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

[chrispitude]

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

I lost my unlimited data.

While trying to activate my GS4 with my non-4G SIM from my Droid 3, I ended up calling the Best Buy activation line to do a manual activation with that SIM number. (OP's post mentioned that he had a live person activate it using his SIM number, so I tried the same thing.) The Best Buy rep tried entering in my 19-digit SIM number but activation failed. He suggested I go to a Verizon store and we ended the call. Even though it was a short call, apparently that was enough to reset my plan back to a 2GB data plan.

My wife upgraded from a Galaxy Nexus to a Galaxy S4. Her activation using the old SIM worked flawlessly and she still has unlimited data.

Now I'll need to go into the store and argue my case with printed screen captures. I don't have high hopes of success.

It's been said before, but I'll say it again - DO NOT CALL IN.

I received my Ebay 4G SIM card today. When I put it in the phone and powered on, it told me "Activation failed" after a couple minutes. When I entered the phone's IMEI on Verizon's activation website, the site says there are no eligible lines for new devices. Yet, our Verizon account shows no device on this line, just a "pending activation" status.

So, my account is in some weird partial activation state where I've lost my UDP, but nothing has actually activated yet (and they don't even know what device I'm going to activate). I guess I fight it out with Verizon. My fallback is to return the phone with Best Buy and hope I can get my Droid 3 reactivated back into its UDP state.

 

[prosndinc]

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

I've been trying for hours to get a phone on the BB site. It turns out my phone account is registered as a business account by Verizon (I own the company) and no 3rd party resellers can sell a phone on a business account. My phone is the only one on the account and the contract has been up for over a year. Can anyone think of a way for me to keep my UDP?
Thanks for the thread and any help anyone can offer.

Prosndinc

 

[dss2000]

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

Should I cancel the in-store order? Is that necessary? Thanks for all your help.

No, it's fine. Just pick it up, take it home, activate your old phone back on that line freeing your new smartphone and then activate the smartphone on your UDP line. Only hiccup sometimes is that the SIM will be associated with the first phone's line and you'll have to call Verizon to drop it off that line so you can activate the smartphone on the UDP line.

 

[dss2000]

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

This is where I am now:

Line 1: Unlimited, upgrade eligible, month-to-month HTC Droid Incredible
Line 2: Unlimited, upgrade eligible, m-t-m Motorola Droid X
Line 3: Basic phone, upgrade eligible, m-t-m

I want to upgrade lines 1 and 2, keep unlimited, and then cancel line 3. Doable?

Yes, just don't use the upgrade on Line 3. Transfer the upgrade from line 1 to line 3 and order a new phone. That will extend your contract on line 1 by 2 years then. Then move that new phone to line 1 or 2. If you order online you can just activate the phone on line 1 or 2 but then there will be a pending activation on line 3 for about a week in which you can't do anything. If you don't want to wait a week before ordering the second phone you can activate it on line 3 then put the basic phone back on line 3 to free up the smartphone and then put it on 1 or 2. Then transfer the upgrade from line 2 to line 3 and order a second smartphone. This will then extend the contract on line 2 for 2 years. Activate that phone to line 1 or 2 when you get it. Now you can discontinue Line 3 but you might consider keeping it as it provides a conduit for future upgrades. You can use the upgrade on Line 3 to get a third phone and then sell it on Craig's List or ebay and use that money towards keeping that 3rd phone $10 / mo. I do that and let my in-laws use the basic phone as they're not into smartphones anyway.

 

[Able]

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

Just an update, this DOES work.

I actually went to VZN store and got the to put a free nano sim into my phone. Double, tripple checked, unlimited data is still there for both lines.

I will be upgrading my second UDP line when the samsung K zoom comes out. Thank you BB

 

[tjrssibelle]

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

I've been trying for hours to get a phone on the BB site. It turns out my phone account is registered as a business account by Verizon (I own the company) and no 3rd party resellers can sell a phone on a business account. My phone is the only one on the account and the contract has been up for over a year. Can anyone think of a way for me to keep my UDP?
Thanks for the thread and any help anyone can offer.

Prosndinc

From this thread, the op was able to upgrade thru Verizon and keep UDP on a corporate account

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/showthread.php?p=5

Sent from my VERIZON LG G2

 

[Clay Ta]

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

Were you able to get your UDP back after returning the one that did not work...? Or did they give you major grief... With my experience, I'm sure they did not want to give you back your UDP!

They had to call Bestbuy to verify i returned it VZ suppose to call me back today. Still cant figure out why my wifes work and mine didnt??

 

[Aero Man]

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

On my single line with UDP with old 4GLTE, I am eligible for upgrade and want to use the "use old simm on new phone, do not activate" strategy to retain UDP. Last night went to BestBuy.com to order HTC One M8 but OOS for ship to my house???. Only option was to buy online for in-store pickup (a store 50 miles away); apparently I bought the last one in my state as all BB stores in my state are now OOS this morning. What's my story when I pick HTC One M8 at the remote BB today to avoid in-store activation?

 

[ActionAle]

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

A big THANKS to all who contributed to this thread. Yesterday, I trimmed the sim card from my Droid RAZR MAXX and sanded it down, inserted in my new M8 ordered from BB. I've still got my UDP! And Verizon shows the new M8 as my device. SWEEEET!

However, I did lose FoxFi. It doesn't currently work with KitKat. Damn... Hopefully, that gets fixed soon. Using FoxFi to create a hotspot for my tablet and laptop is part of what I need the UDP for.

 

[mykl376]

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

On my single line with UDP with old 4GLTE, I am eligible for upgrade and want to use the "use old simm on new phone, do not activate" strategy to retain UDP. Last night went to BestBuy.com to order HTC One M8 but OOS for ship to my house???. Only option was to buy online for in-store pickup (a store 50 miles away); apparently I bought the last one in my state as all BB stores in my state are now OOS this morning. What's my story when I pick HTC One M8 at the remote BB today to avoid in-store activation?

Everything I've read about store pickup says they won't let you activate it yourself. The BB employee will have to activate it in the store, with the new SIM card. Once the phone gets activated with the new SIM, instead of your old SIM, that's when you lose your UDP. So, if they won't let you take the phone without activating it in store, I would just cancel the purchase right then. This method has only worked when the phone is mailed to your home address.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[darin_n]

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

No, it's fine. Just pick it up, take it home, activate your old phone back on that line freeing your new smartphone and then activate the smartphone on your UDP line. Only hiccup sometimes is that the SIM will be associated with the first phone's line and you'll have to call Verizon to drop it off that line so you can activate the smartphone on the UDP line.

Thanks for all the help. I have a new galaxy S5 and have maintained my UDP. Once I picked up the new phone from the VZW store it took a couple chat sessions with a Verizon tech to get my daughter's phone restored to her number and to get the new phone associated to my number. Other than that, everything has gone well.

 

[snap16]

Re: Best Buy Mobile lets me keep Unlimited Data Plan on Verizon?

Like everyone elso I'm very cautious with my UDP so I have a few questions:

1) Can the Sim card from the G Nex be swapped into the S5?
2) Does the upgrade ordering of the S5 on an UDP still work even though BestBuy has this disclaimer?

 

[Aero Man]

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

Yeah, I chickened out and canceled my in-store pickup today, now realizing that BB would require the activationbefore I left the store and my UDP would be lost. Instead, I'll watch the BB online nightly and when the HTC One M8 Gunmetal comes back in stock online, I'll order ASAP and have it shipped to my home. I love this thread; thanks to all!

 

[keyworker]

Re: Best Buy Mobile lets me keep Unlimited Data Plan on Verizon?

1) Yes. I have had the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, on to the Razr Maxx, and now the LG G2. A quick Google says SGS5 is the same as the Note 3. All take a Micro SIM. It will be a super easy easy swap.
2) I also had this disclaimer. Disregard it. I have now done this successfully on one phone, April 25, 2014, and have another ordered. (My mom and I have an old 700 shared minute, unlimited text and data plan.) Still, be careful, as I also took screenshots of everything during the ordering process. I did receive an order confirmation email from Best Buy stating, 'your plan remains the same, data remains the same, $0.00 charge'.

I was just as reticent as you sound. Too good to be true, right? I do NOT want to lose my unlimited data. I haven't yet. The worst thing that could happen is it doesn't work, you return the phones and everything stays the same.

Good luck, but I promise it's fairly easy and straight forward.

Any questions just ask!

 

[drumst1x]

Re: Best Buy Mobile lets me keep Unlimited Data Plan on Verizon?

Just an update, I received my M8 on Friday, cut my micro sim from my M8 down to a nano-sim. Popped it into the M8, turned on the M8, and it recognized the sim as being activated. VZW website shows my M8 as my current phone, shows I still have unlimited data, and shows that i'm now back in a contract for 2 years, where as before I was running without a contract. So far all is good

My only concern is if one day I need to either swap out my phone, or ask VZW for some help, and they see that i'm in a contract, but still have unlimited data, and want to "fix" that bug. Technically, there is no way that anyone should be in a contract today with unlimited data, since unlimited data was killed off over 2 years ago. Should I be concerned about this? I'm curious if anyone has done this method, has a UDP still (under contract now), and has asked VZW for any type of help and/or had VZW look at their account. I don't want to raise any flags.

Thanks again,everyone!

 

[bobbyj408]

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

Hey All,

I think I may get how to do this, but can someone verify.

I have a plan with three phones:

line 1-UDP
line 2-UDP
line 3-Basic Phone

what I need to do is order a new phone (HTC One M8) and activate it on the basic line, upgrading to a 2gb data plan. When I get the phone, I activate it on the 2gb plan, then transfer the phone online to line 1. I then reactivate the basic phone on line 3.

Question, what happens to the 2gb data plan that was just activated? can i cancel it, or am i stuck with paying an extra $30 a month?

thank you!

 

[ClintRo]

Re: Best Buy Mobile lets me keep Unlimited Data Plan on Verizon?

You shouldn't be concerned about it. They know people are doing it. They get people to convert every day. Some people are on really old plans. I wouldn't worry. If they do get and change I will go to another carrier and deal with the coverage issues.

Sent from my Note 3

 

[dss2000]

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

Hey All,

I think I may get how to do this, but can someone verify.

I have a plan with three phones:

line 1-UDP
line 2-UDP
line 3-Basic Phone

what I need to do is order a new phone (HTC One M8) and activate it on the basic line, upgrading to a 2gb data plan. When I get the phone, I activate it on the 2gb plan, then transfer the phone online to line 1. I then reactivate the basic phone on line 3.

Question, what happens to the 2gb data plan that was just activated? can i cancel it, or am i stuck with paying an extra $30 a month?

thank you!

Which line has the upgrade? If your using an upgrade that is available on line 3 order the M8 online. When it comes activate it on one of the UDP lines. No need to activate on line 3 first. The data plan you chose will never be implemented and the pending order usually fall off within a week. If you use and upgrade in on line 3 in the store they will probably make you activate it on line 3 in the store which is fine. Just take it home and reactivate the original basic phone back on line 3 and the M8 will be free'd and the data plan on Line 3 will fall off. Then activate the now free'd M8 on one of your UDP lines. If you have a compatible Verizon nano-SIM on an existing UDP line you can just put that SIM in the M8 and it's good to go.

 

[realjet]

Re: Best Buy Mobile lets me keep Unlimited Data Plan on Verizon?

What's the best way to do a "screen shot"? Print screen then copy to a word document?

I'm thinking of getting the LG G2. My current phone (HTC Rezound) has a "standard" (mini) size sim. The LG G2 requires a micro sim. Would I be able to take it to a cell shop and have them cut it for me?

 

[fitchfan1]

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

Sorry if this has been asked, I'm trying to go through all 30 pages.

I just dropped my s3 and insurance wants 169 to replace it. Riiiiiight. So I searched and found this page.

I want to upgrade to the s5 and my main line is up for an upgrade (I added a line with no phone on it last time just to keep my UDP-I have family share not share everything)

I can take the sim out of the s5 and put it in the s3 with no functionality loss?

When call Verizon to activate it (since I will have it off when I try to do it automated and it will fail) when do I power it on with my old sim in it?!

I appreciate the help. I'm so scared to do this since I use 10 gb+ a month, but I need a new phone now that mine is shattered. (By the way, I just got a foxfi update....apparently wifi mode is working with kit kat now! Yay!)