iPhone 3GS sim swap with iPhone 3G? OK?

This should not be a problem but you cannot just switch sims. I used the upgrade on my wife's line to get my 3g. I just went to an ATT store and told them what I wanted to do. Att said 'no problem' and setup the iphone for my line and gave me a new sim for my wife's phone. The upgrade on her line was used up and my line(main) was put on a new 2yr agreement. Our number's stayed the same and everything was fine. I don't think ATT cares who gets the phone as they still get a new 2yr agreement and the upgrade is used up. And you will need the iphone data plan for any line that uses an iphone.

I am in the process of doing this EXACT thing. My line (main) with 3g, is not eligable for the 3gS upgrade, my wife and her 2g however, is eligable.
A friend of my is a sales consultant at an ATT store, when i approached him with this idea, my initial thought was a sim swap right ? easy as pie right?
He informed me that on an iphone its not that simple. However he said it's just as easy for him to configure the swap on the ATT side as it is for me to swap sims.
So basically, my "wifes" new 3gs arrives friday the 19th...(shes not getting her hands on it for a split second), As soon as i get it i will activate through itunes as normal. Then once this is done all i have to do is call my friend at ATT and give him both IMEI numbers and tell him which one goes with which iphone. He said this is not illegal or un-ethical, simply put a loophole. He also informed me that this swap is pretty much the sole decretion of the store that you goto. So, my suggestion to all that dont have a friend at an ATT store, when you go in to get this done, be a polite and courteous to the consultant as possible, because technically they don't have to do this.
In closing, i really feel bad for all the wives of us avid iPhone users, their the ones really gettin screwed. LOL

I'm not buying all this IMEI number crap.

I had my 3g warranty-replaced a few months back and they simply popped my SIM into a new phone and I walked out making calls - no complex work with AT&T. Came home and sync'd my content without 'activation'.

I will be doing the wife 'hand-me-down' plan tomorrow using the following logic:

1. Insert my SIM card into NEW 3GS and confirm that I can make calls. Assuming all is good, I'll restore it from a backup and have a perfect carbon-copy of my existing 3g.

2. I'll insert the NEW (3gs) SIM into my existing 3G and activate using my wife's number/account (which is on a family plan with my number - so all of this is PERFECTLY ethical and fair; WE qualify for the upgrade, why would AT&T care who was using which phone!). I will then dispose of her 2g SIM.

Don't people buy USED iPhones all the time and activate them on AT&T's network? All this cloak and dagger crap is just that - crap.

I will then dispose of her 2g SIM.

Why would you do that? The device needs a sim even if it is not active.

I just talked to the Apple service rep at the ATT service number (611). He said exactly what you just said, almost word for word. That's the whole point of having a SIM card in the first place. He said if he were to replace my phone with a new phone, he would just send me a phone and tell me to pop in my SIM card and sync with iTunes. That's the first thing I'm going to do tomorrow.

I've seen people swap SIM cards at the airport as they get on a plane so that they can have multiple accounts with multiple carriers in multiple countries. I think this IMEI thing matters but is not as critical as has been said here. Even so it would simply be a matter of calling ATT and letting them know about the new equipment on your account. This isn't like a cable company with their tuner boxes. WE OWN THE PHONE. ATT does not.

This process (posted in another forum) should essentially work the same as what I suggested, with the potential benefit of ensuring that the original iPhone number gets 'upgraded' to the 3g data plan accurately:

1) Order the 3Gs, and configure the rate plan as you would like it to be for your wife.

2) Backup your 3G iPhone and your Wife's first gen iPhone.

3) When it arrives, activate the 3Gs on your wife's account/phone number. Her first Gen iPhone has a different (2G) rate plan. Activating the 3Gs on your wife's account will ensure that her account is changed over to the newer 3G/3Gs rate plan. It is REALLY important to do it this way so you can swap SIM cards - because then both you and your wife will be on a 3G rate plan and this will make sure the data plan and billing are not messed up.

4) Simply swap the SIM cards between the 3G and 3Gs iPhones.

5) Do a restore on the 3Gs iPhone - use the backup you made from your old 3G phone.

6) Do a restore on the 3G iPhone - use the backup you made from your wife's old first gen iphone.

7) Call ATT and have them update the IMEI numbers on your account and your wife's account to reflect the new phones in use on those accounts. The IMEI can be found in Settings/General/About - tell them you swapped phones and moved the SIM card. While you're on the phone, have the rep make sure the rate plans on each account are true to what you would like them to be.

Larry - Were you able to do the swap?

iPhone 3Gs arrived this morning. I just completed my "wife swap". (Same scenario...had a 3G, wife had a 2G 4 gig. I ordered the 3Gs as an upgrade to hers with the intention of swapping)

Unboxed 3Gs, pulled new SIM and labeled it with Sharpie (just in case)

Connected 3Gs to iTunes and activated the 3Gs phone with wife's phone number, billing zip code, and social security number

Account migration process in iTunes took about 3 minutes. It then gave me a message saying that I can disconnect the phone and reconnect it to sync all my data, apps and media.

At this point, I pulled the 3Gs SIM card and swapped it with the SIM from the 3G. The 3Gs immediately went online with my account. I reconnected with iTunes and did a restore from my last backup. All apps, media and data is now copying over.

The one downside. My wife's new sim is taking FOREVER to activate...but at least her 2G is still working until it happens.

Yeah this worked for me too.

1) Activate new 3Gs on my wife's number/name.
2) swap SIM cards between 3G and 3Gs.
3) Sync 3Gs with iTunes and Restore from backup of 3G.
4) Sync 3G with iTunes and Restore from backup of 2G.
5) Wait.
6) Booya!

NAGA_Bruce was 100% correct. Almost 2 easy. Thanks!!!

That is what I want (hope) to achieve. But I am wondering if your contract will be renewed as well and will alter your current upgrade eligibility?
Thanks,

That is what I want (hope) to achieve. But I am wondering if your contract will be renewed as well and will alter your current upgrade eligibility?
Thanks,

I just did this and it worked fine without even calling AT&T. My wife's phone was an original iPhone, mine was 3G. Only her number qualified for the upgrade pricing so I used it to buy the phone online.

When the iPhone came today I plugged it in to activate and the activation form was hard-coded with the wife's number. No choice except to activate it with her number, which I did.

After the phone was activated, I simply switched the SIM cards and they both worked fine. So my SIM was now in the 3Gs working fine. Her new SIM card (from the 3Gs) was now in my old 3G and working fine as well.

Then I plugged each into our respective laptops. The 3Gs was detected as a new phone and asked if I wanted to restore from my backup. I selected Yes, it restored and worked great.

I plugged the old 3G into my wife's laptop and clicked on "restore" and restored factory settings. This of course trigger the re-activation, which worked just as it always does. I then restored from her backup.

That was it - no problem at all! By the way, the wife is a little jealous because the 3Gs is very noticeably faster 🙂 Right off the bat the speed of syncing my whole library to the phone was way faster than before.

jake67890
NAGA_Bruce
RBORJA

Can anyone of you please confirm that your contract term and/or upgrade eligibility (date) were unaffected when you did sim swap?

Thanks,

I can't stress this enough: Follow the methodology above. DO NOT try to call AT&T to get them to switch the number from one handset to another for you. They are more than willing to do so, but no one there knows what they are doing. The rep I spoke to on the phone was very nice, but only succeeded in making it so I could neither activate on the number I was porting to or on the "wife phone" number on which I'd ordered the upgrade. Then she sent me to the AT&T store for a new SIM, which they're happy to give, but DOES NOT WORK.

My only recourse was to get a new phone at the Apple Store, which worked out well, if not in my favor. But that was after wasting more than three hours on the problem.

Whole bloody ordeal detailed here: http://orrenmedia.com/2009/06/20/customer-service-at-scale-part-i-why-im-an-appl e-customer-for-life/