How to switch plans when pre-ordering?

I apologize if my search-ninja skills are lacking but I didn't find any similar threads when I looked for them a few minutes ago. I have a pretty simple question that I'm sure will be there for other people as well and don't really want to go to Verizon to ask if I can get away with it.

I've had an account with Verizon since AT&T dumped me because of excessive off-network data usage or something. I plan on keeping service with them for at least the term of my next 2 year contract because they work great in the area I live and work in. The question I have is, as a person with a grandfathered in unlimited data plan that I read will be going away if I still want to purchase subsidized phones in the future, I'm not clear on how the pre-order will work since I will have to be switching plans in order to get the subsidized price on the new iPhone. I bought the 3rd generation iPad on Apple.com on the day of the pre-order, and had it delivered on launch day with no hiccups, so that's the way I'd like to go if at all possible.

Do I go to Verizon now and say I want to switch to a new plan in preparation for the new phone? Do I do the same thing but say that I want to switch effective September 15th or something? Will I be able to pick my new plan through Apple.com?

I'm sure the sales people at the local Verizon Store will be told to deny any knowledge of the release of the new iPhone, so probably won't even answer my theoretical situation, so I figured I'd ask here. Again, I apologize if I just didn't find the answer in my search, all I was finding was threads about switching carriers and being able to select the carrier and plan when picking the phone, but wasn't sure that same idea applied to switching plans within the same carrier. Thanks in advance.

 

That's what I was thinking but I don't want to finally get the page to load and select the version of the phone that I want, and be left with the option of paying full price since I'm on a plan that doesn't exist any more. I bet you're right, but wanted to see of anybody knew for sure.

 

Good idea, at work now though so I will have to wait till I get home in 7 hours or so. The data connection can be pretty spotty where I am today so I might not be able to load even a basic site today, although this forum is loading great for some reason.

I wanted to get the phone through Apple's site because their execution of the third generation iPad release went flawlessly for me, so I hadn't even thought of trying to do it through Verizon's site. Anybody have experience pre-ordering through Verizon instead of Apple? I'm curious to know if it works as well or better since the traffic level will likely be significantly lower than Apple's on the day of the announcement.