Upgrading 3GS to 4 and 4 to 4S at home. Will this plan work?

I do this regulalry and will be doing it again soon.

Order the iphone. When it gets to you, call AT&T and tell them what you are trying to do. They will help you get it done.

This, or a variation of it, is something we do all the time. The only difference is being based in the UK, our carriers are different.

In truth, the carrier's interest is being served by you upgrading, so why should they care?

iOSGoober wrote:

Does this sound feasible??

Absolutely, AT&T could care less what phone you're using, they only care that you pay your bill each month.

If you plan on ever selling, white will be worth more. it's also more eye pleasing. i happen to have the white iPhone 4 and love it.

Would an unlimited grandfarthered data plan transfer from the sim card from the IP4 to the IP4 S?

Actually this question may be more involved? Assuming the OP's wife's phone qualified for unlimited, I would assume it would be no problem. However, if it didn't, then the new IP4 S would only have the tiered data options when ordering it. Then, when the sim cards are transfered, would the IP 4 end up with the grandfathered data plan even thought the new IP4 S was ordered with a tiered plan?

I just posted the same question as iOSGoober in another thread and then noticed this thread. Here was my question and a follow up comment/question after reading the above thread:

Hello...I have an iPhone 4 through work and my wife has an iPhone 3G through another account. Both are AT&T. My wife is eligible for an upgrade so I used her account to order a new iPhone 4S this morning. I am going to take the iPhone 4S and use it has my phone (with my work SIM) and she is going to take my iPhone 4.

So, onto my question. When the iPhone 4S arrives on the 14th with the new micro SIM for my wife's phone number, how should I activate the phone? Should I activate it with her SIM installed and then swap SIMS or should I put my work SIM out of my iPhone 4 into the iPhone 4S before activation?

Thanks for your help....

-Marc

No one has answered iOSGoober's question clearly but his proposed plan sounds logical to me.

My guess is that the big thing upon arrival of the new iPhone 4S on Oct 14 is activating my wife's new micro SIM which will make her old SIM (in the iPhone 3G) not function any longer. After that, her micro SIM (and my micro SIM) is happy to live in either the iPhone 4 or 4S. It's then just a matter of restoring the settings on each phone to our backed up settings via iTunes (with sync cable) or iCloud (on iOS 5 via Wi-Fi).

What do you think?

-Marc

I will be doing the same thing but will probably go to AT&'T stores after the lines are gone in part due to trying to handle microsims and because I do not have a proper backup of my SO's iPhone3GS.

I learned a long time ago that asking someone in a store a technical question might not yield the correct answer. That said, I "tooled" down to my local ATT store and asked three questions. They were...

If I order a new IP4 S and then switch the sim card to my present IP4, will my IP4 still have my present phone number.

If I did the switch, would my present IP4 STILL have unlimited data.

Would the billing for the new IP4 S be charged as a 2nd line? ($9.99 plus $15 for 200 MBs)

Each question was answered "YES".

So, I went home and ordered an upgrade white 32GB 4S to an existing 2nd phone that qualified for the subsidized pricing.

If this works as advertised after the sim swap, I'm going to sell my IP4.

I hope the ATT guy with the 3 big yeses is right, but I can live with it if he isn't. And I'll also be calling 611.

Do not switch Sims. Call AT&T and they will walk you through it and make needed changes on their end.

melissajb wrote:

Do not switch Sims. Call AT&T and they will walk you through it and make needed changes on their end.

And what will happen if sims are switched? Re calling ATT, I would agree that they will do any changes necessary from what 2 different ATT stores have told me.

Via AT&T: If your're upgrading the plan to activate the new phone on a mobile number other than the one used to upgrade, call 1-800-331-0500 or 611 from a different phone and follow the promts:

1. Enter the wireless number that received the upgrade.

2. Choose option #2 to activate your device on a different mobile number.

3. An AT&T Rep will assist you with the remaining activation process

* I was told that switching sims "could" create a problem. I plan on following the steps provided above. By the way this is call "swaping" or "cross upgrade" Good luck!

Swapping the sims is all you need to do as long as the Sim card size is the same. I know the 3gs and 4 use the micro sim slot but I was not sure if the 3g uses the micro sim card. I had a 3Gs and wanted the 4. I added a second Line and swapped the sim cards and it worked without any issues.