activating phone from an upgrade not yours

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topaz330

Senior Member
Apr 13, 2010
240
9
quick question... my scenario is that I used my wifes upgrade to get the m8 and phone just came in today. She is taking my s4. Do I need to first activate it under her account and then do the switch or can I just go online and activate it directly under my account? We have two separate accounts. Just seems tedious to have to first activate it on her account and then do the switch. THanks!
 
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fronc

Senior Member
quick question... my scenario is that I used my wifes upgrade to get the m8 and phone just came in today. She is taking my s4. Do I need to first activate it under her account and then do the switch or can I just go online and activate it directly under my account? We have two separate accounts. Just seems tedious to have to first activate it on her account and then do the switch. THanks!

You should call Verizon and see if they can activate it to yours, but you're probably going to need to go into a store to get a SIM card that is provisioned for your account. The SIM is what matters and what they sent you is probably set up for her line.

If you have a micro SIM you can just pop yours in and be fine. But I don't know if the s4 uses the same size SIM card.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
 
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Gator Brah

Senior Member
Sep 24, 2013
156
28
i do this all the time with work. You can call them and authorize the device to be switched to your account without activating it on her line. You will have to be an admin on the her account or have someone on the line who is.
 

spiceditup

Member
May 29, 2013
34
5
quick question... my scenario is that I used my wifes upgrade to get the m8 and phone just came in today. She is taking my s4. Do I need to first activate it under her account and then do the switch or can I just go online and activate it directly under my account? We have two separate accounts. Just seems tedious to have to first activate it on her account and then do the switch. THanks!

I did the same thing as you, i just called in Verizon and they switched it over without activating the new M8 on my sister's line.
 
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topaz330

Senior Member
Apr 13, 2010
240
9
I did the same thing as you, i just called in Verizon and they switched it over without activating the new M8 on my sister's line.

thanks! did your sister need to be there or did they just activate this on your account? I just spole with a rep and they said since it's on two different accounts the phone needs to be active on her account for 24 hours before i switch. is that true?
 
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l7777

Senior Member
May 2, 2007
563
187
There's no magic in the SIM. You simply need the SIM number tied to your phone number. You can switch the SIM the same as you could switch the IMEI on older phones. The website walks you through it if you choose activate or switch device.

Assuming you're trying to keep your unlimited data, I would do it in the below order.

Activate the device on her account when you get it.
Log into her account and switch her old phone back on the line.
Log into your account and put the M8 and SIM on your line.
Take her SIM from the old phone and plug it into the GS4. If her old SIM is not a micro sim, simply go through the switch process again with your S4 and SIM.

You should be able to do all of the above as quickly as you can click through the website.
 
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topaz330

Senior Member
Apr 13, 2010
240
9
got it to work... just called back CS and got someone competent on the phone. They did the switch and all is well. THanks for the help fellas!
 

levilib

Senior Member
Nov 29, 2011
151
13
I wouldn't imagine there'd be any need to call CS, just pop your SIM into the new phone (assuming it's a nano SIM (or you can cut it down)) and turn it on. The only thing that needs activating via CS is the new nano SIM that comes inside the M8, if you're using your original SIM then there shouldn't be anything to call CS about.

The above only applies if both phones and lines are using LTE phones with SIM cards, if they're still on 3G phones with no SIM, then you'll need CS to switch lines and phones around.
 

wah00kid

Member
Aug 18, 2011
16
1
Yeah I did the same thing..

I got on a separate phone from any phone on my account and called the activation line went through it and the options lead you to a choice of activating the new phone/sim with a line other than the one the renewal was used on. At that point I had to talk to a customer service person and it was a piece of cake. They did try and sell me insurance again.

Easy though

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk
 

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    quick question... my scenario is that I used my wifes upgrade to get the m8 and phone just came in today. She is taking my s4. Do I need to first activate it under her account and then do the switch or can I just go online and activate it directly under my account? We have two separate accounts. Just seems tedious to have to first activate it on her account and then do the switch. THanks!
    1
    quick question... my scenario is that I used my wifes upgrade to get the m8 and phone just came in today. She is taking my s4. Do I need to first activate it under her account and then do the switch or can I just go online and activate it directly under my account? We have two separate accounts. Just seems tedious to have to first activate it on her account and then do the switch. THanks!

    You should call Verizon and see if they can activate it to yours, but you're probably going to need to go into a store to get a SIM card that is provisioned for your account. The SIM is what matters and what they sent you is probably set up for her line.

    If you have a micro SIM you can just pop yours in and be fine. But I don't know if the s4 uses the same size SIM card.

    Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
    1
    quick question... my scenario is that I used my wifes upgrade to get the m8 and phone just came in today. She is taking my s4. Do I need to first activate it under her account and then do the switch or can I just go online and activate it directly under my account? We have two separate accounts. Just seems tedious to have to first activate it on her account and then do the switch. THanks!

    I did the same thing as you, i just called in Verizon and they switched it over without activating the new M8 on my sister's line.
    1
    There's no magic in the SIM. You simply need the SIM number tied to your phone number. You can switch the SIM the same as you could switch the IMEI on older phones. The website walks you through it if you choose activate or switch device.

    Assuming you're trying to keep your unlimited data, I would do it in the below order.

    Activate the device on her account when you get it.
    Log into her account and switch her old phone back on the line.
    Log into your account and put the M8 and SIM on your line.
    Take her SIM from the old phone and plug it into the GS4. If her old SIM is not a micro sim, simply go through the switch process again with your S4 and SIM.

    You should be able to do all of the above as quickly as you can click through the website.