Activation questions - Need help!

**Chase S** · 09-14-2012, 07:48 PM

All,

First, thanks for reading my lengthy story. This has worried me more then anything.

Ok, so my mother (An older woman who still uses a feature phone) is eligible for an upgrade. I pre-ordered the Iphone 5 this morning on her account as an upgrade. I've spoken with atleast a dozen customer reps at Verizon and been told a dozen different things... literally.

This seems to be the most consistent answer I've heard... when I receive the phone, I need to go ahead and activate it on her line because the "upgrade" is attached to her phone number. Then I need to turn around and deactivate the phone. Call customer service and have them put my mothers old feature phone and plan back on the account. Take the Iphone 5 to a store and get a new SIM card.

I've had other reps tell me not to activate the phone on her account and instead activate it directly on mine. This makes less sense to me because like others said, the phone was upgraded on her line and the terms and conditions need to be accepted on her line first.

Also, I'm attempting to keep my unlimited data plan. Do you all agree with the process I initially started? Has anyone else had problems with customer reps at Verizon giving different stories?

My goal here is to make sure that my mothers nationwide $30/450 min plan and phone can get put right back on with minimal interruptions.

Thanks for everyones help!

**smartphonedude** · 09-14-2012, 08:02 PM

I have done this before and how it worked for me is that you would have to activate the phone first on your moms line and then after you activated it you would want to reactivate your moms old phone on her line which would free up the iphones esn and then just put the phone on your line. As long as the plan you have for your moms phone still exist it shouldnt be a problem to put the old plan back on.

**smartphonedude** · 09-14-2012, 08:06 PM

You would have to get a new SIM from verizon as sims can only be used on one phone and don't interchange with another phone number sorry for not mentioning that. So after you reactivate your moms phone just go into verizon and activate the iphone.

**Apple4ever2011** · 09-14-2012, 08:10 PM

Do I still need to go to At&T or Apple store to activate my phone after its delivered???

**LSglock89** · 09-14-2012, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by coolvzwiphone

You would have to get a new SIM from verizon as sims can only be used on one phone and don't interchange with another phone number sorry for not mentioning that. So after you reactivate your moms phone just go into verizon and activate the iphone.

Is this a relatively easy process?

I assume I have to go through the same process since I transferred an upgrade from another line already on my account to my primary line?

**smartphonedude** · 09-14-2012, 08:18 PM

The easiest way for me has been when you receive the phone go through the activation process and as soon as the phone completley activates and you can make a test call to make sure it processed. After you complete that go to the verizon website and have your mom's old phone handy input her esn and that will deactivate the iphone and reactivate her old phone. After that you will have to go to verizon to sst a new SIM. You could also activate the iphone from the web too but they would ship you a SIM.

**LSglock89** · 09-14-2012, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by coolvzwiphone

The easiest way for me has been when you receive the phone go through the activation process and as soon as the phone completley activates and you can make a test call to make sure it processed. After you complete that go to the verizon website and have your mom's old phone handy input her esn and that will deactivate the iphone and reactivate her old phone. After that you will have to go to verizon to sst a new SIM. You could also activate the iphone from the web too but they would ship you a SIM.

Should they have a good stock on hand on release day of the SIM cards?

Could I just go to the store and have them do it all, just take the phone I transferred the upgrade from and my new iPhone?

**Chase S** · 09-14-2012, 08:27 PM

Just to make sure others understand what I was asking here (It already looks like others have asked other questions)... coolvzwiphone seemed to answer my question...

I am not asking to trasnfer a phone from line to line on the same account. My original post was asking about transferring the Iphone from one account to an entirely other account.

**smartphonedude** · 09-14-2012, 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by Apple4ever2011

Do I still need to go to At&T or Apple store to activate my phone after its delivered???

No you should be able to activate from home

**smartphonedude** · 09-14-2012, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by Keirtt

Just to make sure others understand what I was asking here (It already looks like others have asked other questions)... coolvzwiphone seemed to answer my question...

I am not asking to trasnfer a phone from line to line on the same account. My original post was asking about transferring the Iphone from one account to an entirely other account.

It would be the same process either way because once you put her old phone back on her line it would release the iphone. Now if she doesn't have a online account you can of course call it in to reactivate her old phone

**smartphonedude** · 09-14-2012, 08:34 PM

Originally Posted by LSglock89

Should they have a good stock on hand on release day of the SIM cards?

Could I just go to the store and have them do it all, just take the phone I transferred the upgrade from and my new iPhone?

You could do that but to the best of my knowledge verizon charges to do esn swaps in store.

**Chase S** · 09-14-2012, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by coolvzwiphone

It would be the same process either way because once you put her old phone back on her line it would release the iphone. Now if she doesn't have a online account you can of course call it in to reactivate her old phone

Yeah, it'll be old fashioned for me. She is older and has no idea how to register an online account.

**LSglock89** · 09-14-2012, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by coolvzwiphone

You could do that but to the best of my knowledge verizon charges to do esn swaps in store.

Okay...I can do the part involving the other phone online then just take in my new iPhone and do the sim swap. Just hope they have em available.

**patton4549** · 09-14-2012, 08:46 PM

People sell still sealed iPhones all the time with out activating, can't you just activate it right to your account from the get go? I would be worried carries will not have enough of the new nano sims. Carriers shouldn't be able to make you activate it at all if you don't want once you pay and sign new contract you should be free to do what you want with the phone.

**smartphonedude** · 09-14-2012, 08:46 PM

Originally Posted by LSglock89

Okay...I can do the part involving the other phone online then just take in my new iPhone and do the sim swap. Just hope they have em available.

Yeah getting the SIM is something we have to go to them for so they shouldn't charge anything. I would hope they will have plenty in stock

**Ricardodelsidney** · 09-14-2012, 08:52 PM

Last year I took my wife's new iPhone 4S to AT&T and asked them to make it mine and make my iPhone 4 hers. They said, Okay, and did it. It should be that easy.

**smartphonedude** · 09-14-2012, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by patton4549

People sell still sealed iPhones all the time with out activating, can't you just activate it right to your account from the get go? I would be worried carries will not have enough of the new nano sims. Carriers shouldn't be able to make you activate it at all if you don't want once you pay and sign new contract you should be free to do what you want with the phone.

It's funny you mention that because that's exactly what happened to me when I bought a brand new phone off ebay the person on the other end just sold it without activating it on there line and they had to first activate in on there end to accept the two year agreement. I had to go through the prompts on the phone so that it would be activated on his line first then swap it out with another phone so I could activate it on my line

**Chase S** · 09-14-2012, 08:53 PM

So here is my confusion...

When I called in and spoke with Verizon (Several times), they advised that I have to activate the phone on the account that it was upgrade with to finalize the terms and conditions acceptance. They claimed that if I just activated it on my account without first activating it on the one that was eligible for the upgrade, I could cause problems (i.e. - Charged full price for the phone, etc)

**smartphonedude** · 09-14-2012, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by Keirtt

So here is my confusion...

When I called in and spoke with Verizon (Several times), they advised that I have to activate the phone on the account that it was upgrade with to finalize the terms and conditions acceptance. They claimed that if I just activated it on my account without first activating it on the one that was eligible for the upgrade, I could cause problems (i.e. - Charged full price for the phone, etc)

I coudn't even activate the phone at all when it was attached to someone else's account, and yes they first have to activate it to accept terms and conditions.

**Chase S** · 09-14-2012, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by coolvzwiphone

I coudn't even activate the phone at all when it was attached to someone else's account, and yes they first have to activate it to accept terms and conditions.

Ok, that answers my confusion then. I see someone else had posted above you stating they just bought a phone that hadn't been activate by the original owner (Upgraded phone) .... it makes sense you had the trouble you did with the phone you bought from ebay then. Funny how I couldn't get many of the Verizon reps to tell me that.

I had several that insisted I not activate it on my mothers line first... then the other half saying I needed to. I think Verizon reps needs some more time in the class room.

**patton4549** · 09-15-2012, 11:38 AM

I Used my wife's upgrade on our old national 1400 plan i have unlimited and she has 2 for $30 to upgrade to the iPhone 5. i called Verizon to ask if i had to activate it on her line first and they said no just call them and they will set it up so that i have the 5 on my line before activating it and i would not need to go get a new nano sim and that this happens all the time and she would not be charged full price for not activating on her line first. maybe its because both our lines are under one name just thought this would help from what i have been told.

**LSglock89** · 09-15-2012, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by patton4549

I Used my wife's upgrade on our old national 1400 plan i have unlimited and she has 2 for $30 to upgrade to the iPhone 5. i called Verizon to ask if i had to activate it on her line first and they said no just call them and they will set it up so that i have the 5 on my line before activating it and i would not need to go get a new nano sim and that this happens all the time and she would not be charged full price for not activating on her line first. maybe its because both our lines are under one name just thought this would help from what i have been told.

I thought for a second...then I remembered the last phone I got using another lines upgrade...I took it to Verizon because it was opened...I told them I wanted it on my primary line and they did it.

So I'm just going to stop at the store (it's right on my way) before I turn it on and have them see if they can just take care of it.

**patton4549** · 09-15-2012, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by LSglock89

I thought for a second...then I remembered the last phone I got using another lines upgrade...I took it to Verizon because it was opened...I told them I wanted it on my primary line and they did it.

So I'm just going to stop at the store (it's right on my way) before I turn it on and have them see if they can just take care of it.

This will be option number 2 for me. I will call first i'm sure i wont be able to wait the 20 minutes to drive to Verizon store before wanting to play with the new toy