We all know that we want to keep our unlimited data plans if you are lucky enough to still have one and we also all probably don't want to pay full retail if we don't have to. Well, to help, I have an ongoing thread in the HTC Thunderbolt forums about keeping unlimited data and I wanted to clean that thread up a bit and post up a step by step set of instructions here of one method that you can use to keep unlimited data with Verizon Wireless. You can read through the thread here but the instructions below pretty much sum up the most common method without purchasing at full retail:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/ve...s/220111-keeping-unlimited-data-question.html
I have not completed this process as I am still waiting for the phone to arrive (Note 2) and once it does, I will edit this post and revise the instructions if need be. This is exactly how I am upgrading to the Note 2 while keeping unlimited. You can see in the Thunderbolt thread that this method has been verified to work previously and has also been verified by VZW that it will work. I don't always trust the VZW people but this is pretty straight forward and I can see how it works. Maybe an "insider" can post up their thoughts or any additional instructions.
How to Keep Unlimited Data-
Currently in a Family Share Plan-with this method, you must meet 2 criterion. First, you must currently already be on a Family Share (not Share Everything) plan and second, you need to have an upgrade available on a basic line that is currently on that plan.
(1)Figure out which lines are available for upgrade within your plan. DO NOT use an upgrade that currently has unlimited unless you have no other choice because you will lose unlimited data on that line. Example: You have a family share plan with 3 lines. 2 are smartphones both with unlimited data and 1 is a basic phone with no data. You would want to use the basic phone line for the upgrade. If you only currently have 2 lines and both are smartphones with unlimited data, using this method, you will have to lose unlimited on one of the lines in order to upgrade but you can switch the newly purchased phone over to the unlimited line.
(2)Use which ever line you chose for upgrade, ideally a basic line, and purchase the new phone at the subsidized price making sure that you are using the basic line upgrade and not your unlimited line upgrade. You will have to temporarily add data(choose the 2gb $30 plan) to that line and you'll see why in STEP (3).
(3)Once you receive your new phone,
activate it onto the line that you used to upgrade which will
deactivate the current phone on that line. <--This is very important. You CANNOT just activate the newly purchased phone directly to another line because you must first activate it on the line you used to upgrade to complete the upgrade and subsidized price process. If you were to activate directly to a line other than the line you used to upgrade and that line had unlimited data, you would lose unlimited because Verizon would think you used that unlimited line to purchased the upgrade.
(a)In order to be able to purchase a smartphone using an upgrade of a basic line, you will have to temporarily add a data plan that will be removed almost immediately. Verizon will most likely charge a prorated data plan cost at $1 provided you selected the $30 2gb plan stated in STEP (2)<--This is a cost that I have not been able to verify yet but I have been told you may have to pay a little more or nothing at all.
(4)Now that you have activated the new smartphone onto the basic line, it's time to free that nice new phone up to be used on your unlimited line. In order to do that, you have to
reactivate which ever phone was originally on the line that you used to upgrade. This will deactivate the new phone and free it up for activation and use on your unlimited line and it will also drop the data plan that you had to add provided you reactivated a basic phone back to its number. I would still call VZW and make sure that the data plan has dropped but it should do so automatically.
(5)Congratulations!! You are now free to activate your new subsidized phone onto any of your unlimited lines. You can activate online or in store no problem!!
Well, there you have it. I apologize for it being so long winded but there are several small details that came up many times throughout my other thread so I wanted to clear them up. Again, this is not the only way to keep unlimited data but it is the most common and straight forward besides paying full retail. There is another method if you currently only have a single line plan with unlimited but that actually works out to be more expensive, over time, than just paying full retail. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them and if you have anything to add to this please let me know!! Thanks for reading everyone!!
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