Can I replace my S4 with an S6 ?

[JustRay]

Here's the deal.
My wife has an S6 and I have an S4.
We both use US Cellular.
She is not a technical person (neither am I for that matter but I'm better that that sort of thing than she is).

She and I thought it would be nice if each of us had the same model phone with the same version of the Android OS.
So, that when she has an issue I could try and replicate the same issue on MY phone and perhaps figure out how to resolve it. (She uses her phone for work (and I don't) and is always so afraid to do anything with it that might adversely affect its operation.
I understand that.

I see on the Internet that I can purchase an S6 for what I think is a reasonable price.
And I have the feeling that I could "muscle" my way through syncing the S4 and S6.

What I don't understand is the US Cellular part of things.

Things currently work perfectly fine on my S4.
But, how would I get US Cellular to work on my new S6 ?
And is it possible to have US Cellular work on both phones for a time so as to ensure the S6 is working correctly before I put the S4 to a well deserved sleep ?

I'm so confused.
Any help, direction and or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ironass]

Without teaching you to, "Suck eggs", please ensure that the Galaxy S6 you are intending to purchase is...

1. A USA model and not, say, the global or any of the 20+ other Galaxy S6 models worldwide.
2. The specific model number for the US Cellular Galaxy S6 is SM-G920R4 (other US carrier phones, "may", work on the US Cellular network)

Ensure that you fully sync your S4 Contacts, Calendar, Chrome, etc to your Google account prior to signing in on your S6. That way they will be automatically restored when you enter your gmail.com details. See, also...

Backup! Backup! Backup! NOW!

Whilst this is in the S5 forum, the details are the same for protecting your data. You can run both phones in tandem on your gmail.com account, although, one will not be active without a SIM card.

Since I am based in the sunny Cotswolds of England, I cannot comment on the specifics of US Cellular.

Hope this helps.

 

[svim]

Try using Samsung's 'Smart Switch' utility to do a backup on your S4 and use it to then do the restore on the S6. It's not as seamless as Apple's iCloud/iTunes backup/restore, and you do need to at least pay attention to the items to you do or don't select but with Samsung-to-Samsung phones it should work out better than you doing the same manually transferring files back and forth.
https://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/app/smart-switch

As for just randomly buying any S6 '...at a reasonable price...' that could be a real crap-shoot if you can even use it. As @ironass clearly stated, you do need to sure to get a S6 that's actually going to be compatible with your carrier. Smartphones are NOT universally compatible with just any cellular network, the hardware configurations in each phone match up with each specific carrier. So buying a phone just on price won't be much of a bargain if it doesn't even work with your carrier. If it is, you're good but if not let's hope there's a good return policy from wherever you buy it. Or just pay attention to just which model phone you're shopping for.
U.S. Cellular's site has a page for those who do rely on BYOD that you should read through:
https://www.uscellular.com/bring-your-own-device/index.html