mountainlover

My son (14) is eligible for an upgrade so I took him to a Verizon store to look around today. The sales lady informed him that if we upgraded him from his current $9.99 data plan to a smart phone for $29.99 then we wouldn't have to pay the $9.99 talk anymore...hence only increasing our bill by $10 month. Fine, I realized this before I went but he didn't know. The thing was, I told her that Best Buy has the Incredible for free. She said Best Buy can't give us this deal though. Is that true? If we go to Best Buy to get the free phone, can we still get the free talk since he's upgrading to a smart phone? If not, it would be cheaper in the long run to buy from Verizon and he would prefer the Droid 2 anyway. But I would love to get a free phone for him!

mountainlover

Nevermind...I just chatted with Best Buy and they can't do it. I would be better off paying $150 for the phone he wants and saving $10/mo.

Hacked

Hmmm...thats intersting because I work in Best Buy Mobile and we are able to give customers that deal.

euph_22

That depends on how long you plan to have the phone. If you upgrade in a year, it will be $30 cheaper to get it from BB for free.

mountainlover

Really? I did the online chat and was told they couldn't do it. Maybe I should go to my local Best Buy and see what they say. I would love to save the $150!!

mountainlover

We won't let him upgrade early...he will have it 2 years.

merlin666

I don't know about length of contract, but I can tell you from experience if you get the phone from best buy and then call Verizon and ask for the Worry free guarantee department or customer fulfillment(something like that) they will add the promo to your line. I did this with my Fiance's phone. I talked with Verizon, then BB and then back to Verizon before I got the right department. I believe it is customer fulfillment or customer satisfaction something like that.

euph_22

But it's up to whoever you're buying the NEXT phone from (in 1-2 years) whether they will let you upgrade annually, is it not? ie I could get my phone from Best Buy using an upgrade, and then get an Annual upgrade through Verizon next year, completely independent of whether Best Buy does annual upgrades or not.

I think you might be thinking of the term of the contract, which is 2 years. But that 2 years gets reset when you upgrade.

AndroidRider

my question is, what does a 14 y/o need with an incredible? or a smart phone in general...?

mountainlover

I understand why you would ask, I am hesitant myself. On the other hand, have you checked out the current selection of phones that aren't "smart phones"? He can't get anything as nice as the phone he has now. (EnV touch) The phone that resembles it the most is the LG Ally, which is a smart phone. He actually picked that out at first, but once he realized it was a smart phone he tried to find something else. He wants a touch screen with a slide out keyboard. (I know the Incredible doesn't have one, but it's also free and the Droid 2 is $150) Then the sales lady pointed out the special they are running on smart phones... We are only considering it since it would only cost us $10 a month more to get a lot more phone.

Can you set parental controls on a phone like you can on a computer?

rohdawg11

Hahaha....not laughing at you, laughing WITH you!

I saw a kid in a stroller the other day at BestBuy. In her slimy, little, Cheeto colored hands was a Galaxy Tab. She was happily swatting away at AngryBirds while her old man was being given a tutorial on wireless routers.

I shoulda grabbed it and rescued it from the stroller bound Cheeto chomper.

mountainlover

You are correct! I went to Best Buy this morning and got him the Incredible for free and the special promo on our rate plan as well. I'm one happy momma and I'm sure our son will be thrilled as well!! At least I hope so, since he really wanted the Droid 2... I'm sure he will get used to not having a physical keyboard in no time. I did and I don't miss it at all.

No reason to worry...he was so happy! He was kissing and hugging me and telling me how much he loves me and how awesome it is. If any of you have teen boys, you will know how nice that is! lol He hasn't put it down since he got home, except to do homework...hasn't even touched his video games. Although he has already asked me to take him to the midnight release of Cataclysm tonight.

Last edited by mountainlover; December 6th, 2010 at 06:20 PM. Reason: Add something

AndroidRider

valid point I suppose, I just don't feel a 14 y/o needs more than a basic phone... make calls and probably texting since that's what everyone does now a days.. I had a shitty flip phone all to the end of college and I did just fine.

mountainlover

Nope, a 14 yr old doesn't need a smart phone, but for $10 more a month I don't mind giving him one since he's a good kid. Besides, now he will quit picking mine up all the time.

coloradoskier

I don't believe so. In fact, if you are running any of the net nanny software on his PC (assuming he has one), you may as well cancel that service, as he'll get all the porn he wants on the phone. I know he is a "good kid", but he is a boy and 14. Yes, I know from experience. The more worrisome thing will be the pictures of himself he sends out, and the ones he gets from others. You should get him to agree that you can look through the phone at any time if you want to keep this activity to a minimum. But it will happen.

Guido

I can only get a phone through Verizon as I am still on an Alltel plan and if I choose a ‘free’ phone from anywhere else I MUST choose a new plan. My Alltel plan is $89 per month for 500 anytime minutes, unlimited night and weekend minutes, (our evenings start at 7pm to 6:59 am) 12 circle members, unlimited data and unlimited messaging. Plus my wife has a non-smart phone for $9.99, then Verizon gives me a 15% discount on the monthly service because I work for the university. In fact the Verizon rep on the phone said to order new phones online because the stores are supposed to convince you to select a Verizon plan.
Verizon does not have a plan that will compete with this one, and the letter I got from Verizon when they bought Alltel said I could stay on this plan as long as I am a Verizon customer.

jakob95

Does the promo qualify if you get the $15 dollar Data package?

octoberdana

The smart phones talk free promo only applies to phones with a 29.99 data package.

DaytonaZ33

And if you try to get cute by changing to the 15.00 plan after starting off on the 29.99 plan you lose it.

P.S. I work in Best Buy Mobile too, kinda sad that one of our own people said we don't offer that, which as you now know is entirely untrue. All worked out I suppose.