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"Selling" Verizon unlimited data account...?

utwarreng

utwarreng

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 8, 2009
393
129
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_8 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E401 Safari/6533.18.5)

So I bought a used Verizon iPhone 4, and a new Palm Pixi to lock in the unlimited data plans on month-to-month plan. This kept the lines upgrade eligible.

At the same time, we never canceled our AT&T unlimited data lines because we wanted to compare the service in our area. It looks like we will likely stick with AT&T in our area, so now I face a decision. What do I do with my Verizon account?

I know you can sign over your account to a new person to take responsibility of it, and was thinking about selling/auctioning the Verizon lines so someone else can benefit from the unlimited data that's no longer available.

What are you guys' thoughts on this and do you think there would be a market for this?
 
I guess another logical question that I didn't ask is, what price point would you put on this?

I'm thinking they would hold more value around the time the 5th generation iPhone is released, rather than right now.
 
Do you know, officially from Verizon and not some mac rumors board, that you can "sell" or "transfer" an account? If you sell the account then the buyer would likely want to be rid of you completely. That means, the social security number tied to the account would have to be changed. That is the kicker and I don't think you thought this through. Get the money signs out of your head and think about the fact that Verizon may not be able to or they may not allow for you to hand your account to someone else without leaving your personal and private information on the account. That means the buyer won't have full access to the account to do as he or she wishes (including canceling).

I don't think, just based on logic alone, that you can sell your account to anyone. The second the SSN changes you'll need a new account and thus, a new plan. Technically, when I moved from an account with two phones (not a family plan) to one phone, I had to give my SSN and remove the other. That created a new account number and my length of time as a customer technically restarted.
 
jessica. said:
Do you know, officially from Verizon and not some mac rumors board, that you can "sell" or "transfer" an account? If you sell the account then the buyer would likely want to be rid of you completely. That means, the social security number tied to the account would have to be changed. That is the kicker and I don't think you thought this through. Get the money signs out of your head and think about the fact that Verizon may not be able to or they may not allow for you to hand your account to someone else without leaving your personal and private information on the account. That means the buyer won't have full access to the account to do as he or she wishes (including canceling).

I don't think, just based on logic alone, that you can sell your account to anyone. The second the SSN changes you'll need a new account and thus, a new plan. Technically, when I moved from an account with two phones (not a family plan) to one phone, I had to give my SSN and remove the other. That created a new account number and my length of time as a customer technically restarted.
Click to expand...

You bring up valid points, and so long as I can change the SSN on the account while the new owner maintains the unlimited data plan, that's all that matters to me. As I said originally, I didn't get into this just to make money. The goal was to see how the coverage was in the areas where I live/work. If the transfer gets overly complex and not worth the time/money, I'll just drop the account completely. As it stands, I think I will just suspend the account for three months and wait to see how it looks closer to the time the next iPhone is announced.

Another big factor would be if the fifth generation iPhone supports HSPA+, but not LTE. The AT&T 3G speeds in my area already double the Verizon ones based on side-by-side tests with the two iPhones. Adding HSPA+ would only increase that difference.
 
I'm pretty sure any change such as transferring the account or even just suspending it will cause you to lose the unlimited plan, Verizon aren't stupid so I'm sure somewhere in the Terms of Service there is something that will trip you up. Just like I am sure everyone that switched to Verizon just for unlimited data that think they will have forever are going to end up SOL when something minor changes and they lose their unlimited data.
 
wordoflife said:
It seems like more of a hassle than what it is worth.
Click to expand...

I agree. Not worth the risk.

It's called a transfer of responsibility. In the past I have done a line transfer but it was to my sister who wanted to add more lines to her own family.

So unless you are transferring to a family member or very close friend, don't do it. And I certainly wouldn't charge any of my family members any money to transfer the line.
 
Doing an AOL (Assumption of Liability) forces the new customer to take new data pricing so you won't be able to "Sell" the account to someone with the promise of keeping the unlimited plan.
 
stooley said:
Doing an AOL (Assumption of Liability) forces the new customer to take new data pricing so you won't be able to "Sell" the account to someone with the promise of keeping the unlimited plan.
Click to expand...

Source? I haven't done any research to verify, but would like to know your source that says where the new person would have to change the plan.
 
utwarreng said:
Source? I haven't done any research to verify, but would like to know your source that says where the new person would have to change the plan.
Click to expand...

I work for VZW. All I can give you is this from an email received this morning with some FAQ's:

Q: Can customers keep their UNL data plan if they do an AOL?
A: No, whether the AOL is to a new customer or a new line for an existing customer, they MUST migrate to current pricing.
 
They probably won't let you do it. They probably already caught on that there are some people trying to cash in on selling unlimited data (Not saying that you are).
 
utwarreng said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_8 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E401 Safari/6533.18.5)

So I bought a used Verizon iPhone 4, and a new Palm Pixi to lock in the unlimited data plans on month-to-month plan. This kept the lines upgrade eligible.

At the same time, we never canceled our AT&T unlimited data lines because we wanted to compare the service in our area. It looks like we will likely stick with AT&T in our area, so now I face a decision. What do I do with my Verizon account?

I know you can sign over your account to a new person to take responsibility of it, and was thinking about selling/auctioning the Verizon lines so someone else can benefit from the unlimited data that's no longer available.

What are you guys' thoughts on this and do you think there would be a market for this?
Click to expand...

you have 14 days to cancel without E.T.F
 
Fleon85 said:
you have 14 days to cancel without E.T.F
Click to expand...

There is no ETF because there is no contract. I went month-to-month and brought my own phone.

Guess for now I'll just suspend the service and wait to see what I want to do once the fifth generation iPhone comes out.

Thanks all for the feedback.
 
Hey utwarreng,

I'm interested in purchasing your unlimited account. I know exactly how to transfer it. I'll be opening a corporate/business account with Verizon, they will add your number into the corporate account, all you would have to do is approve it. Please let me know if you are still interested in selling it.

Thanks!
 
Is this the also not possible on AT&T?

My unlimited AT&T line is in my mom's name. She's had my wireless number since 1994 and I took it over 8 or 9 years ago in high school but never bothered to transfer it into my name. Recently I've been meaning to transfer it into my name, and it looks like you can just easily do it online nowadays, but haven't gotten around to it.

When I was researching it I could find nothing mentioning me losing the plan. It doesn't state that it will extend the contract, doesn't state that it will change the terms of the plan or anything like that. But now this has me worried that I could lose unlimited data.

Would be kind of annoying to have to have my bill in my mother's name for the rest of my life :confused:
 
xaveon, i have a vzw acct with unlimited data. hit me up if you want to do an AOL.

xaveon said:
Hey utwarreng,

I'm interested in purchasing your unlimited account. I know exactly how to transfer it. I'll be opening a corporate/business account with Verizon, they will add your number into the corporate account, all you would have to do is approve it. Please let me know if you are still interested in selling it.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
vaibhav008, if you are still selling your account let me know. I have been looking for one. And btw when an AOL is done for a line, the person taking over the line must choose from current plans but features such as data would be able to be carried over.
 
It wont work. Tried to transfer my mothers account to my father. Long story short my mother is still the holder.
 
wordoflife said:
It seems like more of a hassle than what it is worth.
Click to expand...

This. I thought about selling my Manhattan number (212 area code) but it would be a pain getting everything switched from one person to another since they would have to run credit on the person and so forth. Just stick with the carrier of your preference and let the other one go. While it's nice to have the 'unlimited' data with both, you're spending money when you really don't need to.
 
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