So, I’m upgrading to the iPhone 5, because it clearly makes me 20% cooler. Husband and I both have the iPhone 4, and I also have my old iPhone 3G. (We eschew the models that end in “S”.)
Can I then turn around and give the old iPhones to my folks? What do they need to do in order to make them “their” phones - just swap out the Sim cards? Anything else I have to do to clear the phones out? And what information is stored in the Sim cards, anyway? Addresses? Photos? Apps?
If it’s relevant to the transfer, the phones are currently set up for AT&T, and my folks have Verizon. The parents would need to get data plans, right? The phones aren’t jailbroken. Is there anything else I have to do to make the phones usable?
Sorry, if you can’t tell, I’m a little hazy on the topic…I’m not one to “mod” things, so please explain it to me like I’m an idiot, which I totally am about this.
Unfortunately, AT&T iPhones can’t be used on Verizon’s network. AT&T’s network is GSM and Verizon’s is CDMA. They are two incompatible technologies. If your parents aren’t tied down to Verizon, they would have to get a voice and data plan from AT&T. They should be able to get SIM cards that can be used in your old iPhones. When I upgraded from the 3G to the 3GS, I simply put my SIM card from the old phone into the new one.
If you want to erase all of your data from the phones, go to Settings> General> Reset> Erase All Content and Settings> Erase iPhone. This will restore your iPhone to its original factory settings.
Also, are your parents somewhat familiar with a computer? As you know, if you have an iPhone, it will be essential to install and use iTunes.
Here in Canada, I had to pay Rogers $50 so they could send a code to Apple; the next time I updated my 3GS in iTunes, it unlocked the phone (no jailbreak). This allowed me to use the phone overseas with local SIM cards, rather than pay highway robbery roaming charges.
So a GSM phone is infinitely more useful than a CDMA one if you travel outside North America. Unlocked means it can accept a SIM card other than the original contract telecom’s. Does AT&T provide an unlocking service one the phone is paid off?
However, it looks like the 4G/LTE will in fact be somewhat country/telecom specific for the iPhone5, so depending on you travel preferences, look carefully at that. (Although, again, it does not matter really - since data charges while roaming are highway robbery times 10.) By the time we have reasonable data roaming, we’ll all be using the iPhone42 on the 17G networks… and we wont have to turn it off while hovering over metropolitan areas.
My mother is using the 3GS phone I gave up when I got the iPhone 4S. She uses it as a prepaid phone with ATT, without a data plan (so WiFi only). She’s very happy with it, particularly with the ease of taking and emailing photos. So that’s one option for the OP’s parents. They can also continue to use their Verizon phones and treat the iPhone as an iPod Touch.