Help with an interesting situation

[ibanez173]

I know there have been a lot of threads about unlimited data recently, but I am in a bit of a unique situation and am looking for some advice. I will try to keep this as succinct as possible, but I am sorry if it gets too long.

I am currently on a 4 phone family plan with me, my brother, my father (primary line) and my mother. My brother and I both have smartphones but my parents do not, however they would both like to get smartphones when we are up for upgrade on August 8th. My Dad would like to have unlimited data but it is not important for my mom, and my brother will be dropped from the plan around the upgrade time. The primary line also has a 50 dollar discount on the upgrade if we wait until August, but he can upgrade now if he forfeits the $50

My dad's two primary desires in his phone are global and physical keyboard, so I was thinking the D3 would be good. I would ideally like to get either the D3, Bionic or SGSII depending on which I like best after playing around with them and if I decide on 4g or not.

The problem is getting my dad grandfathered in with unlimited data. He could get the D2G now and lose the $50, but he would like to be able to get the newest possible phone, so waiting for the D3 makes sense.

Would it be possible for him to upgrade now to a new phone now to get unlimited data, then sell that phone when the D3 comes out and use my brother's upgrade to get that and activate it on his line and still drop my brothers line? Will we be able to use my brother's upgrade and then drop the line or will we have to pay an early termination fee?

Also does anyone have any other ideas about how to get him unlimited data?

 

[Phone Gnome]

My understanding is as long as a number has a smart phone data plan prior to 7/7 it gets grandfathered. Meaning the smart move would be to find spare CDMA smart phones for your family and add data ASAP, that way you won't use any upgrades.
To answer your second question, yes upgrades can be traded within an account all you have to do is call them and set it up.

 

[KingOfGreen]

^^pretty much what he said, you can use upgrades on other lines pretty easily, it would be nice to wait til after august to get the "Hot New Shit" you can buy a cheap little smart phone for around $50 online so you could get unlimited data on his line now and have the upgrade to use later. you only miss out on $50 that you would have lost by upgrading now anyway.

also if your mom's contract is up around the same time as your bro plans on leavin, you could probably drop her line and have her get on his to keep the unlimited data for her as well and use his upgrade.