Although it’s not widely publicized, one advantage to having an AT&T FamilyTalk Plan is that you can use another line’s eligibility to upgrade your own handset. How this works is fairly straightforward, but the release of the iPhone 4 has introduced a few new wrinkles that you might want to be aware of before you take the plunge.

If you’re on an AT&T FamilyTalk Plan with an iPhone 3GS and not eligible for an upgrade this year, take heart -- there may be another way to get a shiny new iPhone 4 at the “eligible upgrade” prices of $199 for 16GB or $299 for 32GB (assuming you can find one in stock, that is!).

AT&T has a little-known policy that allows FamilyTalk Plan members to use another handset’s upgrade eligibility for your own line. For instance, if your FamilyTalk Plan features three lines -- let’s say yourself, your wife and maybe a child or another loved one -- you can use one of their upgrade eligibilities to procure a new iPhone 4 and move the handset to your own line, even if you’re not eligible for an upgrade.



Shortly after the iPhone 4 was announced, we called AT&T to inquire about the process and were told to purchase the device using the eligible line’s number, then when it arrived, to call them back (a free call from your handset to 611) and they would switch everything accordingly, no problem. This is known as an “IMEI switch” -- the IMEI is a unique code for each handset that AT&T uses to tie your hardware to a certain SIM card.

We were one of the lucky few to receive our iPhone 4 on Wednesday after pre-ordering it from Apple.com back on June 15, so we called AT&T as instructed and they processed the switch as promised the week before. Our existing iPhone 3GS signal went dead as expected (since the number was now active on our iPhone 4 SIM), and the next step was to activate using iTunes 9.2. Unfortunately, that’s where trouble came into paradise -- and it’s caught even AT&T by surprise.

As we tried to activate through iTunes, the first thing we noticed was that the iPhone 4 appeared to be “hardwired” to the original eligible phone number that we purchased it with. Unlike the previous three iPhones, there was nowhere to change the phone number to our own, only fields to enter the billing zip code and last four digits of our Social Security Number. Forging ahead through a couple of agreement screens, the process was brought to a screeching halt by a screen claiming that there was a “problem” with our iPhone’s SIM card, and that we would need a new, unactivated one. But… our SIM card is new… and hasn’t been activated!

After a lengthy chat with AT&T (who didn’t even know that the iPhone 4 used a micro-SIM!) and then Apple, it appeared that the problem was that a new SIM card would indeed be required (thankfully it’s a freebie). A short trip to a local AT&T store later, we had a new micro-SIM in our handset. Since the iPhone 4 had arrived early, our AT&T store didn’t have iTunes 9.2 installed yet, so we had to return home to activate.

But imagine our surprise when we were greeted by the same problem: Instead of seeing our phone number, the line we purchased it under still appeared, like a bad ghost from some late-night B-movie, resulting in the same “bad SIM” error screen. It was back to the AT&T store to try to find out what was going on.

As it turns out, the problem lies with a change in the activation for the iPhone 4. Instead of calling in first to get the eligible line switched to your own, Apple and AT&T now require you to activate through iTunes using the line you purchased the device under. Once that is successful, you can then visit your local AT&T store, where they will move your number to a new micro-SIM card and also issue the original, eligible line a new SIM card as well. Sadly, despite what we were first told, it’s not an over the phone affair, as we found out the hard way.

This also has the likely intentional side effect of trying to hamper the iPhone 4 black market, since you are now forced to activate the handset using the number you purchased it for, at least here in the U.S. (unlocked, SIM-free iPhone 4s are being sold in a few countries such as the U.K. and France).

The change appears to have caught even AT&T off guard -- neither the two customer service reps manning their 611 line nor the folks in our local AT&T store knew about this, and we wound up troubleshooting it together. (Props to the kind folks at the AT&T store on The Strip in North Canton, Ohio who went out of their way to help.)

So to recap: As long as another line on your FamilyTalk Plan is eligible for an upgrade, you can purchase an iPhone 4 for that line -- it doesn’t matter if the eligible line has an iPhone or not. When you receive the device, activate it through iTunes and then head to an AT&T store to swap SIM cards and get the iPhone 4 on your phone number. It’s possible that the kindly folks at the Apple Store can also do this for you as well, but after our misadventures on Wednesday, we’d say it’s better to go straight to the source, if possible.

Maybe it’s true what they say: You really do learn something new every day!

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