Help with Selling an iPhone 3gs

j7469

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Hello All,

I have a question about selling an iPhone 3GS. My wife and I both own 16gb 3Gs iPhones but her office moved and a different location and now she gets next to zero reception all day at work. As you can imagine, that is not going to work. We have to switch her back to Verizon. Her phone is the black one that is about month younger than mine (I got mine the Monday after the release and they only had white back then). My question is, can I switch it so my phone becomes her's so then I can sell my white one?

Also should I keep the Sim card or send it with the phone? There is also a small crack between the silent switch on the left side of the phone and the screen because I hit it against a door while carrying it in my hand. I will disclose that when I sell it but do you think it will severely drop the selling price?

Thanks again for all the help.
 

Jeremy

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Yes, you can switch devices. Just call AT&T and they can take care of it. I'd personally hold onto the sim card. And lastly, it depends on the buyer honestly. I wouldn't buy a cracked phone for anything but others are not so picky. Good luck!
 

wabbit#IM

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you always want to keep your sim card, its your number, unless you want to give out free phone calls to people.

to switch phone you just have to move sim cards, on att your phone number, account info etc is all on the sim.

since you both have iphones you both have iphone plans, which just means swap a sim and they work.
 

j7469

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Thanks for the help. I Since I'm new to AT&T and the whole Sim card thing I really don't understand it completely. If I cancel service with AT&T won't that deactivate the Sim card? Won't the new buyer have an issue having a phone without a Sim card, especially if they are not on AT&T now?

So for my ignorance but like I said this is all new to me since I've only ever had Sprint and Verizon (for the past 6-7 years).

PS, love the avatar JFSikora :)
 

flyingember

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if you move your number to a new sim card the old one is unusable. a second number CAN NOT be put on it unlike with Verizon as well.

contacts are not stored on it for the iphone
 

wabbit#IM

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Thanks for the help. I Since I'm new to AT&T and the whole Sim card thing I really don't understand it completely. If I cancel service with AT&T won't that deactivate the Sim card? Won't the new buyer have an issue having a phone without a Sim card, especially if they are not on AT&T now?

So for my ignorance but like I said this is all new to me since I've only ever had Sprint and Verizon (for the past 6-7 years).

PS, love the avatar JFSikora :)

your phone number / service / etc is coded on the card, (sim card) the phone has serial number that att can identify what type of phone is on the network past that, it means nothing.

so take for example, i sell my iphone, i sell the phone, keep the card, the buyer would use there own sim.

the difference here is that, unlike sprint/verizon where service is tied to the phone on a gsm phone the service is tied to the card. so if you travel to a different country, and your phone sim is unlocked, you can use local sims from that country. unlike with sprint/verizon.

so i goto europe with my unlocked blackberry, i can go and pick up a local prepaid sim from a local carrier to make calls from my cell.


your phone number service is not connected to the device but the sim, thats the key behind your number, if you take it out and put it someone else phone your service will be on that phone.

so when you sell the phone it would be less the sim card, since they are buying a phone not a phone + service :)

i forgot to add, before you sell the iphone you might want to wipe your personal data off the phone too, since data store is on the phone not the sim card.