Do I have to activate immediately?

[kimcnh]

I'm upgrading my sons' phone (he is eligible for an upgrade) but want to wait to give it to him for Christmas. Can I buy it now and wait to activate it?

[emerald_eyez]

I bought my sister an iPhone 5c last year during Black Friday and held on to it until Christmas.  Just don't power if up and it won't try to activate   That's what I was told and it worked like a charm!

[redsoxrule]

I had the same request and went to a Verizon store.  I was told that you HAD to activate within 7 days - so - they told me to come back 7 days before xmas and they could give me the phone.  Made no sense to me, but I've not been able to find anyone who will refute this in Verizon. 

[redsoxrule]

Update - I found out that you CAN get a phone and not have to activate it within 7 days - but, you have to call VZ and order it over the phone or you can order it on-line.  Which I did successfully!  They told me that store policies are different than on-line / phone order policies.  Strange...

[kimcnh]

Thanks. Did they tell you how long you can have the phone without activating it? I ordered my phones from Best Buy yesterday and plan on giving them as Christmas gifts. I'm sure they'll get activated that day but I may have them for 2 weeks before activation.

[emerald_eyez]

Phones won't activate until they are powered up and have the SIM card inserted.  Otherwise, the current active phone will hold on to that line until the new phone pushes activation over