iPhone upgrade hell...can anyone help?

[rotobadger]

Posted this in another forum but thought I'd get maximum coverage by posting here as well...


Ok, here's the (long) story:

I have a 4GB iPhone and decided to buy an 8GB (upgrade). I called Apple and ordered an 8GB. Got the 8GB in the mail and swap the 4GB SIM into to 8. The new phone doesn't recognize the SIM as a previously activated SIM. When I hook it up to iTunes it acts as if I am a brand new customer. They want a credit check, activation fee, etc. I spent 3 hours on the phone yesterday with Apple and they were unable to help. So I went to the Apple store today. The "Genius" swapped the SIMS and hooked up to iTunes on his computer. He said that he was not seeing the activation process he should be seeing and that there was nothing he could do and that I should call AT&T. From the Apple store I ended up on the phone with them for an hour. After talking to 3 people a manager ends up on the phone (after a 20 minute hold) and informs me that with EVERY new iPhone a new plan is required. I explained to her that this was just a hardware upgrade and that she was mistaken.

Anyway, after going round and round I ended up giving up. NO one seems to be able to figure this out. I am fried and about ready to give up, return the 8GB and live with the 4GB.

Here's the strange thing: I put the 4GB SIM into the 8 and the phone says I need a "Valid and unlocked SIM" and when hooked up to iTunes it wants a brand new activation (as if I was never a customer). I put the brand new 8GB sim into the 4GB and it turns on and functions perfectly...there is just no cell service.

Is it possible that the "new" iPhone sent to me was previously activated? Does ANYONE have any ideas? I trust the group here to give me a far more intelligent and accurate answer than customer support at either company.

Thanks for reading this book and I look forward to responses.

 

[clausenfan]

Posted this in another forum but thought I'd get maximum coverage by posting here as well...


Ok, here's the (long) story:

I have a 4GB iPhone and decided to buy an 8GB (upgrade). I called Apple and ordered an 8GB. Got the 8GB in the mail and swap the 4GB SIM into to 8. The new phone doesn't recognize the SIM as a previously activated SIM. When I hook it up to iTunes it acts as if I am a brand new customer. They want a credit check, activation fee, etc. I spent 3 hours on the phone yesterday with Apple and they were unable to help. So I went to the Apple store today. The "Genius" swapped the SIMS and hooked up to iTunes on his computer. He said that he was not seeing the activation process he should be seeing and that there was nothing he could do and that I should call AT&T. From the Apple store I ended up on the phone with them for an hour. After talking to 3 people a manager ends up on the phone (after a 20 minute hold) and informs me that with EVERY new iPhone a new plan is required. I explained to her that this was just a hardware upgrade and that she was mistaken.

Anyway, after going round and round I ended up giving up. NO one seems to be able to figure this out. I am fried and about ready to give up, return the 8GB and live with the 4GB.

Here's the strange thing: I put the 4GB SIM into the 8 and the phone says I need a "Valid and unlocked SIM" and when hooked up to iTunes it wants a brand new activation (as if I was never a customer). I put the brand new 8GB sim into the 4GB and it turns on and functions perfectly...there is just no cell service.

Is it possible that the "new" iPhone sent to me was previously activated? Does ANYONE have any ideas? I trust the group here to give me a far more intelligent and accurate answer than customer support at either company.

Thanks for reading this book and I look forward to responses.

hmm, that is very interesting. but it has to be new. I am guessing it is very illegal to sell used stuff and mark it as new. I'm not really sure tho.

 

[seb481]

Try to call ATT several times so you have a new rep every time. Answers to your problems often vary from rep to rep.

 

[Triton712]

I know your pain man. I purchased another iPhone and ran into the same problem you have. All you need to do is get Apple to associate your current SIM to the new phone. After discovering this problem myself, I took my phone back to the Apple store and told them I needed the SIM reassociated. It took the guy a minute or so and I was all set. I haven't gotten rid of my first phone yet, so when I feel like it I can actually swap the SIM back to the other handset and it works just fine. Prior to having Apple make this change I was running into the same problem with the new phone requesting new activation even though I had installed my current SIM. Just explain to Apple whats going on and tell them to reassociate your SIM and you should be all set!

 

[biffyiffy]

oy, I don't like the sound of this. Id planned on doing the exact same thing. Got a 4gb less than 2 weeks ago. When the 8gb dropped to 349 (refurb) I ordered one and planned to send the 4gb back.

Id assumed I could just take my sim from the 4gb and put it in the 8gb and there woold be no activation process. Then take the sim from the newly purchased 8gb, put into the 4gb and send it back.

Still hoping it works like that for me with no problems. Will find out tuesday I guess.

 

[Triton712]

oy, I don't like the sound of this. Id planned on doing the exact same thing. Got a 4gb less than 2 weeks ago. When the 8gb dropped to 349 (refurb) I ordered one and planned to send the 4gb back.

Id assumed I could just take my sim from the 4gb and put it in the 8gb and there woold be no activation process. Then take the sim from the newly purchased 8gb, put into the 4gb and send it back.

Still hoping it works like that for me with no problems. Will find out tuesday I guess.

That wont work until your current SIM is associated with your new phones IMEI. Its a simple process for Apple to do for you... can probably be done over the phone. You just have to get someone who understands what your talking about. No worries, they had me set in like 2-3 minutes. After that I had to plug up to iTunes and it did have to activate but it was totally different that a new activation. It took no time at all.

 

[JKD]

You just need to keep calling back until you find someone on the helldesk who has a clue.

I got 3 different answers to my issue from 3 different people until I finally got someone who knew how to do what I was asking and even she was mistaken at first by assuming/forgetting it was an iPhone account we were discussing.

I don't think it's 100% AT&Ts fault the process with the Apple product is clearly slightly different from other accounts.

 

[Vultren]

Similar thing happened to me.

Because of the 200 dollar discount, and I purchased my iPhone within 14 days of buying it I was eligible to upgrade my iPhone to an 8GB for free. All I had to do was send in my 4GB back to Apple and they would credit my account back.

So I sent it in and got my 8GB that night. But before I did that I wanted to keep my contacts and NOT have to go through the activating process again. I talked to an Apple rep. for and hour and got... no where. We couldnt get The contacts off my iPhone to outlook. Having these problems, we still had the activation problem. People at the Apple store (when I bought my iPhone 8GB) and AT&T reps. and Apple reps. said all I had to do was switch the sim cards in the old iPhone with the new one. So I was happy I didn’t have to do all this work! Turns out I was in the same position as you are in right now.

I had to activate the new iPhone. I figured out that you COULDN’T just switch the sim cards.

What you should of done was "I'm and existing costumer" option on iTunes and enter all that info, instead of making a new account. IF you did this it should work out. You wont be charged for upgrading a phone number. However if you want to get or change a DIFFERENT phone number to an iPhone from a previous number, you gotta pay. So you're safe if you just click the existing customer button.