Where should I renew/upgrade my phone?

[dw124]

After obsessively looking at phones for the past week or so, I've made myself thoroughly confused.

My family purchased our Verizon phones through Costco two years ago. Now we're ready to renew our contract and upgrade our phones. The problem is, now I'm not sure where is the best place to upgrade. I was all set to just go through Costco again, but then I stumbled across the Amazon Wireless site, and they have the phones I want for much cheaper prices. ($149 instead of $289, and $0.01 instead of $50) But I'm confused about this: If I get my phones through Amazon Wireless, when I'd purchased the last phones through Costco, does this still count as a 2-year contract renewal? Can I purchase the phones through Amazon and still only pay the standard Verizon plan charges ($40 a month for smartphones, $30 for basic phones, $50 a month for 1GB data), or will I be charged other fees for switching stores or something?

Also, does anyone know if there are any significant differences in purchasing phones from Costco vs. Amazon Wireless vs. directly from the Verizon Store? I know Costco gives you an accessory pack, which frankly I don't really care about. But I'm trying to figure out if there are any additional fees or charges I should be aware of if we were to switch from getting our phones at Costco, and buy them through another place instead.

Thanks!

 

[Jaycemiskel]

Personally, I would go for whatever place has the best prices. If you don't have unlimited data then you should be able to keep your plan. The only fees that are charged are if you change or cancel your plan. You usually have to keep everything the same for a while to keep from being charged extra fees. If you don't plan on changing your plan, go with Amazon.

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[dw124]

Well, what we had before was my smartphone (with unlimited data) and three basic phones. Now we're switching to either two or three smartphones (with a share everything plan) and one or two basic phones. So we would pretty much have to change our plans by default, since Verizon doesn't have the unlimited data plan anymore.

 

[Jaycemiskel]

Well if you're doing that definitely go with Amazon. I've ordered from them before and had no problems at all. Saved me some money too.

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[dragonsamus]

Well, what we had before was my smartphone (with unlimited data) and three basic phones. Now we're switching to either two or three smartphones (with a share everything plan) and one or two basic phones. So we would pretty much have to change our plans by default, since Verizon doesn't have the unlimited data plan anymore.

You don't have to switch to the shared data plan. Upgrade the dumb phone(s) to data phones and get 2 GB of data for $30 a month per phone. Don't upgrade your unlimited data line or you'll lose your unlimited data. Use one of the upgrades from the dumb phone line and swap the smart phone to your unlimited data line. I hope that makes sense. Let me know if you have questions.

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