to get a new regular SIM for her razor since her's will be disactivated when activating the micro sim on the iphone?
Click to expand...

yes you would, I did this exact same thing......

My sister, who is NOT on my plan and is on a family plan with her fiance, wanted an iphone 4, my dad (who is on my family plan) said he is happy with his phone and doesnt need a new one

So my sisters fiance found a iphone 4 in a radioshack, they called me to verify its ok, then everything was actiavted......on my dads line.....then him and my sister went into the ATT store and explained they want to put the iphone on her number and re-activate the basic phone on my dad's number and will need a new SIM for his phone......

Bottom line, it will have to be activated first on the upgraded line, then you will have to go into the store, explain what you wanna do, and they will change it around with no problem or charge.....

Just make sure they remove the data and visual voice mail code on her razr plan.....
 
maddux2005 said:
yes you would, I did this exact same thing......

My sister who is NOT on my plan and is on a family plan with her fiance, wanted an iphone 4, my dad (who is on my family plan) said he is happy with his phone and doesnt need a new one

So my sisters fiance found a iphone 4 in a radioshack, they called me to verify its ok, then everything was actiavted......on my dads line.....then him and my sister went into the ATT store and explained they want to put the iphone on her number and re-activate the basic phone on my dad's number and will need a new SIM for his phone......

Bottom line, it will have to be activated first on the upgraded line, then you will have to go into the store, explain what you wanna do, and they will change it around with no problem or charge.....

Just make sure they remove the data and visual voice mail code on her razr plan.....
Click to expand...

Thank you, thats exactly what i wanted to hear :-D
 
I spent 8 hours of my life, with four trips to the AT&T Store and eight calls to AT&T and Apple combined doing this exact same thing yesterday.

You can't just stick a new activated micro-sim in it if it was purchased via upgrade on another line because Apple puts a hold on the IMEI number.
So, even if you SIM matches the AT&T account and the Apple account and they set it up, when you plug it into iTunes, it will display the old number and not let you activate.

The only way to do it is to activate with the SIM that came with the upgrade, which deactivates the other SIM in your friends phone, then have AT&T switch over the number to your account (which may require another new SIM). Then, your friend has to get a newly activated SIM for his/her line.

It's a pain in the ass to do, but it's the only way.
 
Psant said:
I spent 8 hours of my life, with four trips to the AT&T Store and eight calls to AT&T and Apple combined doing this exact same thing yesterday.

You can't just stick a new activated micro-sim in it if it was purchased via upgrade on another line because Apple puts a hold on the IMEI number.
So, even if you SIM matches the AT&T account and the Apple account and they set it up, when you plug it into iTunes, it will display the old number and not let you activate.

The only way to do it is to activate with the SIM that came with the upgrade, which deactivates the other SIM in your friends phone, then have AT&T switch over the number to your account (which may require another new SIM). Then, your friend has to get a newly activated SIM for his/her line.

It's a pain in the ass to do, but it's the only way.
Click to expand...

So its easier to just bring the new iphone 4 and razor into the at&t store with my friend (name on the account) and just tell them that I want the micro SIM to have my number, and they will figure out the rest?
 
I'm in a similar situation, except the other person is signing up for a new line (not upgrading) and will be using a dumbphone purchased on craigslist.

Does this make the process simpler? Do they just need to swap the microsim out to their dumbphone using an adapter, tell ATT they don't want data, and that's that?
 
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