Switching to AT&T

[Apple321]

I'm switching over to AT&T next week to get an iPhone. Usually if you sign up for a contract you can get a cheap/free phone. Would doing this allow me to use this phone along with an iPhone, or do iPhone contracts work differently so that you are only allowed to use your iPhone?

Some places I go I don't think I would want to take an iPhone so that there is no possibility of it getting broken/stolen. With an iPhone and another cheap AT&T phone would it be possible to switch out SIM cards and use the other phone during this time? I don't really want to pay any extra money in my contract if thats what I would have to do, but it would be nice to have an extra phone if needed since I can basically get it for free if I just sign up for a regular contract at AT&T.

 

[overanalyzer]

You can find a lot of information about this if you search the forums and/or Google. But my recollection of the conversations when the iPhone first came out was that you can technically use an iPhone SIM card in another phone, but the contacts etc. obviously don't come along. On the flipside, I don't think you can use a regular SIM in an iPhone, at least not natively out of the box without some effort. But again, I'd recommend running a search for first-hand experience. I think MacRumors or TUAW might have even had a news story about it in June/July.

 

[michaelsviews]

I'm switching over to AT&T next week to get an iPhone. Usually if you sign up for a contract you can get a cheap/free phone. Would doing this allow me to use this phone along with an iPhone, or do iPhone contracts work differently so that you are only allowed to use your iPhone?

Some places I go I don't think I would want to take an iPhone so that there is no possibility of it getting broken/stolen. With an iPhone and another cheap AT&T phone would it be possible to switch out SIM cards and use the other phone during this time? I don't really want to pay any extra money in my contract if thats what I would have to do, but it would be nice to have an extra phone if needed since I can basically get it for free if I just sign up for a regular contract at AT&T.

In short, you have a 30 day trial with AT&T, and a 2 week trial with the iphone, keep in mind if you don't like the iphone you'll have to pay the restocking fee. If your porting a number you will need the account number from your present carrier "at least thats what I was told" when going through the iTunes sign up process. You may want to get a new number and than port yours over afterwards in case you do NOT like AT&T's service.
My personal experience with AT&T is on the business side and do not go through the regular CS, if your currently with VZW I can tell you that AT&T's CS is NOTHING like VZW's CS & TS, VZW'S is far more professional and courteous than AT&T's . As far as data speeds EDGE is not bad, 3G is far better, they finally turned it on in our area, and my son has the AT&T 8525 with the newest Winmobile and he said he sees a big difference.

 

[texed]

you can do that, I just wouldn't tell AT&T what your doing. Port your number to AT&T with the cheap phone first. You'll sign a 2 year contract. (I think that porting takes sometime) THEN buy an iPhone and activate it, the SIM from your iPhone can then be used in the cheap phone you got when you moved to AT&T. Be sure you buy the cheap phone first.