Droid X and online Verizon ESN Change (activation)

[domeboy]

Hi, I have a Droid X that I purchased through my local Walmart Store, and the original activation was at Walmart. Everything works great, and I love the phone.

A couple weeks ago, I re-activated a pn-820 windows mobile standard phone on the websites online esn switcher just to play around with the old phone a bit. When I went to switch it back to the Droid X, I had to call customer service since it wouldnt let me do it online. The rep said I could only change phones online once a day, and that was the problem. She made the switch for me, so I didnt think much about it.

Last week I bought a Droid Incredible on Craigslist (for an incredible price, BTW) just to experiment with ROM's etc. I was able to do the online switch to the Incredible no problem. But, after a couple days (past the supposed one day rule) I tried switching back to the DX and I had to have customer service help me out again.

Anyone have any ideas what is going on? I like the flexibility of switching phones, and it is nice not having to call customer service. BTW, both times I told them the situation, and there was no charge.

Thanks

 

[jhnnyblze2000]

Don't know how to fix it but I've had this trouble in the past even to the point where it says the phone was activated and a couple hours later I didn't have service cause it said here was no phone associated with the account. Extremely annoying. Seems to be there just for show instead of actual use.

 

[jsaren]

Having bought a droid x from walmart I know the answer to this one. You will never be able to go back to the droid x using the online system. The reason is the "Walmart" phones although Verizon branded are reseller phones not purchased from a real "Verizon" store or "Verizon Tele Sales" Therefor their online system does not recongnize the ESN of the phone. Only customer service can change it for you. This holds true for any reseller phone.

 

[gbororats]

when i bought my phone online from vzw i tried doing the switch online and it failed when i tried to activate. Called customer service and they were able to "push" it through the system, and he had me try again and it worked. Only had to activate this phone once, so i cant answer your exact question, but initial thats what happened to me.

 

[anon(19758)]

Another possible reason for part of it is data plans. The Android, BlackBerry, and presumably Palm (do we have one?) and WinMo all have different data plans in the verizon system. I know they are all $30 unlimited plans, but in the system they are different somehow. I've switched back to my Tour a few times, and it always requires talking to a cs rep.

Sent from my Droid X using Tapatalk

 

[domeboy]

Having bought a droid x from walmart I know the answer to this one. You will never be able to go back to the droid x using the online system. The reason is the "Walmart" phones although Verizon branded are reseller phones not purchased from a real "Verizon" store or "Verizon Tele Sales" Therefor their online system does not recongnize the ESN of the phone. Only customer service can change it for you. This holds true for any reseller phone.

Hmm, this makes sense because the other phones were all bought through VZW directly. I only bought the dx through walmart because it was $199 without rebate.

I wonder if I can get them to add the esn to some magical list that will allow me to switch online...

 

[domeboy]

Update on Online Activation

I spoke to Verizon and the rep said the fact it was bought at walmart will not affect the ability to use the online activation system.

But, they didnt have any alternate reasons why only my walmart dx cannot be activated online.

Does anyone else have any experience with third party reseller phones (in particular walmart) and the ability to use the online activation system.

thanks

 

[Adiliyo]

i usually just do a *228 option 1.

make sure the phone you are switching from is off when you activate the new one.

 

[domeboy]

i usually just do a *228 option 1.

make sure the phone you are switching from is off when you activate the new one.

Been there done that.....Is your dx phone from a third party reseller like Walmart

 

[unseenme#WN]

I had a CS Rep tell me that sometimes it has to do with the description of the data plan in VZW's system. Switching back & forth from my Pre (yes I have one) to my Storm 2 (yes I HAD one), I woud have to call to swap em. May also have something to do with the options available for different phones as well, such as Mobile HotSpot (which is free on my Pre btw).

 

[domeboy]

I had a CS Rep tell me that sometimes it has to do with the description of the data plan in VZW's system. Switching back & forth from my Pre (yes I have one) to my Storm 2 (yes I HAD one), I woud have to call to swap em. May also have something to do with the options available for different phones as well, such as Mobile HotSpot (which is free on my Pre btw).

I am switching between an Incredible and a DX.....From what I can see the options for plans are the same. I can activate my Incredible online, but not the DX.