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

[memasterac]

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

I just signed up to report on an alternate method that was mentioned briefly in this thread that worked for me extremely easily. It doesn?t use Verizon?s own policies against them so YMMV.

As it?s been mentioned a few times, if you upgrade through Best Buy?s site, it gives you the option to keep your existing data plan and doesn?t force you to pick a new one. So all I had to do was go through the process of upgrading through their site. I printed every page along the way just in case, they all said ?Keep my existing data plan.? I did a same-day store pickup, the BB employee never got a prompt to change my data plan either.

But as expected, it automatically switched me to a 2Gb plan. All it took from there was one quick call to customer service to get it switched back. When I got to a rep after all the menus, I just politely told him that I had just upgraded my phone through Best Buy and had checked ?Keep my existing data plan? through the whole process but my plan got switched automatically and could they please change it back. He asked what my plan was before, I told him unlimited data and all the other details. He went through the usual stuff asking if I wanted phone insurance, etc. then after a couple minutes said I was switched back to unlimited. The call took about 10 minutes total, he didn?t question anything or give me any issues, just changed it back and that was that. That was all done yesterday and my account still shows unlimited as of today. I?ll report back if anything changes.

This was on a single line, 450min, 500txt, unlimited plan. Again, YMMV so if you get a rep that doesn?t want to change it, end the call and call back to get a different one.

Actually BestBuy website clearly indicated you will not have unlimited data plan (to keep) if you upgrade your device. This pop-up screen comes up at the beginning of the sign up process, see below in the yellow box.

Considering you are very lucky that Verizon allows you to change back to unlimited data plan, because they don't have to.

 

[memasterac]

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

I've tried this as well. I also tried selecting the phone, going to the screen to purchase a new phone, and then seeing if "Transfer Upgrade" appeared anywhere based on a rep's suggestion. Nada. I'll just try doing it in-store and see what they say.

What do they say in store? Please share if you try it. I suspect if there is anything to do with the white iPhone 5 which is a 4GLTE phone not a dumb phone....
I have similar situation with one iPhone 4 is eligible and one iPhone 5 is not, and the Transfer upgrade option does not show on myVerizon.

 

[milamberrex]

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

Just wanted to reply that the process worked with one hiccup. My new S4 arrived today. I activated it on the old dumb phone line, then reactivated the dumb phone. When I tried to activate the S4 via the website, I got the error message that the phone could not be activated and to call customer service. I kept periodically trying to do this for about 30 minutes. Sames results. Finally, I took the SIM card from my Droid RAZR Maxx and put it in the new S4. Message came up that it was activated and started downloading previously purchased apps, etc. I've verified a couple of times through the website that the S4 is showing as my new phone and that I still have the Unlimited Data plan. So far, so good. Thanks!

 

[deezlins]

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

I looked online at our account, we have unlimited data on the main line with a smart phone, and a basic phone as the secondary line. Both have upgrades available now. I don't have the option to transfer upgrades online either (mine looks like the pic above too). A Verizon rep on the phone said that they can't do it, but someone in the store might be able to (as they use different systems). I'll have to go and find out.
Here's what I'm thinking I'm going to try. Go to the store and see if I can transfer the upgrade from the unlimited data main line to the secondary line and get a S4, then transfer that S4 to the main line, hold on to the upgrade that was naturally on the secondary line and upgrade it a little later in the year when a new iPhone comes out and just keep it on that line.

 

[Aquila]

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

I looked online at our account, we have unlimited data on the main line with a smart phone, and a basic phone as the secondary line. Both have upgrades available now. I don't have the option to transfer upgrades online either (mine looks like the pic above too). A Verizon rep on the phone said that they can't do it, but someone in the store might be able to (as they use different systems). I'll have to go and find out.
Here's what I'm thinking I'm going to try. Go to the store and see if I can transfer the upgrade from the unlimited data main line to the secondary line and get a S4, then transfer that S4 to the main line, hold on to the upgrade that was naturally on the secondary line and upgrade it a little later in the year when a new iPhone comes out and just keep it on that line.

It doesn't work if they both have upgrades available.

 

[dss2000]

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

I looked online at our account, we have unlimited data on the main line with a smart phone, and a basic phone as the secondary line. Both have upgrades available now. I don't have the option to transfer upgrades online either (mine looks like the pic above too). A Verizon rep on the phone said that they can't do it, but someone in the store might be able to (as they use different systems). I'll have to go and find out.
Here's what I'm thinking I'm going to try. Go to the store and see if I can transfer the upgrade from the unlimited data main line to the secondary line and get a S4, then transfer that S4 to the main line, hold on to the upgrade that was naturally on the secondary line and upgrade it a little later in the year when a new iPhone comes out and just keep it on that line.

If you transfer the upgrade to the secondary line and get an S4 you will lose unlimited data on the secondary line. If you were always going to keep a feature phone on that line it wouldn't make any difference since it doesn't use data anyway but if you ever intend to put a smartphone on that secondary line it would have lost the grandfathered unlimited data. To maintain bot lines with unlimited data you'd have to open a third line and with that you could get your subsidized S4 without using either of your upgrades then move that S4 to one of your unlimited lines then either keep a feature phone on the new line to keep the monthly cost down, or have them put an inactive dummy line on that line to keep the monthly cost down. Other thing you can do is then transfer one of the upgrades you have to that third line at the subsidized price and sell it closer to the full retail price to recover some of the costs of the third line.

 

[deezlins]

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

It doesn't work if they both have upgrades available.

So I would need to use the upgrade on the secondary line first, then later on transfer the upgrade from the main line with unlimited data? The rep I talked to on the phone was saying that I could transfer the upgrade from one phone to the other even if they both had upgrades available, but maybe he didn't know what he was talking about.

If you transfer the upgrade to the secondary line and get an S4 you will lose unlimited data on the secondary line. If you were always going to keep a feature phone on that line it wouldn't make any difference since it doesn't use data anyway but if you ever intend to put a smartphone on that secondary line it would have lost the grandfathered unlimited data. To maintain bot lines with unlimited data you'd have to open a third line and with that you could get your subsidized S4 without using either of your upgrades then move that S4 to one of your unlimited lines then either keep a feature phone on the new line to keep the monthly cost down, or have them put an inactive dummy line on that line to keep the monthly cost down. Other thing you can do is then transfer one of the upgrades you have to that third line at the subsidized price and sell it closer to the full retail price to recover some of the costs of the third line.

Sorry I should have clarified, the secondary line doesn't have unlimited data, so no worries there.

 

[dss2000]

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

Sorry I should have clarified, the secondary line doesn't have unlimited data, so no worries there.

Oh, then no problem then. Actually after thinking about it I should have realized that with a feature phone you couldn't have had unlimited data on the second line anyways. But yes, use the upgrade on the second line, or transfer the upgrade from the unlimited line to the second line to get an S4. Then you still have another upgrade you can use later.

 

[deezlins]

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

Do you know if I can transfer the upgrade from the main unlimited data line to the secondary line and use it even though the secondary line has an upgrade already available on it?

 

[Aquila]

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

Do you know if I can transfer the upgrade from the main unlimited data line to the secondary line and use it even though the secondary line has an upgrade already available on it?

You'd have to use the upgrade from the secondary line first. You can't transfer an upgrade to a line that has one available on it.

 

[deezlins]

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

Thanks!

 

[dreamn900]

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

Actually BestBuy website clearly indicated you will not have unlimited data plan (to keep) if you upgrade your device. This pop-up screen comes up at the beginning of the sign up process, see below in the yellow box.

Considering you are very lucky that Verizon allows you to change back to unlimited data plan, because they don't have to.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2855/8971926311_7a3062e09b_z.jpg

But isn't that the advice that's been given in this thread for those of us who only have a single line? Best Buy let's you go through the entire process and in the end the final documents say that opted to keep your own plan. Just trying to make sense of this mass amount of information.

 

[memasterac]

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

But isn't that the advice that's been given in this thread for those of us who only have a single line? Best Buy let's you go through the entire process and in the end the final documents say that opted to keep your own plan. Just trying to make sense of this mass amount of information.

I can only say this, I wouldn't try it on my unlimited data line just because some people made it. If anything goes wrong, I am not in a position to argue.

 

[Aquila]

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

You have 14 days to reverse changes. If you involve a third party their rules may be different.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[deezlins]

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

You'd have to use the upgrade from the secondary line first. You can't transfer an upgrade to a line that has one available on it.

Update for you guys. I went to the store and and they were able to use an alternate upgrade from the unlimited data line to the second line (second line has no unl data) while the second line already had an upgrade available on it. It did the 2 yr contract on the unl data line (and kept unl data), but upgraded the second line, and the second line still has it's natural upgrade available to use whenever.
So, not that it's actually really an issue or really matters, but it is possible to do an alternate upgrade to a phone that already has an upgrade available just in case anyone was curious

 

[Aquila]

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

Update for you guys. I went to the store and and they were able to use an alternate upgrade from the unlimited data line to the second line (second line has no unl data) while the second line already had an upgrade available on it. It did the 2 yr contract on the unl data line (and kept unl data), but upgraded the second line, and the second line still has it's natural upgrade available to use whenever.
So, not that it's actually really an issue or really matters, but it is possible to do an alternate upgrade to a phone that already has an upgrade available just in case anyone was curious

Keep a close eye on your plan over the next couple of weeks to make sure it doesn't switch to a 2GB plan. If it does call them immediately. Otherwise, glad it worked out!

 

[dpham00]

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

Update for you guys. I went to the store and and they were able to use an alternate upgrade from the unlimited data line to the second line (second line has no unl data) while the second line already had an upgrade available on it. It did the 2 yr contract on the unl data line (and kept unl data), but upgraded the second line, and the second line still has it's natural upgrade available to use whenever.
So, not that it's actually really an issue or really matters, but it is possible to do an alternate upgrade to a phone that already has an upgrade available just in case anyone was curious

It is going to depend on the CSR you get... Some will do it, others won't

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[donknotts]

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

Hey everyone. Thanks for the great tips and this thread. My question has to do with contract expirations.

I had two lines on a family share plan - both lines unlimited data.

I added a third line and got an S3 on that line at the subsidized price.

I then activated a dumbphone on the new third line.

Then (with much difficulty through Verizon chat) reactivated the S3 on one of my unlimited lines.

Good news - I have a subsidized S3 on with unlimited data on one of my original lines.
Bad news - the line with the S3 has a contract expiration date of 8/1/13.

So will I only have unlimited data until August (or until Verizon decides to pull it from month-to-month customers)? Did I do something wrong - other people seem to get their contract with unlimited extended but I did not. Is there anything I can do now to get my contract extended with unlimited data?

Thanks for any help and suggestions and all the tips so far.

DK

 

[cnotes2019]

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

Hey everyone. Thanks for the great tips and this thread. My question has to do with contract expirations.

I had two lines on a family share plan - both lines unlimited data.

I added a third line and got an S3 on that line at the subsidized price.

I then activated a dumbphone on the new third line.

Then (with much difficulty through Verizon chat) reactivated the S3 on one of my unlimited lines.

Good news - I have a subsidized S3 on with unlimited data on one of my original lines.
Bad news - the line with the S3 has a contract expiration date of 8/1/13.

So will I only have unlimited data until August (or until Verizon decides to pull it from month-to-month customers)? Did I do something wrong - other people seem to get their contract with unlimited extended but I did not. Is there anything I can do now to get my contract extended with unlimited data?

Thanks for any help and suggestions and all the tips so far.

DK

You did nothing wrong but to get the contract extended on one of your unlimited lines you would have had to transferred an upgrade from your unlimited line to the dumbphone line, purchased the subsidized phone on the dumbphone line. Then when you get the phone you reactivate the dumbphone on its original line thereby dropping the data plan and than activate the subsidized phone on the unlimited line. Now if this method still works as of today's date I'm not sure. Some people have posted some issues with it but that is my understanding of how one would extend their unlimited lines contract and get a subsidized phone.

 

[dss2000]

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

Bad news - the line with the S3 has a contract expiration date of 8/1/13.

So will I only have unlimited data until August (or until Verizon decides to pull it from month-to-month customers)? Did I do something wrong - other people seem to get their contract with unlimited extended but I did not. Is there anything I can do now to get my contract extended with unlimited data?

Thanks for any help and suggestions and all the tips so far.

DK

Currently even if your contract expires you still keep the same plan on a month to month basis. Theoretically Verizon could change the terms of the service but they haven't gone that far yet. Also you should have an upgrade available on that line on that date so if you wan't to get another subsidized phone transfer the upgrade to the third line with the dumbphone, upgrade it, activate the phone on that third line, deactivate it and then reactivate it on one of the unlimited lines. This will then extend the contract on the line the upgrade came from by 2 years.