What steps are involved in selling a 4S to upgrade on AT&T?

[puma1552]

Curious how this works.

Say I decide I want to sell my on-contract, locked 4S to upgrade to an iPhone 5, for which I'm eligible for an early upgrade.

1) What do I need to do to the phone itself to sell it? Do I need to call AT&T and have them do something to it? Do I need to take the SIM out and sell it without it?

2) How do I go about getting the new phone all set up without messing with my contract and keeping my phone number, etc.? I realize I'd have to sign a new two year agreement upon upgrading the phone, that's fine...but I don't want anything in my contract to change in terms of my services or prices.

Thanks, just not sure how the actual logistics work of selling a phone in the middle of a contract and what's all involved in preparing the phone for sale.

 

[TSX]

Just restore as new iPhone and that's it.

 

[Che Castro]

Just restore as new iPhone and that's it.

Remove the sim card ?

 

[puma1552]

Has to be more to it?

 

[TonyC28]

Go into Settings and erase all content and settings. That will essentially make it as it was the day it came out of the box. If you want to take the SIM card out you can, I doubt that would hurt the value. As far as selling it, that's another story. If I could offer one bit of advice it would be to avoid the instant sell option on eBay.

 

[puma1552]

I realize I have to reset the phone, but do I seriously not at all have to talk to AT&T to have them stop service on the 4S and start service on the new phone?

I mean really, do I not involve AT&T one bit? This doesn't seem right.

 

[batting1000]

I realize I have to reset the phone, but do I seriously not at all have to talk to AT&T to have them stop service on the 4S and start service on the new phone?

I mean really, do I not involve AT&T one bit? This doesn't seem right.

Yes, you'll have to get it removed from your account. That's why you remove the SIM card...

 

[bluedukies8]

Curious how this works.

Say I decide I want to sell my on-contract, locked 4S to upgrade to an iPhone 5, for which I'm eligible for an early upgrade.

1) What do I need to do to the phone itself to sell it? Do I need to call AT&T and have them do something to it? Do I need to take the SIM out and sell it without it?

2) How do I go about getting the new phone all set up without messing with my contract and keeping my phone number, etc.? I realize I'd have to sign a new two year agreement upon upgrading the phone, that's fine...but I don't want anything in my contract to change in terms of my services or prices.

Thanks, just not sure how the actual logistics work of selling a phone in the middle of a contract and what's all involved in preparing the phone for sale.

1) Technically you don't need to call AT&T, and if you are on the grandfathered unlimited plan, I would only call or stop at a Corp store to insure of keeping it...if you plan on keeping it.

If you are going to use a phone other than a smartphone between now and then, they just need to change the data plan to correspond with the phone. The SIM card will notify AT&T it is in a non-iPhone and they will want the unlimited plan changed if you don't talk with them.

2) Like others have said....just wipe your phone. Your account is tied to your SIM card. As long as you keep the current active sim that is in your phone, you will keep the same number same contract length until you upgrade to the new iPhone. There really isn't a lot that is involved as one would think.

Good luck!

 

[Boiler]

1) Technically you don't need to call AT&T, and if you are on the grandfathered unlimited plan, I would only call or stop at a Corp store to insure of keeping it...if you plan on keeping it.

If you are going to use a phone other than a smartphone between now and then, they just need to change the data plan to correspond with the phone. The SIM card will notify AT&T it is in a non-iPhone and they will want the unlimited plan changed if you don't talk with them.

2) Like others have said....just wipe your phone. Your account is tied to your SIM card. As long as you keep the current active sim that is in your phone, you will keep the same number same contract length until you upgrade to the new iPhone. There really isn't a lot that is involved as one would think.

Good luck!

I am on the grandfathered unlimited AT&T iPhone plan using an iPhone 4S

I would like to sell my iPhone 4S today
And put my micro sim into a used iPhone 4 to use for a month until the new iPhone comes out?

Do I need to do anything special to keep my unlimited grandfatered data working while
Using my sim in an old iPhone 4?

 

[bluedukies8]

I am on the grandfathered unlimited AT&T iPhone plan using an iPhone 4S

I would like to sell my iPhone 4S today
And put my micro sim into a used iPhone 4 to use for a month until the new iPhone comes out?

Do I need to do anything special to keep my unlimited grandfatered data working while
Using my sim in an old iPhone 4?

No. You wouldn't need to do anything since you are putting your sim in another iPhone. I would, however, call AT&T and let them swap the IMEI numbers. Just to be safe.

 

[lordofthereef]

The qucik answer is that you don't hreally have to inform AT&T, however, I assume you will be replacing the phone with something else before the new iPhone. If this is the case, a few things to remember:

1. If you replace with a dumb phone, and you don't want to keep some sort of grandfathered data plan, you can always call AT&T and cancel your data plan all together. They may ask you for the dumb phone's IMEI, to verify right then and there that you are using a dumb phone, and not a smart phone (as those require data plans).

2. If you replace with an LTE phone, your data plan will not work right off the bat, so you will need to contact AT&T to switch your data to "LTE data". Not sure why, but I can confirm this is the case from when I breifly used a Lumia 900.

 

[Boiler]

The qucik answer is that you don't hreally have to inform AT&T, however, I assume you will be replacing the phone with something else before the new iPhone. If this is the case, a few things to remember:

1. If you replace with a dumb phone, and you don't want to keep some sort of grandfathered data plan, you can always call AT&T and cancel your data plan all together. They may ask you for the dumb phone's IMEI, to verify right then and there that you are using a dumb phone, and not a smart phone (as those require data plans).

2. If you replace with an LTE phone, your data plan will not work right off the bat, so you will need to contact AT&T to switch your data to "LTE data". Not sure why, but I can confirm this is the case from when I breifly used a Lumia 900.

What about 1.5 between 1 and 2
An iPhone 4 (smart phone, not dumb phone) but does not have LTE
Is this as simple as removing the micro sim card from the iphone 4s (to be sold) and put into the iphone 4 (to be used for a month until Sept 21 newest iPhone)?

Or do I need to make a phone call to AT&T to keep grandfathered unlimited iphone data safe?

Thanks so much

 

[lordofthereef]

What about 1.5 between 1 and 2
An iPhone 4 (smart phone, not dumb phone) but does not have LTE
Is this as simple as removing the micro sim card from the iphone 4s (to be sold) and put into the iphone 4 (to be used for a month until Sept 21 newest iPhone)?

Or do I need to make a phone call to AT&T to keep grandfathered unlimited iphone data safe?

Thanks so much

Yes, that is as simple as removing the sim, popping it in the 4, and start using immediately. No need to inform AT&T if you don't wish to.

 

[Boiler]

Yes, that is as simple as removing the sim, popping it in the 4, and start using immediately. No need to inform AT&T if you don't wish to.

Thank you for the confirmation lordofthebeef and bluedukies8

 

[AnthonySmith]

This will be the fourth time I'll be upgrading to a new iPhone whilst selling my previous in-contract iPhone.

Here's what I do.

1. Restore your iPhone completely, like others have said. This will remove any and all personal settings and will make the device like-new as far as software.

2. Pull out your SIM card. This isn't a must, but I do it just in case. I don't want to ship my iPhone to the buyer with my SIM card and account info on my SIM card.

3. eBay or Craigslist. If you want a safe transaction go with eBay. There can be some sketchy people when it comes to iPhone's on Craiglist especially considering a bunch of people will be doing the same as you. The only gripe I have with eBay is they charge you 9% of your total sale in fees.

4. I will usually list mine just as the new one is announced. Thus leaving me a week without a phone. Not too big of a deal, but I suppose that depends on the person and their use for their phone. If you list it on eBay, I usually choose '7 days" handling. So if they buy it today, I'll most likely ship it 5 or 6 days from now giving me the most time out of my iPhone before the new one arrives.

Also, not sure what condition your iPhone is in but a clean spotless iPhone attracts viewers. Make sure to use your own photos when listing your iPhone and make sure you clean it up really well. Also, if you have the original box and documents, to some, that's a big deal.

Hope this helps.