How to gift an iPhone?

[amy-momofthree]

Dh is due for an upgrade on his iPhone. He has the iPhone 3. I want to get him the iPhone 4s but i want to give it to him on Christmas. Target has a deal for $175 but the salesman said we had to activate it before leaving the store? If we activate he can't use his current phone. Anyone have any ideas to get one and keep it secret?? Thanks!

 

[ennisb]

Well I'm doing that for DW via Verizon. I'm not getting that price however I have the phone now and on Christmas Day I can activate it from home via Itunes which means she will be surprise and not longer using her cell-asoris (as in dinosaur)

 

[amy-momofthree]

Well I'm doing that for DW via Verizon. I'm not getting that price however I have the phone now and on Christmas Day I can activate it from home via Itunes which means she will be surprise and not longer using her cell-asoris (as in dinosaur)

Where did you get it and how did you get it without activating? That would be great if we could just activate thru iTunes on Christmas.

 

[dahrjo]

I got one through the Apple website, I ordered it with Verizon service and on Christmas day I can activate it. If you buy it in the store, they have to activate it then.

 

[ennisb]

Where did you get it and how did you get it without activating? That would be great if we could just activate thru iTunes on Christmas.

Just ordered it from Verizon either you can do it via the store or from their web site. That simple just tell them it's a gift and they do all the tasks but activate it.

 

[mom2lns]

Two years ago for Christmas, DH, gifted me with an iPhone from AT&T. It was a complete surprise! He activated it as a new phone with a brand new number before leaving the store. After opening it, he informed me we could keep it with the new number or go into the AT&T store and have the 'port' over my number from another cellular provider. It took all of 15 minutes (most of that waiting for my turn) to change the number. Then we took it to the other provider's store and had them use their magic to get all my contacts to convert over.

Soooo, I would think (but you'll have to do some research with Target and maybe with Apple) that maybe you can activate a new phone, under the new contract, and then have everything changed over after he opens the gift on Christmas morning. Is current contract fulfilled?

Or, instead of all the headache...you could upgrade through the upgrade app. That's how I ordered my replacement for this year's present. It isn't activated yet but I have the phone. Now, it was $199, but AT&T discounted my $30 monthly fee for smartphones by $6.40/month which will only take 4 months to recoup the difference in phones.

HTH

 

[amy-momofthree]

Two years ago for Christmas, DH, gifted me with an iPhone from AT&T. It was a complete surprise! He activated it as a new phone with a brand new number before leaving the store. After opening it, he informed me we could keep it with the new number or go into the AT&T store and have the 'port' over my number from another cellular provider. It took all of 15 minutes (most of that waiting for my turn) to change the number.
Then we took it to the other provider's store and had them use their magic to get all my contacts to convert over.

Soooo, I would think (but you'll have to do some research with
Target and maybe with Apple) that maybe you can activate a new phone, under the new contract, and then have everything changed
over after he opens the gift on Christmas morning. Is current contract fulfilled?

Or, instead of all the headache...you could upgrade through the upgrade app. That's how I ordered my replacement for this year's present. It isn't
activated yet but I have the phone. Now, it was $199, but AT&T discounted my $30 monthly fee for
smartphones by $6.40/month which will only take 4 months to recoup the difference in phones.


HTH

Wow, I didn't know there was an upgrade ap?! I'll try that. Wonder if I have enough time to get it before Christmas if I do that.

I'm not sure our contract is up. I upgraded last fall so I think we have another year.

This would be so much easier if I could just tell dh so we could go into the store and get it. I asked him the other night if I could tell him and he said he wanted to be surprised! he's such a kid!!!

 

[Willow1213]

If you go in to any AT&T store, the sales reps there will know how to sell you the phone without activating it. In December, 75% of the phones sold are gifts. IMHO, it is worth the $25 difference to get someone who knows how to activate it right!

On Christmas day, he will just plug in to iTunes and make a call to AT&T to update and that's it! If he can wait until the day after, then you can go into the store and have them activate it there.