[Instruction] How to get a new phone and keep (legacy) Unlimited Data on Verizon

[DayThyme]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Ok, so I shouldn't have anything to worry about?

Correct. Your sister's line will continue to cost $47.99/mo + taxes, surcharges and fee and your base 1400 minutes will continue to cost $100/mo.

 

[gharri30]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Like you said, when I saw it I thought it was telling me her line was going $150 a month. Thought I did something that I hadn't realized. I just thought I had this understood. Glad there's some people on here that actually do.

 

[DayThyme]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Like you said, when I saw it I thought it was telling me her line was going $150 a month. Thought I did something that I hadn't realized. I just thought I had this understood. Glad there's some people on here that actually do.

Just check the bill next month at the beginning of your billing cycle to make sure that it is accurate. And keep checking for the next 14 days at least that they don't screw with your unlimited data.

 

[gharri30]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Alright. When I get the phone and get it activated I'll keep my eyes open.

 

[Haus of Pain]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Just returned from Verizon store with my new subsidized Droid Maxx. Checked the Verizon Wireless website and my phone line still lists data as UNLIMITED. Woooowhooo! The wife goes with me tomorrow to pick her phone and we'll do it again. Here's what I did. Started with two unlimited lines and an old 400 minute data plan.
1. Called Verizon to add a basic line (total $300 over the next 2 years) (Had to change to a newer 700 minute plan because they claimed I couldn't add a line to my old plan. I suspect they couldn't find the code!)
2. activated an old RAZR,
3. used upgrade Verizon provided on basic line to buy a subsidized iPhone 5S w/32GB ($300)
4. activated iPhone
5. deactivate iPhone and re-activate RAZR (cancel dataplan) note: iPhone is now clear and ready for sale
6. transfer upgrade from unlimited line to RAZR,
7. buy Droid MAXX
8. activate Droid MAXX on RAZR line
9. deactivate MAXX and activate RAZR (cancel dataplan)
10. device swap MAXX onto unlimited line
11. Sell iPhone for $700 and profit $100 for my trouble

Note: steps 6-10 were all performed at an non-company owned Verizon Wireless store.

This thread still works as of 12/12/13.

Thank you again Day Thyme!!

 

[jharmon203]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Haus of Pain, thanks for your post. I am currently in a little Verizon debacle and I am just glad that the system is still working. Gives me hope that mine will turn out well.

 

[Simon_y7]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

I had an unpleasant surprise today. While at work, I found out that my mobile hotspot was gone from my plan. On the Verizon website, I also discovered that my data plan went from unlimited to 6GB. A Verizon csr said that I couldn't keep my unlimited data once I transferred my upgrade to my son's line (he wasn't yet eligible). I told her that, when ordering his phone through Comcast, I called Verizon and specifically asked not to change my plan other than, upon activation, give my son 2GB of his own data. She wanted to know the name of the csr I spoke with, and said that the best she could do was to have that csr get in touch with me. However, luckily, because she couldn't figure out how to get my hotspot reinstated, she connected me with a tech who got my hotspot back, as well as got my unlimited data back. So, I guess it's another reminder that weird things can happen at Verizon, and that one should't take their no for an answer. It also made me wonder what was going to happen when my son's phone was actually activated, and even more so, when I'll upgrade my wife's line and then proceed transferring the phone from her line to mine.

 

[DayThyme]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

I told her that, when ordering his phone through Comcast, I called Verizon and specifically asked not to change my plan other than, upon activation, give my son 2GB of his own data.

This is why I would avoid involving verizon reps. I did the same thing through Comcast that you did, but I did it online and did not call Verizon and I still have unlimited data on the donor line. I got a confirmation message that I would receive the $200 VISA prepaid card after I completed my order.

It sounds like the verizon rep did not transfer the upgrade but rather upgraded on the unlimited data line. I called the number in the comcast promo and talked to a rep who insisted that she could not transfer the upgrade and had to use the upgrade on the unlimited data line. So if I had placed my order with her instead of doing it online, whether I told her to transfer the upgrade or not, the rep was going to do it the way she wanted to do it and ignore my instructions. If you do it online, you can take screen shots.

It is hit or miss with these Verizon reps. I have either done things totally online without the help of a verizon rep or through best buy and have been fine.

Thanks for letting people know so they can be very cautious with the verizon reps.

 

[Simon_y7]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Yes, the Verizon csr said that once I used and transferred the upgrade from my unlimited line it's the same as upgrading that unlimited line itself. It seems that I've dodged the bullet by being transferred to a tech.

 

[DayThyme]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Yes, the Verizon csr said that once I used and transferred the upgrade from my unlimited line it's the same as upgrading that unlimited line itself.

It's not, though. What happened is that you called and she did not transfer the upgrade but instead upgraded on the unlimited data line. And she was NOT the sweet lady you thought she was on the Comcast $200 VISA prepaid card promo thread. I spoke with her, too, Erica, and she was an idjit or a liar or both. You did NOT have to do the upgrade on the phone to get the $200 prepaid VISA like she told you. I took screen shots of the whole process and can edit out my personal info to prove it.

here is the thread I am talking about in case anyone is wondering. Erica was the problem. She refused to transfer upgrades and that is what happened to cause the loss of unlimited on Simon's line. She upgraded on the unlimited data line.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon/339801-comcast-offering-200-visa-prepaid-card-when-buying-verizon-phone-tablet.html

Luckily, Simon was diligent and caught her error and got it reversed.

 

[DayThyme]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

here you go and I have already posted the screen shots showing that I STILL have unlimited data on the line. That is because I didn't trust the verizon rep and knew she wan't sweet at all and was refusing to transfer upgrades. She just ignored you when you said to transfer the upgrade.

 

[ClintRo]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Day Thyme, I went to the Verizon store and the guys in there were very helpful. They checked the account and weren't able to see the Iphone on the account. I walked them through what I was trying to do (sell Iphone to recoup costs, transfer upgrades, swap devices) and they not only agreed that it would keep my unlimited plans but they were happy to help! I just bought the second phone (Droid Maxx) for my line and will pick it up either tomorrow or Friday. They transferred an upgrade from my unlimited line to the dumb phone and ordered the Maxx, I could have walked away with the new phone except they didn't have any Maxx in the store. Will repeat this again for the wife's phone on Friday. Thank you for all the expert advice. I couldn't have done this without your informative posts!

Some stores are like that..... It is hit or miss.

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[peters4n6]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

11. Sell iPhone for $700 and profit $100 for my trouble

Sorry for slight thread diversion, but I still find it incredible that there is a market to buy even new iphones for $700. I know it's absolutely true, but who buys these things for that price?

 

[DayThyme]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Sorry for slight thread diversion, but I still find it incredible that there is a market to buy even new iphones for $700. I know it's absolutely true, but who buys these things for that price?

People who don't want to pay the tax, people who don't have credit cards, international buyers who are using a shipping service.

 

[Haus of Pain]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Some stores are like that..... It is hit or miss.

So, let me provide an update. You need to watch them like a hawk to ensure that they don't make a mistake. Last night the wife and I went in to upgrade her unlimited phone. I went to the same CSR as my previous purchase. The CSR got the new phone and started to walk through the process to upgrade without transferring the upgrade to the dumb line. Why? Because I didn't tell him to transfer the upgrade first. Thank God I stopped him before he activated or the unlimited would have been toast. You need to understand every step in this process and guide the CSR through it. However, you only want to give them the current step. If you tell them the big picture, they may not help you, or they may try to deter you. Also, it is extremely important to make sure that the current phone is off before activating a new phone on the line. If you forget, the only solution is to call Verizon to get it corrected. Interactions with Verizon need to be kept to a minimum!

 

[jharmon203]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Well DayThyme, I waited for the order to time out. I ordered the phone online and had it shipped. I got the phone. I activated it on the 2GB tiered data smartphone line. I made a test call to verizon. I browsed the internet. Then I reactivated the iphone 5 on the tiered data line freeing up the lg g2. I ran into that "pending order" problem. I call verizon, got that fixed, got the iphone 5 back on the original line. However, when I go to activate or switch device, both the unlimited data line and the tiered data line seem to still be tied to the g2. I only have the option to activate the lg g2 on both of those lines:

View attachment 96383

I have another unlimited smart phone data line on the account. If I choose that line, I get this usual screen:

View attachment 96385

I chatted with verizon and they looked into the issue for a while and then claimed this:

"Found the issue, the phone was to be activated to the original number that it was ordered under first
and then could be used on a different number. We can temporarily make this change for you or if you need to
make a plan or feature change, I can do this for you."

I sure shot that down in a heartbeat and claimed that the account was working correctly when I had it activated on the tiered data line. Btw, I never mentioned anything about keeping unlimited data on my line. Just said the original phone wasn't available to do the activation with.

There reply was the following:

It allowed you to do an esn change to the (#### - last 4 digits of the tiered data line) but the system shows that it was never activated to
the (#### - unlimited data line number) number and since we can't manually change this, the error message pops up online when you try to
do anything.

So I figure I have two options right now, I can try to reactivate the g2 on the tiered data line again. Or, I can wait the 24-48 hours that the reps said it can take for the activation to register. Hopefully one of the two solves the problem.

However, I am posting this as well for any suggestions

One last piece of information, if I try to change anything online (change the plan for instance) I am prevented from doing so until the g2 gets activated (which it already has been on the tiered data line).

I solved this myself with a calculated risk! So basically I checked checking the verizon page to see if I could use the activate or switch the devices. Everytime I tried to switch devices on either my line (the unlimited line that transferred the upgrade) or the tiered 2gb data line (the line I used to upgrade the phone), I would only get the option to activate the LG G2 on both of those line. So I decided to try to reactivate the g2 on the tiered data line.

I went through the steps. It say it was activating and then said complete. However, something was rather weird when I got to the end. It gave me the usual screen to either use an existing line I had used previously on the account or use a new line. The odd thing was it showed a picture of the g2, the phone number of the tiered data line, and the description said iPhone 5. So tried the process again with the same results. So I decided to turn on the G2 and see if it saw itself as the tiered data line. I put the SIM card that the phone was originally activated with in and I did a factory reset. At the activation screen, it said it had already activated on the phone number for the tiered data line. However, I couldn't make a call or browse anything on the internet. Keep in mind the iPhone 5 was off this entire time.

Now the G2 had the same size SIM card as my old phone (Droid Razr Maxx). So I decided to try to switch the SIM cards. I did not switch the devices online first because I couldn't. It wanted to activate the G2 on my line first. I put my unlimited data SIM card in, did another factory reset, and when the phone booted up it had the unlimited data number. I could get texts, make calls, browse the internet.

So the next obvious thing to check was unlimited data. I logged in a saw that I still had unlimited data. SWEET! That was yesterday. I logged in today to see that I still have unlimited data. The process worked! Of course with my luck, it didn't go as smoothly as others have voiced but oh well. The G2 is an amazing phone. So much faster than my Razr Maxx.

Sorry this post was so long. I just wanted to be detailed in case anyone else has the same issues that I have. Good luck!

 

[Haus of Pain]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Oops, forgot. I found out last night (the hard way) that there is a limit to the number of activations that can be done to a line per month. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what that number is. I know that's not very helpful, so I'll try to count them. I did an activation when I added the dumb line, another when I activated that line's upgrade, another when I put the RAZR back on, another with the first unlimited transfer, RAZR back on, second unlimited transfer. It failed when we went to put the RAZR back on after the second transfer. It is possible that the number of activations possible in a billing cycle is 6. The 7th activation was stopped and even a call to Verizon tech support by a Verizon CSR couldn't get it pushed through. However, they could future date an activation and at the start of the next billing cycle the activation could be done. Which. lucky for me was... today!

I went back to the Verizon store today for the final device swap. I could probably do this myself but having Verizon do it is so much more satisfying. The CSR today said, "do you need a new SIM because we charge $25 for them." Some quick explaining that they weren't able to activate last night cost the fee waived. When did they start charging $25 for a new SIM?

Start to finish it took 6 days to complete the process of buying three phones at subsidized prices, activating them, and swapping them to unlimited lines. One of the 6 days was spent waiting for a phone that I purchased online to arrive.

 

[ClintRo]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Non corporate stores charge for sim cards. Sometimes.

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[DayThyme]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

Non corporate stores charge for sim cards. Sometimes.

Good to know. If you call tech support and say you are having trouble with dropped calls and holding onto a 4G LTE signal and that you removed your SIM card and reinserted to see if that would help and it looked damaged, they will mail you one for free. Or they can put a note in your account saying you need a new SIM card and then go into a store and say tech support told you to get a new SIM card and they can check your account and it should be free then.

 

[Simon_y7]

Re: [Instruction]How to Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon

It's not, though. What happened is that you called and she did not transfer the upgrade but instead upgraded on the unlimited data line. And she was NOT the sweet lady you thought she was on the Comcast $200 VISA prepaid card promo thread. I spoke with her, too, Erica, and she was an idjit or a liar or both. You did NOT have to do the upgrade on the phone to get the $200 prepaid VISA like she told you. I took screen shots of the whole process and can edit out my personal info to prove it.

here is the thread I am talking about in case anyone is wondering. Erica was the problem. She refused to transfer upgrades and that is what happened to cause the loss of unlimited on Simon's line. She upgraded on the unlimited data line.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon/339801-comcast-offering-200-visa-prepaid-card-when-buying-verizon-phone-tablet.html

Luckily, Simon was diligent and caught her error and got it reversed.

I've got to correct the record. I bought two phones, a day apart, one through Comcast, and another, at Best Buy. Having retraced my steps, it became clear that it was some guy by name Dustin at the Best Buy Mobile back office who ultimately messed up my account. After not getting my online order processed for a week and then many hours on hold, he asked me a few questions, and then put me on hold and went to "straighten things out." So, that's when my hotspot and unlimited data must have disappeared from my line.