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

[ralph291]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

Well, it appears the G2 for Verizon is out of stock. Hopefully they'll get some back in stock soon.

I guess the priority is to figure out how to upgrade my wife's phone. A little more detail on how to do the activation on a line coming from a iPhone 4 would be very much appreciated. I've read the entire thread and have seen mention of using a SIM from an old/inactive 4G phone, but for some reason it isn't quite clicking for me.

 

[Diabl0]

Re: Bestbuy Mobile Lets me Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon?

Sorry to be negative nancy here, but this is why I'm not going to do this Best Buy thing. It was only a matter of time before they started dealing with this.

And to me, it's not worth all the hassle.

Hope I'm wrong and this method keeps working for people, I'm curious to see how it turns out. People who have done this method need to be encouraged to keep posting here with updates about their success with it.

Again, though, this isn't for me. I'm just going to buy a phone new or from Swappa to keep my UDP.

It didn't hurt to try. It still doesn't as long as unlimited doesn't mean THAT much to you. I would like to still have it, but Verizon isn't budging. I'm on the 6gb Max plan and that's fine. To me it's the principal that Best Buy's system is screwed up and neither Verizon nor Best Buy want to acknowledge and correct the issue.

 

[MetalMan1]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

Well, it appears the G2 for Verizon is out of stock. Hopefully they'll get some back in stock soon.

They've been out of stock now for a couple weeks, unfortunately. I'm almost beginning to wonder if they will ever re-stock the Verizon G2! Even the vast majority of all Best Buy stores around me have been out of stock for a couple weeks.

I looked into upgrading to the G2 through Costco for $50 + tax on my line (unlimited, eligible for upgrade), and trying to keep unlimited. The guy behind the counter seemed pretty confident he could do it, and I would have attempted it, but the family plan I'm on had a past due balance Had my dad take care of that, but I haven't gone back to Costco yet to try again. Now I'm at the point where I'm wondering if the G2 would even be worth upgrading over my GSIII, or waiting for the next latest-and-greatest to use my upgrade on. GS5, for example, doesn't look like it would be worth the upgrade (darn locked bootloaders).

 

[philosopherisdog]

Re: Bestbuy Mobile Lets me Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon?

Yeah, Diabl0, I agree. They need to make this transparent and then let the consumers decide.

 

[HolyBuckeye]

Re: Bestbuy Mobile Lets me Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon?

Sorry to be negative nancy here, but this is why I'm not going to do this Best Buy thing. It was only a matter of time before they started dealing with this.

And to me, it's not worth all the hassle.

Hope I'm wrong and this method keeps working for people, I'm curious to see how it turns out. People who have done this method need to be encouraged to keep posting here with updates about their success with it.

Again, though, this isn't for me. I'm just going to buy a phone new or from Swappa to keep my UDP.

If you look at the other thread, every single person has had sucesss (including myself)

 

[Diabl0]

Re: Bestbuy Mobile Lets me Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon?

If you look at the other thread, every single person has had sucesss (including myself)

I'm sure it still works and will continue to. It didn't work for me, but that's probably because I misunderstood the process. To each their own.

 

[ralph291]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

They've been out of stock now for a couple weeks, unfortunately. I'm almost beginning to wonder if they will ever re-stock the Verizon G2! Even the vast majority of all Best Buy stores around me have been out of stock for a couple weeks.

I looked into upgrading to the G2 through Costco for $50 + tax on my line (unlimited, eligible for upgrade), and trying to keep unlimited. The guy behind the counter seemed pretty confident he could do it, and I would have attempted it, but the family plan I'm on had a past due balance Had my dad take care of that, but I haven't gone back to Costco yet to try again. Now I'm at the point where I'm wondering if the G2 would even be worth upgrading over my GSIII, or waiting for the next latest-and-greatest to use my upgrade on. GS5, for example, doesn't look like it would be worth the upgrade (darn locked bootloaders).

Well that is disappointing.

If you do end up trying at Costco, please let us know how it goes and if there was anything in particular the guy said or did while he was doing it.

Thanks!

 

[Dracolan]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

So I just got my GNote3, did my Activation online through Verizon's website where it actually tells you to take out your SIM in your current phone and put it in your new phone. Everything seemed to go flawless I checked my account online after the activation and it is still showing my old nationwide plan along with my UDP. Also It is receiving updates with the old SIM as i had read that some people were having issues with that.

 

[HolyBuckeye]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

So I just got my GNote3, did my Activation online through Verizon's website where it actually tells you to take out your SIM in your current phone and put it in your new phone. Everything seemed to go flawless I checked my account online after the activation and it is still showing my old nationwide plan along with my UDP. Also It is receiving updates with the old SIM as i had read that some people were having issues with that.

just for future for anyone else doing this, you don't need to go online to activate it, just pop in the old sim and should do it itself

 

[Diabl0]

Re: Bestbuy Mobile Lets me Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon?

I just got back from returning the phone. I'll be trying the process again when everything goes back to normal. I think where I failed is that I called to activate the phone instead of doing it online.

 

[KG II]

Re: Bestbuy Mobile Lets me Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon?

I just got back from returning the phone. I'll be trying the process again when everything goes back to normal. I think where I failed is that I called to activate the phone instead of doing it online.

Hopefully it goes better next time.

Sent from my SM-N900V using AC Forums mobile app

 

[HolyBuckeye]

Re: Bestbuy Mobile Lets me Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon?

I just got back from returning the phone. I'll be trying the process again when everything goes back to normal. I think where I failed is that I called to activate the phone instead of doing it online.

what phone are you going from? do you already have a sim card?

if so, you don't need to call or do it online or anything, just popping it in should work (at least it did for me)

 

[Diabl0]

Re: Bestbuy Mobile Lets me Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon?

It's the Razr Maxx (original). Yes, I already have the sim card and it's the same size as the one in the Note 3. I didn't realize you could activate it just by turning it on. Like I said, I really failed when I did the process. I thought the phone still had to be activated through the 800 number provided, and didn't realize it was as simple as popping the card in and turning it on. If everything goes as planned, I will be retrying this method. Fingers crossed they don't fix it in the meantime.

 

[thecyberguy]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

So I went to Staples last night because my mom was interested in upgrading her Note II to the Note III. One of the "techs" asked me if I was interested in a phone. My mom quickly told him she was interested in the Note III but they did not have any on display. The tech then pulled out his own Note III so my mom can compare. She liked it and wanted to upgrade. He asked us for the primary phone # and pass, we entered using a keypad, and he told us she was eligible for upgrade. I advised him that we want to keep our existing UDP. HE then started the procedure as if we were going to upgrade and the system notified him data "Verizon no longer provides the Unlimited Data Package" and that the user will need to "choose a new plan". He clicked on "keep existing data plan" which displayed the same warning again. He was able to get to the last screen while keeping the data plan intact. All he had to do was process order at the subsidized price of $250 and we can walk out with the phone on hand with the UDP. He actually told us Staples does not have the "authority" to make changes to a plan. He was hesitant because he did not want to be responsible if "Verizon changes your plan".
Any thoughts?

 

[HolyBuckeye]

Re: Bestbuy Mobile Lets me Keep Unlimited Data on Verizon?

Yea I didn't know that either right away.. But I was so paranoid about it I bugged everyone on here about it LOL

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3

 

[JAS0NB0URNE]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

So I went to Staples last night because my mom was interested in upgrading her Note II to the Note III. One of the "techs" asked me if I was interested in a phone. My mom quickly told him she was interested in the Note III but they did not have any on display. The tech then pulled out his own Note III so my mom can compare. She liked it and wanted to upgrade. He asked us for the primary phone # and pass, we entered using a keypad, and he told us she was eligible for upgrade. I advised him that we want to keep our existing UDP. HE then started the procedure as if we were going to upgrade and the system notified him data "Verizon no longer provides the Unlimited Data Package" and that the user will need to "choose a new plan". He clicked on "keep existing data plan" which displayed the same warning again. He was able to get to the last screen while keeping the data plan intact. All he had to do was process order at the subsidized price of $250 and we can walk out with the phone on hand with the UDP. He actually told us Staples does not have the "authority" to make changes to a plan. He was hesitant because he did not want to be responsible if "Verizon changes your plan".
Any thoughts?

Did he end up pushing it through or not?

Posted with my BlackBerryQ10.

 

[thecyberguy]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

As soon as he said he said he didn't want to be held responsible, we decided not to do it. I am curious to know if it will also work.

 

[KG II]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

just for future for anyone else doing this, you don't need to go online to activate it, just pop in the old sim and should do it itself

Correct and by the way GO BLUE!


Sent from my SM-N900V using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Dodger70]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

I already ordered my note 3 and checked my account and still says I have UDP just waiting for my phone to arrive.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[MetalMan1]

Re: Verizon: How to keep Unlimited Data and get phone on subsidized price

Well that is disappointing.

If you do end up trying at Costco, please let us know how it goes and if there was anything in particular the guy said or did while he was doing it.

Thanks!

Just bought the LG G2 last night, for $49.99 + $12 tax. Costco only charges tax on the wholesale price, whereas through Best Buy or Verizon the sales tax is charged based on the retail price... which would have been closer to $50 instead of $12. There's also the $30 upgrade fee which will show up on the bill.

Anyways, my UDP should still be intact, and we used my line's upgrade. But I have a family plan with several dumb phone lines (no upgrade eligible) so we took advantage of that.
Where's more-or-less what they do, and this is actually a standard practice even through Verizon (if you come in contact with the right rep):
1) They transfer the upgrade from my UDP line to a dumb phone line.
2) They activate the new phone through their system with a dummy SIM (not my old one) on the dumb phone line.
3) They re-activate the dumb phone on the dumb phone line (they don't actually need the dumb phone to do this, but that line will be unavailable to the dumb phone for about 5mins).
4) They used my old SIM card to activate the new phone on my UDP line.

So in the end the net result is like the result of the steps in this Best Buy thread: I use my upgrade to get a new phone on my UDP line, get a 2-year contract extension, and keep UDP. So far so good.