Anybody know? I reached out to Apple and didn't get an answer.
You wont be able to. If you have an upgrade available, it will only offer you the upgrade price. If you are not eligible for an upgrade, you will be allowed to buy full price.
If you want to pay full price without using your upgrade, and keep unlimited, you have to use verizon site. Simple as that.
I went to Apple.com and did a mock buy of a 5s. I'm not due an upgrade and I am going to pay full price but once it lets me select full price, it brings me to a screen where it makes me pick a data plan and there is no way to skip past it.
I'm on the single line $60 plan. My guess is it is going to make me select a data plan to buy the phone and then I'm going to have to call Verizon to change my plan back.
Anyone else notice that?
So if I choose full price (so that I don't use my upgrade and lose unlimited data) on Verizon.com, it wont make me choose a data plan, right?
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So I'm being told on Verizon's online chat that even as an existing customer, if I choose New Customer and buy the phone without a plan, that'll be the easiest way to buy it at full price without a plan and then when I get it next week just activate it on my current number/account.