Expert: Roberto Serrano - 7/1/2008

Question
This may be a dumb question, but I recently was given a smartphone from my father who upgraded to an iphone.  I put the sim card from my old razr into the smartphone and began using it without notifying my wireless company.  I pay my bill online and noted that the smartphone was listed as the active phone even though I had not called them to make the verification.  

I got tired of looking at my razr so I decided to sell it, and when I called AT&T they said that according to their records the active phone was the razr and they had no record of the smartphone even though it was reflected on the website and I had been making calls, texts and that data was also on the website.

I told them the imei of the smartphone and it is now listed as the active phone, how would it be possible they didnt know this?  Also does that mean that the razr is no longer on an active line of service
or should I call them back and verify it again, I don't think the person I was talking to was very knowledgeable to be honest.  I am selling this phone on ebay and just want to make sure whoever buys it is able to use it.  Thanks in advance.

Answer
Hello Brian,

There are two ways to know which phone is in your account they can check imei history to verify which phone was the last phone model used on your account which they did not do. They can also check which was the last phone purchased on the account or which was the last phone that was issued to you from at&t with an upgrade which in your case was the razr and that is what they checked they did not check which was your latest phone used. They do have the technology to verify it depends on who you went to to verify this information corporate locations can find out which exact model you have if you went to a authorized agent they just go about the upgrade last issued on your phone. If you want to change the imei on your account you would have to call customer service to get that changed. Please be careful and get the appropriate data plan as you may aquire overage fees in the form of data. Please make sure you clear out all of the data from the razr before you sell it. The phone will be active the instant when you place the sim card into the phone however if they have insurance on the phone or if they want there media net or there picture messaging to work with no issues they will need to get the phone imei corrected on there account that is pretty standard procedure. I hope that I have been of help to you if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you for your question.