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Yet Another Question About Keeping Unlimited Data

My wife and I are on a shared phone plan. She has an iphone and I have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus. I have unlimited data while she does not.

She is eligible for an upgrade, so I'm wondering if I can upgrade her to the Droid DNA then switch that phone to my line and put her iphone back on her line thus keeping my unlimited data plan?

If anyone can offer some advice on this I would appreciate it!

Thanks!
 
My wife and I are on a shared phone plan. She has an iphone and I have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus. I have unlimited data while she does not.

She is eligible for an upgrade, so I'm wondering if I can upgrade her to the Droid DNA then switch that phone to my line and put her iphone back on her line thus keeping my unlimited data plan?

If anyone can offer some advice on this I would appreciate it!

Thanks!

Yep! This is fine :) you have a mighty nice wife, mine would never give me her upgrade :p
 
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I just upgraded from my Galaxy Nexus by adding another line and then switching that phone to my line since mine is primary number and then canceled the added line. Cancel cost of $350 is way less than straight out purchase and got rid of that #$@# GNex! I was told as long as I left primary line alone they could do this. Reception on DNA is the best I have seen and battery is doing very good. Really liking the DNA.
 
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I just upgraded from my Galaxy Nexus by adding another line and then switching that phone to my line since mine is primary number and then canceled the added line. Cancel cost of $350 is way less than straight out purchase and got rid of that #$@# GNex! I was told as long as I left primary line alone they could do this. Reception on DNA is the best I have seen and battery is doing very good. Really liking the DNA.


I don't get it. You paid $350 ETF +$200 subsidized price of phone + upgrade/activation fee of $30 so you pretty much pay $580 for it. Droid DNA straight up costs only $599 with no contract. Doesn't seem like you actually save that much. Even if you omit the upgrade/activation fee of $30 you only save $50 going through that route. The amount of hassle going through it plus paying extra for that extra day of service/data plan on the canceled line isn't worth the savings. When you say "way less" do you mean $50 minus other surcharges and prorated usage? I don't think you actually saved anything other than a headache of charges and fees to save less than $50 (at most.)

Obviously Verizon has thought it through for those who bought a phone and then cancel the plan and keep the phone. They don't lose much money if you cancel your line and keep the phone. However, they lose more if you went through the iPhone 5 route since it costs $649 for the iPhone 5 retail unlocked.

As for the OP, yes that's what I did. The only problem, however, is that if your wife has a data plan that is 4GB (the promotion that was running a year ago for double the data, same price that many people added to their existing plan,) she will lose that and have to go to the 2gb plan offered instead.
 
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I should have taken the time to point out some major reasons I went this route.
1. Customer service tech support recommended because they agreed with issues on GNex
2. I traded GNex back to them thru trade in program for $90 after switching sim
3. Local store had an add a line sales push so I received other incentives of about $40

This method was a pain period but I had to get rid of the GNex period. In my opinion Verizon should have accepted responsibility for GNex issues and worked with those of us who had some many problems and this would not have been necessary. Also a major concern for me was with 4 phones still on my plan using data like crazy was not to loose unlimited data.
 
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I should have taken the time to point out some major reasons I went this route.
1. Customer service tech support recommended because they agreed with issues on GNex
2. I traded GNex back to them thru trade in program for $90 after switching sim
3. Local store had an add a line sales push so I received other incentives of about $40

This method was a pain period but I had to get rid of the GNex period. In my opinion Verizon should have accepted responsibility for GNex issues and worked with those of us who had some many problems and this would not have been necessary. Also a major concern for me was with 4 phones still on my plan using data like crazy was not to loose unlimited data.

Now that makes more sense, but I would like to point some things out:
1. That doesn't really contribute to cost savings.

2. Trading in your old smartphone also doesn't contribute to cost savings, since you can do that anytime you wish and use that $90 credit towards a smartphone full retail. ($90 trade in for a Galaxy Nexus is VERY little. You might as well sell on Ebay or CL for much more.)

3. Those incentives, like at other stores where they sell phones for much less like at Walmart with their $100 GC or BestBuy, are supposed to be gone once you cancel a line/service early. You end up responsible for paying back those incentives. For example, Amazon is currently selling the Droid DNA for $149 if you sign up through them, but if you cancel your service, you end up paying back Amazon $250 Plus Carrier ETF if you decide to keep the phone. Unless the store you went to is a Verizon store where the employee gave you $40 credit on your account, you may have to pay that back. Your method is YMMV, not an actual rock solid method of getting massive savings.

I'm not trying to jack you up or anything, just trying to point out that your experience with this might not apply to other people. If you live in a high tax state, it could help, but you can also buy the phone unlocked retail online for no tax either from sites like Amazon or Wirefly, etc.
 
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Hi there, I need some advise. I need to upgrade my phone from the HTC Thunderbolt. The problem is that I have Verizon (the only reliable service in our area) with an unlimited data plan grandfathered in. The Verizon sales person said that I will loose my unlimited plan if I buy a phone from the store but can keep it if I bring in my own hardware.

So, I need to find an unlocked android phone that I can get to bring into Verizon. Do you have any ideas? It seems like all of the best quality phones come combined with provider. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 
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You can get any phone that Verizon sells, you just can't get the subsidized price. For example, Verizon sells the DNA for 199.99 on contract, but 599.99 full price. If you pay full price, you will keep your unlimited. But its a heavy price to pay. Another option is to buy a used Verizon phone. Craigslist, eBay, Swappa, even our forums here has a classified section you can look at. It will be cheaper, but it will be used.
 
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Hi there, I need some advise. I need to upgrade my phone from the HTC Thunderbolt. The problem is that I have Verizon (the only reliable service in our area) with an unlimited data plan grandfathered in. The Verizon sales person said that I will loose my unlimited plan if I buy a phone from the store but can keep it if I bring in my own hardware.

So, I need to find an unlocked android phone that I can get to bring into Verizon. Do you have any ideas? It seems like all of the best quality phones come combined with provider. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

The Thunderbolt uses a sim card. All you need to do is put that card into another Verizon 4G LTE phone.

The DNA has moved down to a smaller size card (called microSim), so I had to borrow a sim cutter to cut my Rezound sim to fit my DNA. The cards are identical, but the micro has less plastic around it. Worked flawlessly, and there's adapters to go back up to full size if you want.

Didn't even have to deal with Verizon to get my phone up and running. :)

You should be able to grab a second hand phone at pretty good discounts. Rezound? SGS3? Razr? Just make sure you get the phone onto Verizon's network before handing the money over. Many people do the transaction at a Verizon store where the reps can verify everything.
 
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Hi there, I need some advise. I need to upgrade my phone from the HTC Thunderbolt. The problem is that I have Verizon (the only reliable service in our area) with an unlimited data plan grandfathered in. The Verizon sales person said that I will loose my unlimited plan if I buy a phone from the store but can keep it if I bring in my own hardware.

So, I need to find an unlocked android phone that I can get to bring into Verizon. Do you have any ideas? It seems like all of the best quality phones come combined with provider. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

If you don't have another line to upgrade subsidized, I would suggest buying the phone at full retail price from Amazon to avoid taxes, or like one other person did, which is to open up a new line and then cancel that service and pay the ETF fee. You might save just a little bit more that way, but it won't be much and the hassle may not be worth it.

If I were you, I would probably just buy the phone retail from Amazon or through another site that doesn't charge tax.
 
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If you don't have another line to upgrade subsidized, I would suggest buying the phone at full retail price from Amazon to avoid taxes, or like one other person did, which is to open up a new line and then cancel that service and pay the ETF fee. You might save just a little bit more that way, but it won't be much and the hassle may not be worth it.

If I were you, I would probably just buy the phone retail from Amazon or through another site that doesn't charge tax.

Christmas specials might save you money. The ETF doesn't go up when the phones go on sale.
 
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Thanks for the replies everyone!

A follow-up question: once I activate the new DNA on my wife's line is there a specific amount of time I should leave it on her line before switching it over to mine? I was thinking about leaving it there for a full day or two before switching. Is there any reason to do longer than that?

Thanks again!

When I added a line, it stayed on the new line only as long as it took to reactivate the dumb phone in the store. 30 minutes tops.
 
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Christmas specials might save you money. The ETF doesn't go up when the phones go on sale.

ETF doesn't go up through Verizon, but for the actual authorized retailer, they also charge another "restocking/return" fee and make you pay back the incentives you received.

Just be careful where you purchase it from. For example, like I listed above, Amazon is selling the Droid DNA for $150 when you open a line right now. If you decide to return it, you have to pay $350 for the Verizon ETF, PLUS an additional $250 for the Amazon ETF if you don't keep the phone for at least 181 days activated on the new line.

So, yes Christmas specials save you money if you don't terminate your contract, but in this case, the poster wanted to get a new phone only for his line and cancel another line through that route.
 
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i have a question about this just want to get this straight

i have a family plan with my parents they both are on 2gb data and i am on unlimited currently both me and my mom have upgrades

if i order the phone online under her upgrade, then activate it then switch her back to her phone and activate the dna under mine i will be able to keep unlimited?
 
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i have a question about this just want to get this straight

i have a family plan with my parents they both are on 2gb data and i am on unlimited currently both me and my mom have upgrades

if i order the phone online under her upgrade, then activate it then switch her back to her phone and activate the dna under mine i will be able to keep unlimited?

Yes.
 
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i have a question about this just want to get this straight

i have a family plan with my parents they both are on 2gb data and i am on unlimited currently both me and my mom have upgrades

if i order the phone online under her upgrade, then activate it then switch her back to her phone and activate the dna under mine i will be able to keep unlimited?

Yes, but the problem comes in whether to get a new SIM card or not. The microSIM came out one year ago. If she (or you) is using the regular sized SIM either you or your mom will have to go to the Verizon Store to get a new SIM. If your mom has a SIM 4G phone her old SIM will stop working once it is activated.

I am guessing that since you have an upgrade available, that you don't even have a SIM card and you have a 3G phone. You will have to go to Verizon store to do this, and there's a small chance that the Verizon employee will not do something like this for you.
 
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Yes, but the problem comes in whether to get a new SIM card or not. The microSIM came out one year ago. If she (or you) is using the regular sized SIM either you or your mom will have to go to the Verizon Store to get a new SIM. If your mom has a SIM 4G phone her old SIM will stop working once it is activated.

I am guessing that since you have an upgrade available, that you don't even have a SIM card and you have a 3G phone. You will have to go to Verizon store to do this, and there's a small chance that the Verizon employee will not do something like this for you.


what about this my dad just upgraded last week to the s3..if i transfer my upgrade to him get the dna it comes with the sim..you only use the sim it comes with if you dont have one correct?

so i put his sim thats in the s3 in the dna activate it then take it out put it back in his s3 activate that and then put the sim that came with the dna in there and activate it under my line is that possible?
 
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I want to give an update on how my upgrade went (I'm the original poster).

I purchased the DNA as an upgrade for my wife's iphone. I bought a 4G Sim card with it because I wasn't sure if I needed it or not (I don't think I did but that's OK). I activated the DNA on her line and made sure everything was working.

A couple of hours later after the kids were in bed I went to the verizonwireless site and swapped the phones, swapped sim cards and made sure everything was working. So now my line has the DNA and her line has my crappy Galaxy Nexus.

Then I went back to the VZW site and activated her iphone back onto her line.

Everything seems to be working and it appears that I kept my unlimited data plan! I was a little confused at times because it made me pick plan options all over again even though the choices were the same as my existing plan.

Thanks to everyone here for chiming in, this is a really great forum!
 
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i just went through the online order process it looks like they changed it a bit cause i just ordered my dads upgrade last week

now heres another question besides my question above..it asks if you want to get the 4g sim card last week with his upgrade it didnt ask that it just came with it

this is just a change now right i wont get 2 sim cards if i hit yes on that?
 
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If you are using an upgrade from your line, you will lose unlimited, no matter if you transfer the upgrade or not.

not true based off what is said in this thread alone if i upgrade under a different line and then swap it to my line then it treats it like if i bought the phone for full retail just need to know how to do it the right way to cause no problems
 
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