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3G S From 2G iPhone, Want To Save $10+?

SpaceKitty

SpaceKitty

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 9, 2008
3,204
1
Fort Collins Colorado
If you still have your 2G iPhone and have upgraded to the 3G S or even the 3G, you can get a new sim for your 2G iPhone. Activate the 2G iPhone in iTunes and when it asks for your current number, type it in. Complete the process and your old "new" 2G phone will activate giving you the old 2G data plan price tag of $20 including 200 SMS or whatever you choose. Now take the sim out of your 2G phone and put it in your 3G or 3G S phone and enjoy.

I did this accidentally last week when I bought a 2G iPhone and I was trying to activate it. My new month went into effect yesterday and it lists my data plan as 450 anytime minutes with 200 SMS included free. Two year contract didn't start over and my eligibility still shows 11/10.

By the way, AT&T no longer offers Pay As You Go plans for the 2G iPhone.
 
Yes, I did this the day I got my 3GS.

Also, AT&T told me that you can't have any iPhone without a data plan, it is mandatory.
 
SpaceKitty said:
If you still have your 2G iPhone and have upgraded to the 3G S or even the 3G, you can get a new sim for your 2G iPhone. Activate the 2G iPhone in iTunes and when it asks for your current number, type it in. Complete the process and your old "new" 2G phone will activate giving you the old 2G data plan price tag of $20 including 200 SMS or whatever you choose. Now take the sim out of your 2G phone and put it in your 3G or 3G S phone and enjoy.

I did this accidentally last week when I bought a 2G iPhone and I was trying to activate it. My new month went into effect yesterday and it lists my data plan as 450 anytime minutes with 200 SMS included free. Two year contract didn't start over and my eligibility still shows 11/10.

By the way, AT&T no longer offers Pay As You Go plans for the 2G iPhone.
Click to expand...

so im not quite sure i understand how this works....do you end up with two separate lines? what happens to the new 3gs line i opened?
 
SpaceKitty said:
Re-read my post. Go get a sim card at AT&T. Activate your 2G iPhone using your 3G phone number. Now put the sim in the 2G phone into the 3G phone and that is all.
Click to expand...
I tried that. It told me I was using the wrong data plan, and extra charges would come on my bill. It said to change to a supported data plan ASAP
 
ouimetnick said:
I tried that. It told me I was using the wrong data plan, and extra charges would come on my bill. It said to change to a supported data plan ASAP
Click to expand...

And you believe that?

I've been doing that, and I check the AT&T website every week. My plan is still on the iPhone+200 texts.
 
i3igsmooth5769 said:
so im not quite sure i understand how this works....do you end up with two separate lines? what happens to the new 3gs line i opened?
Click to expand...

Ok, one more time:

Get a new sim from AT&T
Put the new sim in your 2G iPhone and connect it to iTunes.
iTunes will prompt you to activate your "new" iPhone
Go through with the activation and choose replace a phone on account with this iPhone
Enter your 3G or 3G S phone number
Continue and activate the 2G phone
Now take out the sim and place that sim in your 3G or 3GS phone

It can't get any easier than this....

fireshot91 said:
And you believe that?

I've been doing that, and I check the AT&T website every week. My plan is still on the iPhone+200 texts.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Those are just automated messages sent out.

Back in January, I sold a 3G phone to someone who just had a 2G iPhone. All we did was switch sims in his phones. AT&T never did charge him more and he was using that same plan till he got his 3G S phone on the 19th.
 
before i do this, I know that ATT tracks whether or not you are on the 3g network or not...so if they detect or have a system check for iPhone 2G plans using a 3G network..i wonder if you'll get extra bills for that...

So in a month or so, let us know if you remain on the $20 flat rate or if you've gotten charged for using 3G
 
ryanvalle said:
before i do this, I know that ATT tracks whether or not you are on the 3g network or not...so if they detect or have a system check for iPhone 2G plans using a 3G network..i wonder if you'll get extra bills for that...

So in a month or so, let us know if you remain on the $20 flat rate or if you've gotten charged for using 3G
Click to expand...

Go back and read this thread.
 
SpaceKitty said:
If you still have your 2G iPhone and have upgraded to the 3G S or even the 3G, you can get a new sim for your 2G iPhone. Activate the 2G iPhone in iTunes and when it asks for your current number, type it in. Complete the process and your old "new" 2G phone will activate giving you the old 2G data plan price tag of $20 including 200 SMS or whatever you choose. Now take the sim out of your 2G phone and put it in your 3G or 3G S phone and enjoy.

I did this accidentally last week when I bought a 2G iPhone and I was trying to activate it. My new month went into effect yesterday and it lists my data plan as 450 anytime minutes with 200 SMS included free. Two year contract didn't start over and my eligibility still shows 11/10.

By the way, AT&T no longer offers Pay As You Go plans for the 2G iPhone.
Click to expand...


Interesting, wonder how long this glitch will last.
 
Att send me an email say taht it wont work for 3g. i dont want to rack up the charges for data. Can anyone confirm
 
SpaceKitty said:
Go back and read this thread.
Click to expand...


Aren't you being a bit snotty. I don't think there's a reading comprehension issue going on here. I think a few things are at play. The first being that people are skeptical that in the long run it will work. Seeing as the 3GS just came out and there have been revisions to the data plan structure/requirements - and it's been less than 30 days - there is NO way YOU, oh wise SpaceKitty can possibly know what, if anything ATT will do if they catch their glitch

and b) while it might have worked for you when you did it - it IS entirely possible they've plugged that "hole" in the process and now operate differently.

Before you condescend to others and try and belittle them, you might stop and pause for 2 seconds and ask yourself why you feel the need to feel superior.
 
Where did I get the idea from?

go re-read YOUR posts LOL

You've posted 5 times since your first one with the following phrases:

Re-read my post.
Ok, one more time:....It can't get any easier than this....
Go back and read this thread.


You come off as snotty. Perhaps not your intention - but there it is.
 
I stumbled upon this yesterday - https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/742422/

I can confirm what the OP has posted. I have had a 3GS for about three weeks and after activating a 2G yesterday, my data has gone down from $30 to $20.

I just took the SIM from my 3GS, put it in my 2G, activated the 2G and now my bill shows the $20 data plan. I can swap the SIM between the two phones and everything works perfectly. I still have 3G available on the 3GS. Only thing I had to do was setup voicemail again (set pin, record greeting). Other than that it looks like everything is working.

I also never got a text about calling ATT to avoid fees
 
For those who can get the FAN discount, it's already close to $10 savings going from 2G to 3G/3GS, negating the extra cost of the more expensive plan. 2G isn't eligible for the FAN discount (unless you have a different phone as the primary line).
 
SpaceKitty said:
Re-read my post. Go get a sim card at AT&T. Activate your 2G iPhone using your 3G phone number. Now put the sim in the 2G phone into the 3G phone and that is all.
Click to expand...

SpaceKitty said:
Go back and read this thread.
Click to expand...

SpaceKitty said:
I just told them I wanted to activate an old iPhone. I asked for two sims and they gave them to me.
Click to expand...

SpaceKitty said:
Where did you get that idea from?
Click to expand...
You don't need to get two (2) SIMs or another SIM if you already have an active AT&T SIM. So SpaceKitty, maybe you should try the forum "Search" fuction before you start telling others to "Go back and read this thread" since this topic has been discussed to death since last July 11, when the iPhone 3G launched. (sorry but you are about a year late on this thread) :eek: :p

You have at least two (2) options and both work:

1.You just need to put your current SIM from your iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS in the original iPhone and activate it using iTunes. This will get you the $20 iPhone data plan + 200 SMS Txt msg package. No it will not change or reset your contract as long as you use your existing, active AT&T phone number.

2. Call Customer Care and provide the rep the IMEI of your original iPhone and ask the rep to change your iPhone data plan to the $20 iPhone data plan​
.

Note: the original iPhone pairs the SIM with the iPhone during the iTunes activation. To avoid this you can "Unlock" your iPhone, you get to decide. Once it is paired with the original iPhone you can swap your SIM between the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, and the iPhone 3GS as your needs change. :D

Please note that AT&T will always know what phone you have active with your SIM as soon as it connects to the cell network. Your iPhone or anyother phone self-reports everytime it connects. It sends your IMEI to AT&T.

Yes, the Customer Care rep can see exactly what phone is active on your account when you call. That's also why OLAM also shows the current device that the DER system recorded on you line. This is also why the features that are available are always based on the device identified by the DER system.

Yes, you will receive the SMS Txt wng message and even email (if you contact preferences allow email contact) at least once per month near you billing cycle. Currently, AT&T has taken no action to correct this problem but the contract you agree to allows them to add a valid iPhone data plan for your device.

Dave
 
I stumbled upon this old thread. I will be getting a used 3G next week. If I understand this correctly, I can take the 3G sim from my first generation iPhone, put it in the 3G and sync it with iTunes to set it up without changing my plan. Is this correct?
 
i have a 3GS with a 9.99 data plan with att. and ive had it for months, ever since i had my 3G and ive never gotten any messages from att or any extra charges. PLUS i have mms enabled :)
 
For those that gave done the little sim trick, where did you buy you phone?
Apple Store? Directly from Apple? Best Buy? AT&T?
 
As an update, it HAS been two full months and still no SMS warning from AT&T about using the wrong data plan with the 3GS. Still getting billed for the 2G data plan as well.
 
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