Can iPhone be used with reseller of AT&T service?

Question

Level 1

18 points

Can iPhone be used with reseller of AT&T service?

I heard somewhere that if you are a current customer of AT&T, you must enter your AT&T account number to activate your iPhone. I use AT&T service and had assumed an iPhone would be compatible (any other AT&T phone is compatible with my service). The (potential) issue is that I do not have an AT&T account number because my service/billing is provided through my local telephone company. They "resell" the AT&T service under their own brand name.

Does anyone know if I will be able to use the iPhone with my current service or will I be forced to switch to a direct plan with AT&T?

Mac Mini Core Duo, iMac Core 2 Duo, Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.1), Seasoned (since 1988) Mac power user

Posted on Jan 10, 2008 1:33 PM

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Answer 1

Tamara

Level 6

13,744 points

Jan 10, 2008 1:37 PM in response to cpoagsc

When you activate the iPhone through iTunes, you will be a direct ATT customer.

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Answer 2

cpoagsc Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 10, 2008 1:48 PM in response to Tamara

Which would mean that I may have to break a contract (not sure - need to check the dates) which would suck considering I'm technically already an AT&T customer!

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Answer 3

Jan 10, 2008 5:36 PM in response to cpoagsc

cpoagsc wrote:
Which would mean that I may have to break a contract (not sure - need to check the dates) which would suck considering I'm technically already an AT&T customer!

Are you replacing a cellphone which is under this "contract" with the iPhone?

If so, when you activate the iPhone, check the option that you are an existing AT&T customer replacing a current AT&T phone. It will not ask for an AT&T account number, but, rather, the phone number of the phone you are replacing. The iPhone will be activated with this phone number. No matter what, you are locked into a new 2 year contract with the iPhone but, if it recognizes your phone number as an AT&T account, you would not be subject to any kind of penalty for canceling a contract with another carrier.

If the activation process doesn't recognize the number as an AT&T account, you should probably call AT&T wireless and discuss the situation with them.

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Answer 4

cpoagsc Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 10, 2008 5:52 PM in response to ITpro4Mac

Now THAT is the answer I was hoping for! It may be a while before I actually attempt to get the iPhone and know for certain that this worked, but I certainly appreciate you (both of you) taking the time to respond to my question. I tried to watch the video of how to activate the phone on the Apple web site, but there were so many options and the video really only seemed to cover one of them. This response makes a lot of sense to me.

I guess there are still variables. I have a family plan with two phones and only plan to switch the Treo over to the iPhone (my wife like her RAZR). So either the iPhone will become my active phone on my existing plan or I will have to move the other phone over to AT&T, effectively opening one family plan and closing the other.

Hopefully the iPhone will simply replace the Treo and extend my existing contract.

Thanks again!

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Answer 5

Tamara

Level 6

13,744 points

Jan 10, 2008 6:41 PM in response to cpoagsc

The easiest thing would be to call your current provider and ask them. It may depend on how their deal with ATT is setup.

Even if you have to move your phones over to ATT, you can retain your current cell numbers.

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Answer 6

cpoagsc Author

Level 1

18 points

Feb 11, 2008 6:18 PM in response to cpoagsc

Well I got an iPhone and got the answers to my questions!

No, you cannot activate an iPhone on the account of a third-party re-seller of AT&T service. I entered my current phone number into iTunes during the activation process and received a message that my iPhone could not be activated using my current account. I also went to the AT&T web site and attempted to set up online access to my account. That process failed as well with a similar message.

BUT, you CAN have your account transferred to AT&T where you can subsequently activate your iPhone using your same phone number.

This was a fairly painless process for me. I went to my local telephone company (my local re-seller of AT&T Wireless) and explained the situation. The told me that they could transfer my account to AT&T and because the transfer was due to an iPhone purchase, they could "expedite" the request, which they described as 1-2 days.

About 3 hours after my visit, I went to the AT&T web site and attempted once again to set up online access to my account. This time when I entered my phone number, it took me through the process of setting up online account access. This was my first sign that my account had been successfully transferred. So I went back to iTunes and successfully activated the iPhone. Remember this was just a few short hours after visiting my local phone company. Not bad.

My iPhone is activated and I'm still using the same phone number that I've had for years.

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Answer 7

cpoagsc Author

Level 1

18 points

Feb 11, 2008 6:19 PM in response to cpoagsc

If you have this issue, go to your local reseller and request that your account be transferred to AT&T so that you can activate an iPhone.

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