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Upgrade loophole?

B

Bacon Lover

Newbie
I apologize if this has already been addressed. I did my due diligence and searched for an answer before posting. I found similar yet not identical situations.

I have a grandfathered family plan with unlimited data. 2 lines are smartphones and 2 are feature phones with no data, just unlimited texting. I have an upgrade available on both of the feature phones. Both are used by my in laws and neither have an interest in using a smartphone.

Would it be possible to upgrade one of my feature phones to a smartphone, add a 2gb data plan then after a day or two, cancel the data plan and reactivate the feature phone on the original line and finally transfer the new phone to my line?

I've talked to two different VZW CSR's and received two different answers. Obviously I don't want to lose my unlimited data. Has anyone had success with this method?
 
I just did this to get my Droid DNA. You don't even have to wait a day, you can do it in the store. Or you can just have the upgrade transferred to the desired line, and have it go straight to that line. Either way, you won't lose unlimited. A CSR who tells you differently, is mistaken.
 
AntimonyER said:
I just did this to get my Droid DNA. You don't even have to wait a day, you can do it in the store. Or you can just have the upgrade transferred to the desired line, and have it go straight to that line. Either way, you won't lose unlimited. A CSR who tells you differently, is mistaken.
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It sounds like you were able to do it without having to try and be sly about the situation. That's great news! Thank you! :D
 
Yeah most of them understand you are trying to keep unlimited. I haven't ever had a CSR give me a hassle about it.
 
Well dang, I was in the exact same situation a couple of months ago and they wouldn't allow it for me! I had to lose my unlimited plan.
 
donas said:
Well dang, I was in the exact same situation a couple of months ago and they wouldn't allow it for me! I had to lose my unlimited plan.
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I am assuming it could be different with each person, i would definitely suggest if you didn't to go into an actual store to go through this procedure, don't call CS...
 
Success! Thought I'd share so others may benefit. (Please don't judge me on my phone choice...my wife wanted it. ;))

I decided to try the upgrade on Amazon Wireless. It worked and allowed me to keep my plan. In fact, I tried it on VZW's site and Wirefly too. I stopped just short of ordering the phone. I had identical results on both sites.

I actually got a message on Amazon Wireless telling me that in order to upgrade, I'd need keep my existing plan and get an additional data plan.

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So I'm in a similar situation where we have 4 lines on our plan, 2 smartphones and 2 dumb-phones. All lines are now eligible for "upgrades". My wife and I both have the 3G smartphones and would like to upgrade them without losing unlimited data. The two dumb-phones are used by my mom and sister, who don't live with me and are their only phones. As to avoid any hassle of transferring phones off and on their lines, and temporarily leaving them without service, I was thinking of doing the following...

  • Add a new line with a new smartphone I want (Droid DNA)
  • Transfer the DNA over to MY line and transfer my current Droid Incredible back to the new line.
My question is, can I then transfer the "device upgrade" from one of my other lines over to the new line again so I can then order my wife a new (subsidized) phone and do the swap over to her line? I assume whichever line you transfer the upgrade from assumes the remainder of the contract for the line you are transferring to if it still has one?

Basically, I'd use this extra line to do our swaps on for now and eventually give it to my daughter when she gets a little older. If I can keep transferring upgrades to this line, I'd then transfer again and order a "free" dumb-phone to keep on the line so I could then drop the data plan.
 
FunkyBoss said:
So I'm in a similar situation where we have 4 lines on our plan, 2 smartphones and 2 dumb-phones. All lines are now eligible for "upgrades". My wife and I both have the 3G smartphones and would like to upgrade them without losing unlimited data. The two dumb-phones are used by my mom and sister, who don't live with me and are their only phones. As to avoid any hassle of transferring phones off and on their lines, and temporarily leaving them without service, I was thinking of doing the following...

  • Add a new line with a new smartphone I want (Droid DNA)
  • Transfer the DNA over to MY line and transfer my current Droid Incredible back to the new line.
My question is, can I then transfer the "device upgrade" from one of my other lines over to the new line again so I can then order my wife a new (subsidized) phone and do the swap over to her line? I assume whichever line you transfer the upgrade from assumes the remainder of the contract for the line you are transferring to if it still has one?

Basically, I'd use this extra line to do our swaps on for now and eventually give it to my daughter when she gets a little older. If I can keep transferring upgrades to this line, I'd then transfer again and order a "free" dumb-phone to keep on the line so I could then drop the data plan.
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I'm not sure about transferring the upgrade from phone to phone. That used to work before the shared plans. I don't know what the policy is now.

I have a suggestion based on my recent experience.

The family members with the feature phones on my family plan live a state away. I got my upgrade through Amazon and had it shipped to me to avoid the hassle of transferring service from phone to phone.

Once I get it, I'll pop in the sim card from my wife's existing phone and activate it directly on the smartphone line I'd really like to use. Once activated, I'll cancel the data plan that I had to add on the feature phone in order to get the upgrade subsidy. That should do it.

Just a suggestion...I have a hard time speaking with any authority on the subject as I wasn't sure if an upgrade was even possible when I started this thread but it looks like it's going to work for me. Hopefully you'll have the same experience. Good luck!
 
Bacon Lover said:
I'm not sure about transferring the upgrade from phone to phone. That used to work before the shared plans. I don't know what the policy is now.

I have a suggestion based on my recent experience.

The family members with the feature phones on my family plan live a state away. I got my upgrade through Amazon and had it shipped to me to avoid the hassle of transferring service from phone to phone.

Once I get it, I'll pop in the sim card from my wife's existing phone and activate it directly on the smartphone line I'd really like to use. Once activated, I'll cancel the data plan that I had to add on the feature phone in order to get the upgrade subsidy. That should do it.

Just a suggestion...I have a hard time speaking with any authority on the subject as I wasn't sure if an upgrade was even possible when I started this thread but it looks like it's going to work for me. Hopefully you'll have the same experience. Good luck!
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So unfortunately, your plan won't work exactly. You MUST activate it on the line you used to upgrade first. If you don't, you will be charged ETFs from both Amazon and Verizon. Activate it, then immediately reactivate the dumbphone, THEN you can swap your SIM into it and use it.
 
AntimonyER said:
So unfortunately, your plan won't work exactly. You MUST activate it on the line you used to upgrade first. If you don't, you will be charged ETFs from both Amazon and Verizon. Activate it, then immediately reactivate the dumbphone, THEN you can swap your SIM into it and use it.
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And that is why I love this place!

Thanks for the heads up!
 
Activating the phone on the dumb phone number and then transferring it to the smart phone number and then reactivating the dumb phone on its original phone number is not a hard thing for them to do. Your family member should only be without a phone for about 10 Mins. I ordered a phone during black Friday doing the same thing to keep my unlimited data. If the CS rep at a Verizon store gives you grief then go to a place like Costco or Best buy to have them do the transfers as both of these stores have done this for me in the past with no problems. I even lived out of state one time and my family didnt even notice the interruption in service.
Hope that helps a little.
 
It worked like a charm! Thanks to everyone for their help!

I'm sure VZW will eventually figure out how to close this loophole, but for now, it's a great way to avoid losing unlimited data.
 
Yeah, I went into my local Verizon store the other day and asked about doing this and they gave me grief about it. He said "we're not allowed to do that anymore."

Can't I just do it all online myself? Do I need the actual dumb-phone to do this?
 
FunkyBoss said:
Yeah, I went into my local Verizon store the other day and asked about doing this and they gave me grief about it. He said "we're not allowed to do that anymore."

Can't I just do it all online myself? Do I need the actual dumb-phone to do this?
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I purchased my new phone through Amazon, activated it on the dumb-phone line, transferred it to desired line, then re-activated the dumb phone. I worked with VZW reps to reactivate the dumb phone since it the family member on that line lives out of state. I didn't get any sort of push-back. I know VZW allows you to activate phones via their website but it didn't occur to me to try that route.

As for needing a dumb-phone, I think you'll need to have a line of service with a dumb phone. This will allow you to add the data package when you upgrade the phone thus leaving your unlimited plan intact.

Good luck!
 
So let me see if I understand. . .I keep reading things back and forth and now admit to being a little confused, but here goes.

I have a Droid 2 and really want the new Galaxy Note 2. My husband has a dumb phone and has no real interest in a smart phone.

IF I get the Note 2 on his line, I have to upgrade his line to the data plan and then use his number for the upgrade and then transfer it to my number? Do I have to add the data plan to his number? Because if I have to upgrade to the data plan on his phone, it sort of defeats the whole saving money thing.

I hope this makes sense and I appreciate all the help anyone can provide. If I can't figure this out, maybe I'm not cut out for a Note 2 after all! I just want to make sure since everyone tells me once I get the Note 2 I will regret giving up my unlimited data plan, so I don't want to do that.
 
PhoebeDog said:
OK, I keep reading things back and forth and now admit to totally confused, but here goes.

I have a Droid 2 and really want the new Galaxy Note 2. My husband has a dumb phone and has no real interest in a smart phone.

IF I get the Note 2 on his line, do I have to upgrade his line to the data plan? Or can I use his number for the upgrade and then transfer it to my number? Because if I have to upgrade to the data plan on his phone, it sort of defeats the whole saving money thing.

I hope this makes sense and I appreciate all the help anyone can provide. If I can't figure this out, maybe I'm not cut out for a Note 2 after all!
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You will have to use your husband's dumb phone line for the upgrade. And yes, you'll need to add a data plan but it's only temporary. Once you've activated the phone on your husband's line, transfer it over to your line, reactivate the dumb phone and drop the data plan. That should do it.

The upgrade, which will put your husband's line under contract, only applies to the calling plan and not additional features like data. You can drop and add features at will.

I hope this helps.
 
That helps a lot! Thanks so much. I just so want to do this right and everyone has me paranoid about losing my unlimited plan.
 
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