OK, I figured as much but didn't know for sure.
SO I am still a little fuzzy on purchasing the new smartphone on the dumbline and how that all works to keep from having to start a 2yr data contract on that line. "They" have to activate the phone on the line with the MEID etc... but what is the key to keeping "full activation" or whatever off the dumb line? Do I just need to keep them form actually turning the phone on and going through the setup process to "complete" the activation?
What steps did you do at this point for your S3 and future i5 for the wife... [which is exactly what I am trying to do for my wife].
OR am I over thinking this and all that will happen is after I put the dumbphone back on the line it will "automatically" downgrade the line contract back to basic talk and all I'll have to pay is the $10/mo for 2 years...? Thanks for your help!!
Ok, so here's what I did, if this helps.
Had 3 lines on the old family plan, all unlimited. VZ allows you have to up 5 lines without seeking additional permission from VZ themselves.
So.. back in october, BB had the S3 for $99 on new/upgrade line. I wanted the Note 2, but it wasnt out yet, and couldnt wait for the overdue ICS release for the thunderbolt anymore. I had a $35 BB GC, to offset the activation fee, and I was enrolled in BB's original buyback plan, and ending up getting $150 for trading in my tbolt. So after reading various forums, I figured paying just over $240 to buy a new phone and keep unlimited data was a win-win. The dummy line costs $10/month plus tax, its like $11 something, and you pay that for 24 months. At the end of the 24 months, you either dump the line, or use the upgrade again to repeat the process.
So, I goto BB, and tell them I'd like to add a line to my family plan and buy the S3 for $99. No problem they said. I was asked if Id like to change to share everything, I said no, I'd like to keep my current plan as my other lines are unlimited, no problem she said. So she went through her various screens, I chose a phone # for the new line, she unboxed the phone, turned it on, I signed my name at the various steps of activation, and with being a smartphone, a data plan needed to be chosen, so I said the 2gb base plan ($30) was fine, she completed activation, completed the purchase, I gave her the GC, and my total was $99 + tax on $699, so I walked out of there like $150 out of pocket, with a brand new activated S3.
Played around with it that night, as I wasnt concerned about data usage. The NEXT day.. I went to a corporate VZ store, and they switch the tbolt and S3 between the associated lines, and now the S3 is on my original unlimited line and the tbolt on the 2gb limit line. Then I wasn't exactly clear on the converting the new line to a dummy line. I called VZ to drop the data plan on the new line, since I wasnt even using the tbolt at this point, but when they asked for an IMEI from a dumbphone , I said that I didnt have one. A few days later, I ended up going to a corporate VZ store by work and explained my problem to one of the CSR's there. He was entirely familiar with the "alternate activation" process and said no problem. He asked me if I had a dumbphone, I said no. So he ended up putting some dumbphone IMEI on my account, which I think according to some other forums is a dummy IMEI they have access to. I believe it's available in the beginning of this thread. I made a note of it, and put it somewhere so I could perform this again on another line. Anyways, he did that, dropped the data plan, prorated me for 4 or 5 days use of the data plan, and end result is the new line costs me $10/month+tax with the dummy phone. I'm going to do the same thing with the iphone5, as soon as Frys has it back in stock. They have it for $124 until friday.
On my line alone, I use anywhere between 4-10gb/month, as I tether everyday. The $10/month fee is well worth the cost of unlimited as the data cost would be rediculous. Same thing with getting my wife the iphone5. With LTE, her data usage will go way up, she already manages to pull down 3-4gb/month on 3G with an iphone4s, and I expect her to use the iphone5 to the fullest extent!!
So anyways, hope that helps. Please note, I was already on the legacy family plan, which is a requirement to do the alternate activation.
MM48
Thanks! And I will definitely report back on how things go [once I have a better understanding on the process, so I can pull the trigger on this].
Thank you! 
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