Activating iPhone 5 on Another Line on Your Account (Alternate Upgrade)
houser
Enthusiast - Level 3

I used one of my family plan lines to upgrade to the iPhone 5 at a discounted rate. However, I don't want to activate the iPhone on the line that was used to purchase it. When I went through the pre-order process, I choose the line I wanted to actually upgrade, but the email confirmation doesn't list this line, nor does the website show that the line has a pending upgrade to activate. Rather, all signs point to the original line being the one that is now upgraded. What do I need to do so that when my iPhone 5 arrives I can activate it on an alternate line within the same family plan? Preferably, without deactivating any of my other lines.

When the iPhone 4 came out, there were several people who did the same thing & purchased the iPhone for another line on the account. Verizon provided these instructions for how to then activate your iPhone on the alternate line. Will it be the same for the iPhone 5 and require the deactivation of the line that purchased the upgrade? Since iPhone activation can now happen via wireless network, I'm hoping that the activation steps have changed.

I'm hoping that when the iPhone 5 arrives, it will ask me at some point during activation which line I would like to activate it on; however, I have not seen any confirmation that this is the case. I don't want to deactivate a line if I don't have to.

TL;DR -- Will I be asked which number I'd like the iPhone 5 tied to during activation? Source?

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Re: Activating iPhone 5 on Another Line on Your Account (Alternate Upgrade)
kaebfly
Champion - Level 3

You may be able to do it yourself during the activation process but I would suggest contacting VZW or going to a VZW store when the phone arrives so they can do it. It may be tied to the original phone number it was ordered on...in which case VZW will have to do something on their end. Assuming you are the account holder or authorized account manager then you should have no problem having them take care of this after you receive the device.

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Re: Activating iPhone 5 on Another Line on Your Account (Alternate Upgrade)
houser
Enthusiast - Level 3

Yes, I was hoping that when the iPhone 5 arrived I could just turn it on without activating and get the MEID. Then I could go to MyVerizon, select the phone I want to upgrade in "Activate a Phone", and plug in the MEID. But... I guess I'll have to call Verizon and find out for sure... at which point they can probably go ahead and do it for me.

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Re: Activating iPhone 5 on Another Line on Your Account (Alternate Upgrade)
smokey_ty
Enthusiast - Level 2

I'm not sure how this will work. I have spoken to 2 different CS reps. One said that I would have to take phone I purchased the upgrade on, my phone, and the iPhone 5 to a VW store. They would then activate the iPhone 5 on the upgrade line, deactivate the upgrade line, deactivate the iPhone 5, then put in a new sim card and reactivate the iPhone 5 on my line and reactivate the upgraded line.

The other rep said I could just call Verizon before activating the iPhone 5 and have them "push" the information for my line to the phone without interrupting service on any of the lines.

I very much hope the second rep was accurate.

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Re: Activating iPhone 5 on Another Line on Your Account (Alternate Upgrade)
ryan246
Enthusiast - Level 1

I did this in the past and just went to the myverizon website and choose the "activate or switch device" option. It worked fine for me.

Re: Activating iPhone 5 on Another Line on Your Account (Alternate Upgrade)
Covet
Enthusiast - Level 3

I was wondering the same thing and called Verizon themselves about it today. 

Line 18**, upgrade available.

Line 68**, where I wanted the phone to go.

Although the website showed 18 as the line waiting for the device, Verizon's internal system showed that I had used 18's upgrade but the phone was destined for 68.

But as far as upgrade phones go I'm pretty sure you could just dial *228 on the phone and pick which line you want it to be on regardless of what their system says (not sure about the sim though).

Re: Activating iPhone 5 on Another Line on Your Account (Alternate Upgrade)
javaman78
Enthusiast - Level 2

I called cust svc for my new 5 today. I wanted to do as you said and activate it on a different line. I was told with the new nanosim (sp?) card this not possible. My two options were to activate it on the line I upgraded and then 24 hours later switch the phones around or go to the store and they would give me a new sim card. I went to the local store and they said they were not shipped these new sim cards and therefore the only option I had was to activate the phone and wait 24 hours.

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