<p>Is there any carrier who provides cell phone service for an iPhone 5c when the customer already has the phone? My H lost his iPhone 4–assistant tried to get him an iPhone 6 this week, but had no luck. She signed H up for the 6 and he is waiting for the new phone. In the meantime he needs a cell phone for calls and very limited text messaging. We have a 5c that was my daughter’s–she went on her own plan and has a iPhone 6. Hence my question–any carrier with no contract for the old 5c?</p>
<p>What carrier did that 5c run on? I’d start with that carrier and ask about their no-contract options.</p>
<p>Ting has no contracts for Sprint-enabled phones. Sprint also has some no-contract bring your own phone options. For the other major carriers, a quick visit to Target/Best Buy/Walmart and a chat with the tech people there should help you locate a no-contract carrier that 5c can run on.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>He can try to unlock it (there are places that can happily do that for a small fee) or use a pay as you go plan from your D’s carrier.</p>
<p>Cold be missing something here, but if there is a delay on getting the new phone, you can activate any phone on the same contract. Same story for the existing contract on the lost 4 as it appears to be the same line. </p>
<p>Either way, almost all carriers sells a cheap prepaid phone at bluecollar stores a la Walmart or Radio Shack. Pick one that works on the current system. Throw away the prepaid part and go to a carrier store to activate it on your existing line. When the iPhone arrives, you will simply override the activation. As a bonus, the cheap phone might work overseas with local cheaps. Expect to spend around 20 to 50 dollars for the disposable phone. </p>
<p>If the 5C is truly off contract, you should be able to do the same as above. You could get this done over the phone after reading the IMEI of the phone to be installed. Playing musical chairs with phones at the same company is not unusual. </p>
<p>I have “had” to do several times after losing or “wetting” a smartphone. </p>
<p>I didn’t deal with Apple, but according to my husband’s AA–Apple told her that if we activate the iPhone 5 that was my daughter’s, my husband’s order for the iPhone 6 won’t go through. Our carrier is AT&T. Two phones on the current contract: my phone and H’s phone. </p>
<p>If it’s AT&T you could go to ATT store and get a sim card (I think microsim) and refill card for gophone (ATT prepaid) </p>
<p><a href=“AT&T’s Best Cell Phone Plans: Unlimited Your Way, 5G Data & Family Mobile Plans | AT&T”>AT&T’s Best Cell Phone Plans: Unlimited Your Way, 5G Data & Family Mobile Plans | AT&T;
<p>and activate a new number so it won’t be tied to his contract line. 500 min are $40 a month and unlimited $60, unlimited texting included. When he is done with the phone just let plan and number expire.</p>
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<p>What you describe is not an issue that concerns … Apple. If your current contract allows for the new phone upgrade, they sold you the phone and will get their money from ATT. It will arrive with your H number on it and will be subject to an activation. </p>
<p>The loss of the current phone and activation of a temporary phone concerns ATT. It does not matter which phone is activated. It could be the old one, a purchased cheap phone, or your daughter. </p>
<p>My recommendation is to call ATT and explain exactly what you are doing. They should be able to activate any working phone on your current contract. If feasible, go to a store and they will do all of that for you. Again, I have done this multiple times, as we have 5 lines on our contract but really only use 4 phones, The fifth one has been the musical chair one that carries an extra upgrade. The only limitation has been that the fifth line now has to carry a mimimum data plan as we added an iPhone. </p>
<p>Please note that I do not doubt someone told it was not possible. When the 5S went to 100 dollars at Walmart, there was no way to buy and replace a lost phone. I went to an ATT store, paid 256 for it (CA stupid tax rules) and magically it was possible. Same old story … if you do not like the answer, ask another agent. What you are trying to do should work with ATT. This said, they might charge you two activation fees. </p>
<p><a href=“Learn which size SIM card your iPhone or iPad uses - Apple Support”>http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5554</a></p>
<p>its a nano sim apparently according to link</p>
<p>There is really no need to buy a SIM card. The daughter 5C has a useful SIM card. </p>
<p>For a temporary phone, one can pick up one for little money. See
<a href=“http://www.walmart.com/ip/29558066?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227021390747&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40300202072&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78266553992&veh=sem”>http://www.walmart.com/ip/29558066?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227021390747&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40300202072&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78266553992&veh=sem</a></p>
<p>Two options. First activate the phone and use the new number for the time being. The second is to take that phone to ATT and activate it on the existing contract and keep the numbers. Again, this can be done over the phone as well. </p>
<p>But there are NO reason why ATT could not activate an existing off contract phone on the existing contract to replace a lost phone. </p>
<p>The sim should be free if prepaid refill is purchased. If daughter uses her sim for her own phone, the sim from the iphone 4 with OP’s husband’s current number on it won’t fit the 5c.</p>
<p>Sorry just read that husband lost the phone, did he suspend the number so nobody else uses it?
And in this case he will need a new sim anyways.</p>
<p>This is what we did when D’s phone disappeared. I went to the local AT&T store and asked for a new SIM card to use it with her old phone with a cracked screen. The employees simply gave me a new card with her number etc. so she could pop it into her old phone (because we were a couple of months short of upgrade). She used it until one of our lines became eligible for a discounted phone. Simply getting a new sim for an existing line does not reset the contract. </p>
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<p>Humm, why do you think that the OP might need a new SIM? There is nothing magical about the SIM and this is not a situation where one does have the phone but a defective SIM card. The 5C has a SIM card and so will the new phone. The SIM in the lost phone is not relevant. SIM cards might come with a number, but that number is not permanent to a SIM card. That is why you can move phones among family members without changing the physical attributes of the phones. You can reallocate the numbers onto different SIM cards. </p>
<p>All that is needed is to marry a phone --any phone-- to an existing account. Disabling the lost phone is obviously not a bad idea, but we can safely assume that the OP thought about this one.</p>
<p>PS To be clear, in the example of Bunsenburner, ATT could have reprogrammed the old phone’s SIM without a trip to the store. </p>
<p>xiggi, the junky phone did not have a SIM card since that sim card was moved to the phone that was lost. :)</p>
<p>Yup, you are completely right - they can reprogram a SIM card. </p>
<p>Gotcha, BB. </p>
<p>No cloud storage with the 5c? Seems like one should be able to get ANY phone activated at the ATT store. Any phone. I would go to a different store with to that 5c…something doesn’t sound right.</p>
<p>When I just wanted a new phone, I bought it on EBay, and had it activated at ATT. </p>
<p>If the iPhone is locked with AT&T or if it is unlocked, take it to a Cricket Wireless dealer near you and they"ll hook you up. I gave a dealer $12.50 for a sim and to activate an iPhone 5. Service is great and CHEAP. Cricket is owned by AT&T.</p>
<p><a href=“Bring Your Own Phone & Switch to Cricket | Cricket Wireless”>Bring Your Own Phone & Switch to Cricket | Cricket Wireless;
<p>The OP was asking for a prepaid plan to use iphone 5c with. I was suggesting to go to att store and get a refill for gophone that would cover one month’s plan, you get a sim with that. That way they don’t need to pay for activation, sim or another phone. Another possibility would be using existing 5c on the line the 4 was on. I don’t know if the 5c has a sim because I thought it was deactivated when daughter got her own plan. I know they can move account/number from one sim to another, but can they reactivate a sim? </p>
<p>Something to remember too dealing with sales people in phone stores is that they usually can adjust or waive “fees” like activation, sim card charge, etc. I activated some phones at a Cricket Wireless mall kiosk, and ended up paying $12.50 which I thought was fair considering he phoned my previous carrier on spot to port over my phone number and got everything up and running with my same phone number in about 5-10 minutes. I won’t go into a Verizon or AT&T store for prepaid service after being treated like dirt each time I asked for assistance in their company owned stores…they seem to only care about selling new contracts.</p>