Hello,
I'm thinking of giving my niece a new iPhone 5s I bought for her birthday. I used my upgrade to buy it from Verizon online. Can I just give it to her, or do I have to transfer the phone to her account somehow first? I'd rather give it to her unopened so she doesn't think it's used. Also, would I give her the new SIM card that will be coming with the phone?
I haven't received the new phone yet, but my account says that my contract now ends in 2015, and still has my old iPhone 5 listed as my phone. This leads me to believe I can give it to her with no problem. Also, I'm not sure what carrier she uses, does it matter? I'd rather not ask her because it may ruin the surprise. I suppose I could ask my aunt, she probably knows. I heard the iPhones were unlocked, but I'm not exactly sure what that means.
Thanks,
D
they are unlocked in the sense that you can use them globally. however, a verizon iphone can only be used on verizon's network. if she has verizon, then yes, you can give it to her without any problems. you "might" have to initially activate it on the account it was purchased with (yours) as that is what the sim card is linked to. after you activate it though, she can activate it on her verizon. account. you could always wait to do all of that after she opens it, if you don't want to open the box. then again, it's pretty easy to package it all back up so it looks like it's never been opened. if it were me, i would check with her aunt to see if she uses verizon. if so, i would go ahead and activate it, and then deactivate it by activating your current/old phone. then when she opens it, all she will have to do is go to a verizon corporate store and get a new sim card for her account.
She can use it on TMobile and AT&T as well. But not on Sprint.
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