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Is it true that if you sign up for Verizon data, you are basically in a contract?

eagandale4114 said:
If you sign up for a post paid plan then you are on contract.
Prepaid can be bought on a month-to-month basis.
Click to expand...

I signed up for my data plan through the iPad. It didn't say whether it was post or prepaid. Would I have to call in to change it to prepaid? I'm assuming prepaid means paying for the data used ahead of time. I thought this is what I was doing by going through the iPad route to sign up for the data plan

I just did some more research and the $20/1gb plan should be considered a prepaid plan. The charge on my CC says 'prepaid.' If so, why would I be on an auto renew contract?
 
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I brought my iPad3 to a ATT store to activate the 4G data plan. The reason I went there is to make sure the 20% employee discount is correctly activated with the iPad.

It is post-paid, billed with my iPhone family plan. And it is month by month, can be cancelled anytime. After cancellation, I can reactivate it again without changing SIM card or pay any fee.

So basically, it is not the same with Verizon. The ATT plan seems to be much more flexible.
 
MR1324 said:
I signed up for my data plan through the iPad. It didn't say whether it was post or prepaid. Would I have to call in to change it to prepaid? I'm assuming prepaid means paying for the data used ahead of time. I thought this is what I was doing by going through the iPad route to sign up for the data plan

I just did some more research and the $20/1gb plan should be considered a prepaid plan. The charge on my CC says 'prepaid.' If so, why would I be on an auto renew contract?
Click to expand...

You aren't on a contract.. you can cancel at any time from the iPad itself. You are on pre-paid plan that will auto-renew after 30 days or when you have less than 25MB available on your data allowance, whichever comes first.

If you cancel, it will let you use up your remaining data or days, whichever comes first.. and then you won't have data anymore.

People who let themselves be activated by Verizon, are on a post-paid month to month plan..(a non-binding contract, basically.. you can cancel without penalty) they will be billed every month for data after they use it (which is why they have the $10/1GB allowance for going over their plan limit) and have to call Verizon to cancel service.

the 1GB per month plan for $20, is only available when you're doing pre-paid by signing up on the ipad itself.

The sales people at my best buy claimed that Verizon told them on launch morning that if they didn't activate the data for you through Verizon's computer system that you would be stuck on pre-paid towers and would not be able to get 4G LTE.. Only part of that was true.. signing up on the ipad is pre-paid only, but you will get 4G LTE if it is available in your area. The primary difference from what I've been able to tell is how you pay your bill (on the ipad vs receiving a bill from Verizon in the mail) and whether or not you are able to roam on non-Verizon 3G towers (pre-paid plans cannot roam on 3G.. you can only use Verizon's towers) LTE doesn't roam at all, so it is unaffected by your plan type.
 
Got my 4G from the Verizon store. Was a bit annoyed that they made me sign up for a post paid plan. You have to call up to cancel the plan. I plan on doing that and just paying for pre-paid going forward.
 
Thank you that clarifies things a lot. So my sim will not be deactivated if I decide to cancel my plan at the end of this month? I want to sign up and cancel whenever I want without having to worry about having to go to Verizon to reactivate my sim.
 
MR1324 said:
Thank you that clarifies things a lot. So my sim will not be deactivated if I decide to cancel my plan at the end of this month? I want to sign up and cancel whenever I want without having to worry about having to go to Verizon to reactivate my sim.
Click to expand...

on pre-paid (like you are) you can come and go as you please.. you don't have to go to Verizon or call them.. you can cancel right there on the pad and sign up another month down the road if you want to.

Obviously they wanted people on post-paid plans, which was why they lied to everybody about how to sign up for data with an ipad…
 
That is very shady of bb. Thank you for all your help. I was going to go back to wifi if they put me on postpaid. I have made some ****** comments on this forum, but thanks to all the help in this thread, I will no longer do that and be as helpful as I can to other members.
 
I called Verizon to get all the details on prepaid vs postpaid. I don't like the fact that if I went prepaid and did the 2GB/$30 plan, if I hit that 2GB, my data would stop for the rest of that month. However, if I went postpaid with that same plan, I could go over and pay $10 per GB, but I would always have that $35 activation fee if I stopped and restarted.
 
MR1324 said:
I signed up for my data plan through the iPad. It didn't say whether it was post or prepaid. Would I have to call in to change it to prepaid? I'm assuming prepaid means paying for the data used ahead of time. I thought this is what I was doing by going through the iPad route to sign up for the data plan

I just did some more research and the $20/1gb plan should be considered a prepaid plan. The charge on my CC says 'prepaid.' If so, why would I be on an auto renew contract?
Click to expand...

If you read the small print, your pre paid plan will auto renew 30 days later using the same payment method UNLESS you cancel 1st.

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engelke2010 said:
I called Verizon to get all the details on prepaid vs postpaid. I don't like the fact that if I went prepaid and did the 2GB/$30 plan, if I hit that 2GB, my data would stop for the rest of that month. However, if I went postpaid with that same plan, I could go over and pay $10 per GB, but I would always have that $35 activation fee if I stopped and restarted.
Click to expand...

The is NO activation fee on pre-paid! You buy a block of data and you either use it or lose it in thirty days. At the end of thirty days if you have not canceled your plan, they will auto renew you for another 30 days for the same plan. If you use all of your minutes before the 30 days, your data stops till you renew for another 30 days. You can do it right then or not use any more data and it will do it automatically on the 30 day anniversary.
 
MR1324 said:
I signed up for my data plan through the iPad. It didn't say whether it was post or prepaid. Would I have to call in to change it to prepaid? I'm assuming prepaid means paying for the data used ahead of time. I thought this is what I was doing by going through the iPad route to sign up for the data plan

I just did some more research and the $20/1gb plan should be considered a prepaid plan. The charge on my CC says 'prepaid.' If so, why would I be on an auto renew contract?
Click to expand...

It is prepaid data and you can cancel it at any time. However, Verizon sets it up to automatically renew the next month unless you cancel. It is not the same as a contract plan, in which there is an early termination fee to cancel.

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MR1324 said:
Thank you that clarifies things a lot. So my sim will not be deactivated if I decide to cancel my plan at the end of this month? I want to sign up and cancel whenever I want without having to worry about having to go to Verizon to reactivate my sim.
Click to expand...

You can cancel your plan (which will stop the monthly charges), but do not take the next step of deactivating your account, as it can be difficult to reactivate it.
 
lovespicyfood said:
Got my 4G from the Verizon store. Was a bit annoyed that they made me sign up for a post paid plan. You have to call up to cancel the plan. I plan on doing that and just paying for pre-paid going forward.
Click to expand...
Except, unfortunately, you won't be able to get a pre-paid sim anywhere either in store or by mail and you can't reuse the one you canceled. Verizon knew that and is screwing the customers who bought in their stores. Best bet would be to return the iPad, rebuy it and start over with prepaid.

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BE CAREFUL! If you don't want to renew your prepaid plan for the following month but want to be able to renew it later make sure you DO NOT choose DELETE ACCOUNT NOW from your iPad. You need to choose DELETE ACCOUNT LATER. By choosing "NOW" you will render your SIM unusable and getting a replacement prepaid sim seems to be near impossible from Verizon.

Follow these steps from Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4572
 
TB07-NJ said:
Except, unfortunately, you won't be able to get a pre-paid sim anywhere either in store or by mail and you can't reuse the one you canceled. Verizon knew that and is screwing the customers who bought in their stores. Best bet would be to return the iPad, rebuy it and start over with prepaid.
Click to expand...
I read one poster who got so annoyed by that policy and being unable to get a new sim card that they went to return their iPad. The store couldn't believe they wanted to return the device the day after launch, so the store found a way to get them a new sim card. Still seemed like a lot of hassle.
AT&T has been using sim cards in all their devices for years, so it is very easy to get them at the AT&T stores. Verizon seems to be a lot trickier.
 
TB07-NJ said:
Except, unfortunately, you won't be able to get a pre-paid sim anywhere either in store or by mail and you can't reuse the one you canceled. Verizon knew that and is screwing the customers who bought in their stores. Best bet would be to return the iPad, rebuy it and start over with prepaid.

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BE CAREFUL! If you don't want to renew your prepaid plan for the following month but want to be able to renew it later make sure you DO NOT choose DELETE ACCOUNT NOW from your iPad. You need to choose DELETE ACCOUNT LATER. By choosing "NOW" you will render your SIM unusable and getting a replacement prepaid sim seems to be near impossible from Verizon.

Follow these steps from Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4572
Click to expand...

You are correct. Here's the annoying part though: if you set it to not auto-renew, and then don't restart your data for five consecutive months, your account will automatically be deactivated. Meaning, once deactivated, you will never, ever, be able to have a pre-paid plan on your beloved LTE iPad again.

It is a freaking travesty and apple needs to step in to get Verizon to change their ways.
 
randymac88 said:
You are correct. Here's the annoying part though: if you set it to not auto-renew, and then don't restart your data for five consecutive months, your account will automatically be deactivated. Meaning, once deactivated, you will never, ever, be able to have a pre-paid plan on your beloved LTE iPad again.

It is a freaking travesty and apple needs to step in to get Verizon to change their ways.
Click to expand...

Just for the heck of it I ordered a Verizon 4G SIM off eBay ($5). There are loads of them there. I have a sim cutter so making it micro isn't a problem although there are microsims there too. It is NOT sold as a "prepaid" sim (no pin code) but I really wonder if it matters. Generally a prepaid sim is for a phone and needs a pin code to activate it but since this is an iPad it may be different. I'll see if it works. I have not activated my included SIM and probably wouldn't be until my next trip. I figured I'd try this just for ****s and giggles.

As for the "5 month rule" (same as ATT) that would be acceptable if Verizon was able and willing to provide replacement sims. It's always been that way.
 
TB07-NJ said:
Just for the heck of it I ordered a Verizon 4G SIM off eBay ($5). There are loads of them there. I have a sim cutter so making it micro isn't a problem although there are microsims there too. It is NOT sold as a "prepaid" sim (no pin code) but I really wonder if it matters. Generally a prepaid sim is for a phone and needs a pin code to activate it but since this is an iPad it may be different. I'll see if it works. I have not activated my included SIM and probably wouldn't be until my next trip. I figured I'd try this just for ****s and giggles.

As for the "5 month rule" (same as ATT) that would be acceptable if Verizon was able and willing to provide replacement sims. It's always been that way.
Click to expand...

Let me know how it goes! And yes you nailed it - I have no problem if Verizon wants to deactivate my account after 5 months, as long as I'm able to reactivate it when I need it!
 
randymac88 said:
Let me know how it goes! And yes you nailed it - I have no problem if Verizon wants to deactivate my account after 5 months, as long as I'm able to reactivate it when I need it!
Click to expand...
Well, after the 5 months you would have to get a new sim card because once an account is shut down the card can't be used. Getting the card is the problem. I think that will all be straightened out soon (for a price of course) as I think this is their first "sim required" PREpaid device and they are a bit confused. The only reason I got the VZW version was because I can also use my (former) ATT iPad 2 sim in it and the only reason I got the "cellular version" at all was for the GPS.
 
TB07-NJ said:
Except, unfortunately, you won't be able to get a pre-paid sim anywhere either in store or by mail and you can't reuse the one you canceled. Verizon knew that and is screwing the customers who bought in their stores. Best bet would be to return the iPad, rebuy it and start over with prepaid.

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BE CAREFUL! If you don't want to renew your prepaid plan for the following month but want to be able to renew it later make sure you DO NOT choose DELETE ACCOUNT NOW from your iPad. You need to choose DELETE ACCOUNT LATER. By choosing "NOW" you will render your SIM unusable and getting a replacement prepaid sim seems to be near impossible from Verizon.

Follow these steps from Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4572
Click to expand...

Thank you for the careful tip! This is what I was looking for.

randymac88 said:
You are correct. Here's the annoying part though: if you set it to not auto-renew, and then don't restart your data for five consecutive months, your account will automatically be deactivated. Meaning, once deactivated, you will never, ever, be able to have a pre-paid plan on your beloved LTE iPad again.

It is a freaking travesty and apple needs to step in to get Verizon to change their ways.
Click to expand...

I still think it's stupid how the SIM will be automatically deactivated after so many months of non data use, but I can live with that. I just don't want to HAVE TO sign up for data every month, even when I don't need it.
 
No long term contract. Post Paid is a 30 day contact that you will pay for the service you used and any overages.
 
lovespicyfood said:
Got my 4G from the Verizon store. Was a bit annoyed that they made me sign up for a post paid plan. You have to call up to cancel the plan. I plan on doing that and just paying for pre-paid going forward.
Click to expand...

That's because they're sleazy. They don't mention that you can sign up yourself for a prepaid plan, they only offer to sign you up for a post paid plan and then hit you with an activation fee.

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TB07-NJ said:
Well, after the 5 months you would have to get a new sim card because once an account is shut down the card can't be used. Getting the card is the problem. I think that will all be straightened out soon (for a price of course) as I think this is their first "sim required" PREpaid device and they are a bit confused. The only reason I got the VZW version was because I can also use my (former) ATT iPad 2 sim in it and the only reason I got the "cellular version" at all was for the GPS.
Click to expand...

Not true. You just have to re-sign up for the service. You don't sacrifice anything by letting your account lapse. It's amazing how misinformed people are.

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TB07-NJ said:
Well, after the 5 months you would have to get a new sim card because once an account is shut down the card can't be used. Getting the card is the problem. I think that will all be straightened out soon (for a price of course) as I think this is their first "sim required" PREpaid device and they are a bit confused. The only reason I got the VZW version was because I can also use my (former) ATT iPad 2 sim in it and the only reason I got the "cellular version" at all was for the GPS.
Click to expand...

How do you know that the Verizon sim will be unusable after 5 months? This is the first Verizon iPad that has had a sim and its only been out a week.
 
Buildbright said:
Post Paid is a 30 day contact that you will pay for the service you used and any overages.
Click to expand...

Very true, though for clarity there really isn't an "overage" with prepaid data like with postpaid. When you use up the block of prepaid data you buy another block.

Blorzoga said:
How do you know that the Verizon sim will be unusable after 5 months? This is the first Verizon iPad that has had a sim and its only been out a week.
Click to expand...

Agreed; clearly there's some bugs to work out. I wouldn't be going all Chicken Little with the devices on the market for six days. Verizon is going to do what makes sense in making them money. Preventing people from buying prepaid data and pushing them to the competition doesn't make them money.
 
deeddawg said:
Very true, though for clarity there really isn't an "overage" with prepaid data like with postpaid. When you use up the block of prepaid data you buy another block.

.
Click to expand...

Correct because it is impossible to Pre-Pay for something that you have not done yet like an overage. Unless the Telco's invest in time travel.
 
So if I activate my AT&T then don't use it again for 5 months I won't be able to use it again unless somehow I get another sim?? And they 'won't' give you one? (I see on their website they sell you one for $15.00)
For real???? I'm talking only about the pre-paid plan.
 
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