Another option for those who think they'll have to pay full retail.

[Sinder]

I'm good friends with my VZW guy and he's been seeing what he can do to get me into the promo pricing, and after looking into pretty much everything I was still going to be stuck paying full retail. Then he asked if I knew anyone who would be interested in my Storm2 (here come the jokes I'm sure...) and if so he could switch my phone over to them in exchange for their upgrade. So, lo and behold one of my buddies has a Curve 8330 and is getting ready to deploy soon and it wouldn't do him much good to upgrade anytime soon.

So he's getting my Storm2, I get his upgrade and it doesn't affect my upgrade date whatsoever so the other plus is that if another bad @ss phone gets released next year I'd most likely qualify for that as well.

So for all of you stuck paying retail, see if any of your friends qualify for an upgrade but aren't phone freaks like we are.

Just a thought, good luck everyone.

 

[sweetbaboo]

depending on how many months you have left on your contract and what the termination fee is, you could just terminate your account, eat the termination fee and open a new account and get the 2 year price.

in my situation, i can terminate my contract, pay a $95 ETF and get a new phone for the 1 year or 2 year price ($95+269 or $95+199) rather than $569

 

[AJ_EVO]

depending on how many months you have left on your contract and what the termination fee is, you could just terminate your account, eat the termination fee and open a new account and get the 2 year price.

in my situation, i can terminate my contract, pay a $95 ETF and get a new phone for the 1 year or 2 year price

I thought the ETF starts at $350 and goes down $10 per month. Even with a 2-year contract this would put you at 25 months. With 2-year individual plans you are eligible for a phone upgrade in 20 months. What am I missing here?

Anyway, I would check with Verizon before cancelling and hoping to sign right back up. I thought if you cancelled you weren't eligible for new contract pricing for a couple months. Plus, you might lose your phone number.

As a side note, my corporate Verizon location said that in my area they often send out flyers letting people with 2-year contracts upgrade their phone after only 1-year. It might be a regional thing.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

depending on how many months you have left on your contract and what the termination fee is, you could just terminate your account, eat the termination fee and open a new account and get the 2 year price.

in my situation, i can terminate my contract, pay a $95 ETF and get a new phone for the 1 year or 2 year price ($95+269 or $95+199) rather than $569

This is what I was planning on doing. After calling and talking to a verizon CSR for a bit, he said that would probably be my best option. I'm on a family shareplan, and it's maxed out at 5 lines. I'd have to cancel my current line (with a $105 ETF) and then start a new one, but he said that i should be able to get the 2 year pricing that way. How would they know if you were signing right back up anyway? If you're going to eat the ETF, it's only fair that you can start a contract again. Verizon wants your money.

And yes, you will lose your phone number, they can't port a cancelled line.

 

[sweetbaboo]

I thought the ETF starts at $350 and goes down $10 per month. Even with a 2-year contract this would put you at 25 months. With 2-year individual plans you are eligible for a phone upgrade in 20 months. What am I missing here?

My ETF started at $175...before Verizon jacked it up to $350

I'm actually eligible for a new phone on Nov. 20, but my contract date is in January so this is the only way for me to "pay less" than retail and get a new phone

And yes, you will lose your phone number, they can't port a cancelled line.

who needs a verizon number when you have google voice?