Verizon iPhone / Plan Related Questions: I'll help.

Currently have unlimited data and a smartphone line with a 6 and a 'ghosted' smart phone line with nothing on it that I had used to upgrade when the 6 originally came out. My original line that now has the 6 on it currently is eligible for an upgrade.

Came across this article and saw the option for stealing the upgrade from another smart phone line. http://www.droid-life.com/2014/09/25/upgrade-verizon-keep-unlimited-data/

I was wondering if it were at all possible to transfer my upgrade to my ghosted line which carries a data plan and use that to get a 6+?

For now it's just an additional $30/month I'm paying and if I have the option for the second phone I'd be willing to try it

imaketouchtheme said:

You cannot use the hotspot on the single line plan. It's only promotional in the sense they can stop offering it at any time, but once you signup, you'll have it until you change.

The activation fee for upgrades is only $30.

Yes, you do own the phones at the end of the Edge program or 2-year contract. If you do a two year, you total bill (depending on state) will run about $67 a month. The only up front you pay on Edge is taxes on the retail price of the phone.

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Well, I went to the Apple Store on Sunday evening and got the new iPhone. Major problems signing on for the plan however.

The device used in the store listed only More Everything plans for me to choose from. Single-Line plans were just not an option. The assistant hadn't heard of them - and when I pulled them up on the VZW website on a nearby Mac, she shrugged and said it wasn't an option on her device. What's more, the prices for all the More plans were also wrong. She showed me a listing for More with 2GB.... $50 monthly access plus $25 for the data = $75. I knew this couldn't be right, as what I remembered about more everything was the monthly access was $40 for a iPhone. But, as this listed price was the same as the 2GB single-user plan I wanted, I opted for that choice, figuring I would have to phone Verizon and sort it all out later.

When I got home and checked my account details online, it showed I was on a $90 a month plan - $40 as above, and $50 for 2GB of data. This at least matched what was listed on their website.

I called in - VZW were happy to change my plan, but because the single-user plan was less than what I was signed up for, they "could only" make such a change at the end of my billing cycle - which is three weeks from now. The VZW CSR didn't care that I never wanted that plan in the first place and wasn't going to do anything about it.

I should have known that despite my best efforts, they would find a way to gouge me more, I just didn't expect the Apple Store to be in on the game. I guess go get your phones directly from VZW instead?

i think they take $15 from the more everything plan as a promo right now? i get a $25 discount from my 10gb plan so i pay $95.

On an another note I just joined the smartphone world 3 days ago and love my 6+, and I just learned that Verizon has a $150 bill credit to port your phone number! Didn't even know about that, Verizon is awesome

I just got off the phone with Verizon tech support & I am looking for some confirmation on what exactly current policy is, and if loopholes still exist.

I have 5 lines on my account -- 3 smartphones, 2 basic. All lines are upgrade eligible.

Line 1 (my line) is the only one with UDP, and it has iPhone 5 activated on it. I am wanting to use an upgrade from one of the basic phone lines, get an iPhone 5s, and then activate that 5s on my UDP line instead, obviously without losing UDP. I did this 2 years ago with my current iPhone 5, no problems.

At first, tech guy said yes, you can do it (just like I did 2 years ago). I told him I had talked to tech support a few days ago and got a different answer. He checked with his boss & here is what he said regarding new policy:

The line with UDP can no longer use an upgrade from another line on the account. No matter what. The computer system will always link the upgraded phone (serial number or whatever) to my account, so that if I ever try to activate the phone on my UDP line, I will automatically get put into new 2 year contract & lose my UDP. Apparently this is a new development, the tech guy said. Only way to keep UDP is activating a phone that was not purchased as an upgrade on another line in my account - so either a used 5s or buying full price.

Also, if I were to use the upgrade on one of the basic phone lines, Verizon now requires that line to have a data package for the duration of the new 2 year contract on that line, even if I keep a basic phone activated. No activating data plan for purposes of upgrade, then immediately removing it.

The tech guy was nice, & was sincerely trying to help me protect my UDP. I kept asking him scenarios where there might be a loophole, but we couldn't come up with anything.

Any help here would be appreciated (please post link to another thread if this is being hashed out somewhere else on Macrumors that I didn't know about).

Many thanks!

rmp71701 said:

The line with UDP can no longer use an upgrade from another line on the account. No matter what. The computer system will always link the upgraded phone (serial number or whatever) to my account, so that if I ever try to activate the phone on my UDP line, I will automatically get put into new 2 year contract & lose my UDP. Apparently this is a new development, the tech guy said. Only way to keep UDP is activating a phone that was not purchased as an upgrade on another line in my account - so either a used 5s or buying full price.
...

Any help here would be appreciated (please post link to another thread if this is being hashed out somewhere else on Macrumors that I didn't know about).

Many thanks!

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I don't have the link, but I thought that you could activate the SIM card on your TDP line (extending its contract), and then once it is active, just swap in the SIM from your UDP account. In other words, if you have an iPhone 5s with a UDP and an iPhone 5c with a TDP eligible for an upgrade, just "upgrade" the 5c to a 6, activate the SIM in that phone, and then swap SIMs with your 5s. That way, the 5s is on the TDP and the 6 is on the UDP. Once your SIM card is active, you can put it in whatever compatible device you want.

It does need to be another smartphone account, though. They closed the basic phone loophole about a year ago.

KPOM said:

I don't have the link, but I thought that you could activate the SIM card on your TDP line (extending its contract), and then once it is active, just swap in the SIM from your UDP account. In other words, if you have an iPhone 5s with a UDP and an iPhone 5c with a TDP eligible for an upgrade, just "upgrade" the 5c to a 6, activate the SIM in that phone, and then swap SIMs with your 5s. That way, the 5s is on the TDP and the 6 is on the UDP. Once your SIM card is active, you can put it in whatever compatible device you want.

It does need to be another smartphone account, though. They closed the basic phone loophole about a year ago.

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Thanks for the reply. I actually asked the tech guy about that - switching out SIM cards. It was his understanding that somehow the system will know I am using the upgraded phone on my UDP line, regardless of SIM. Not sure how or if he was correct in his understanding but that's just what he said. He said it was a new development/policy. Again, he was not trying to keep me from getting upgrade. He was trying hard to see if anything would work for me without losing my UDP.

BTW, after posting earlier, I researched the several proposed methods for upgrading & also looked through the wiki info over on slickdeals.net regarding this issue. My concern is that Verizon has clamped down in 2015, and I don't want to try something that's going to cause me to lose my UDP.

imaketouchtheme said:

A data package is required on the line that signed a 2 year contract for the entire duration of said contract. There is no way to remove it if you upgrade a basic line to a smartphone then switch the smartphone off.

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This doesn't apply to More Everything plans however, does it? I have a basic phone currently for $20/month ($30 basic access - $10 basic line access), and I used the upgrade it had available to purchase a 6+. Before I turned on the 6+, I switched my SIM in from another iPhone 6 (on the same More Everything plan, w/smartphone access) and therefore never activated the smartphone access on the basic line.

Will my data plan remain the same?

rmp71701 said:

Thanks for the reply. I actually asked the tech guy about that - switching out SIM cards. It was his understanding that somehow the system will know I am using the upgraded phone on my UDP line, regardless of SIM. Not sure how or if he was correct in his understanding but that's just what he said. He said it was a new development/policy. Again, he was not trying to keep me from getting upgrade. He was trying hard to see if anything would work for me without losing my UDP.

BTW, after posting earlier, I researched the several proposed methods for upgrading & also looked through the wiki info over on slickdeals.net regarding this issue. My concern is that Verizon has clamped down in 2015, and I don't want to try something that's going to cause me to lose my UDP.

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They can tell what device you are using, and Verizon is free to drop UDPs whenever they want (though they would need to let everyone out of their contracts), but they really can't stop you from putting your SIM card in another device.

Verizon did clamp down on a lot of the loopholes, particularly since there was a bug a few months ago that let a lot of people add new UDP lines to their accounts when buying iPhones from Apple. They closed that down in November and at the same time made it their policy not to allow transfers of accounts with UDPs to others.

FWIW, I have put my iPhone 6 SIM into my iPad and used it for Personal Hotspot. So far I haven't gotten any notices from Verizon.

I'm currently on a nationwide family plan with two smartphones. I would like to add a line with a basic phone. I did try to add through verizon's website but it would not let me go through the whole process without adding a data and messaging plan when I selected a basic phone. Has anyone had any experience in this or a way around? Thanks!

I noticed the $10 reduction on the news, but I think it only applies to the MORE Everything customers. Don't think I have that. Looking at the chart my 2gb would drop from 50 to 40, but I'm only paying $30 now (I think).
Would it be any advantage for me to change to the MORE plan? Have 3 phones on my account for a total of about $190 - 1,000 shared minutes, 1,000 texts, 2gb data. Being surrounded by wifi & friends with Vz, we have never exceeded our mins, texts or data in all the years.
Thx

SevengerNC said:

I noticed the $10 reduction on the news, but I think it only applies to the MORE Everything customers. Don't think I have that. Looking at the chart my 2gb would drop from 50 to 40, but I'm only paying $30 now (I think).
Would it be any advantage for me to change to the MORE plan? Have 3 phones on my account for a total of about $190 - 1,000 shared minutes, 1,000 texts, 2gb data. Being surrounded by wifi & friends with Vz, we have never exceeded our mins, texts or data in all the years.
Thx

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In a large way it depends on the phones that you have--are they smartphones or basic phones, are they under contract, are they on EDGE, or are they paid off?

How does your current total break down--how much is the plan itself, how much per phone, etc.?

Does adjusting plans effect promotional data? I have 2 more everything lines on a 1GB plan with 2GB of promotional data. With the new pricing I could save $10 or move up to the 2GB plan and total 4GB for the same price. Unless changing plans removes the promo data..

kevwn said:

Does adjusting plans effect promotional data? I have 2 more everything lines on a 1GB plan with 2GB of promotional data. With the new pricing I could save $10 or move up to the 2GB plan and total 4GB for the same price. Unless changing plans removes the promo data..

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Typically it doesn't affect it.

New plans

I read this artice (and a few others) about Verizon changing their plans tomorrow. The article is below from consumerist:

In spite of Verizon Wireless’ recent boasts that it’s “a leader, not a follower,” a new announcement from the nation’s biggest wireless company shows that Big V is indeed following the competition down the path of charging customers less for their data plans. However, current Verizon subscribers will need to let the company know they want to save money (or get more data).

It’s a little confusing, so stick with us for a moment.
Verizon MORE Everything customers who currently have monthly data allotments of 1GB, 2GB, 3GB, or 4GB will have an option on how they want to save.

They can either get more data for their money by getting 1GB of additional data per month for no extra charge OR they can have their bill reduced by $10/month.

So someone with a 2GB plan is currently paying $50/month. If they take the free data option, that goes to 3GB for the same price. Or they can elect to stick with the 2GB and their data bill drops to $40/month.

A rep for Verizon confirms to Consumerist that current Verizon subscribers will not be automatically opted into either of these choices and must let the company know — either by calling customer service or through the Verizon website — when the changes kick in tomorrow, Feb. 5.

For new customers or those looking to change their data plans, Verizon is also offering a new 6GB/month tier at $70.

Verizon is also making its Edge program, where you pay full price for your phone in monthly installments, more attractive. Customers with plans starting at 6GB/month or more will get a $25/month discount. Currently, to qualify for that level of discount, you need to be on a plan of 10GB/month or more. Plans of 4GB/month or less still see a monthly discount of $15.

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I currently have the unlimited data still on my line only. If I call to change the other lines to 3GB, would this effect my unlimited line?

jasko said:

I read this artice (and a few others) about Verizon changing their plans tomorrow. The article is below from consumerist:



I currently have the unlimited data still on my line only. If I call to change the other lines to 3GB, would this effect my unlimited line?

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Are the other lines on a different/separate plan? What plans are involved basically?

C DM said:

Are the other lines on a different/separate plan? What plans are involved basically?

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This is all under 1 family plan. There are two lines that have the 2GB data plans, my line that has the unlimited data, and a dumbphone line that I added to my plan a year ago in order to get the 6+ with unlimited.... so 4 total on 1 family plan.

jasko said:

This is all under 1 family plan. There are two lines that have the 2GB data plans, my line that has the unlimited data, and a dumbphone line that I added to my plan a year ago in order to get the 6+ with unlimited.... so 4 total on 1 family plan.

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So it sounds like this is an older family plan where each line can have its own data. The new pricing is for the current more share plans so to get them you'd need to change to that plan which means you'd lose your unlimited data unless you perhaps move the other phones to a new share plan and somehow leave yours separate still with unlimited data.

C DM said:

So it sounds like this is an older family plan where each line can have its own data. The new pricing is for the current more share plans so to get them you'd need to change to that plan which means you'd lose your unlimited data unless you perhaps move the other phones to a new share plan and somehow leave yours separate still with unlimited data.

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Ah ok, thank you for clarifying. Maybe I'll call them to see what my options are. I just think they're out to get rid of unlimited plans so I try to stay off their radar.

imaketouchtheme said:

Bumping in case anyone needs some help.

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Real nice of you, man.

imaketouchtheme said:

Bumping in case anyone needs some help.

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Hey Darren Stevens / Jules Jam

imaketouchtheme said:

Bumping in case anyone needs some help.

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How do I get my iphone 6S added to verizon's whitelist. It currently says that it's not compatible but it's unlocked from apple.