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Mrfatboy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 15, 2008
316
6
I need to start thinking about my upgrade strategy for getting the new iphone 6s plus. In the past I have been able to upgrade my wife's phone (no UDP) or my father's phone (no UDP) and then switch the new phone to my account while still keeping UDP. Is this still possible or did verizon stop allowing this loophole?

Any other ideas for keeping UDP?

My plan details:

Carrier:Verizon
Phone 1: iphone 6 plus
Plan: Family share plan. Unlimited data
Upgrade: Availabile

Carrier:Verizon
Phone 2: iphone 5s
Plan: Family share plan. 2gig data
Upgrade: Not available

I also have the option to use my father's upgrade on his own separate plan. I have done this 2 years ago.
Carrier:Verizon
Phone 1: flip phone
Plan: Family share plan
Upgrade: Available
 
I need to start thinking about my upgrade strategy for getting the new iphone 6s plus. In the past I have been able to upgrade my wife's phone (no UDP) or my father's phone (no UDP) and then switch the new phone to my account while still keeping UDP. Is this still possible or did verizon stop allowing this loophole?

Any other ideas for keeping UDP?

My plan details:

Carrier:Verizon
Phone 1: iphone 6 plus
Plan: Family share plan. Unlimited data
Upgrade: Availabile

Carrier:Verizon
Phone 2: iphone 5s
Plan: Family share plan. 2gig data
Upgrade: Not available

I also have the option to use my father's upgrade on his own separate plan. I have done this 2 years ago.
Carrier:Verizon
Phone 1: flip phone
Plan: Family share plan
Upgrade: Available


If you upgrade your father's phone you will have to add a 2GB data plan and even when you swap out the devices and he goes back to his flip phone you have to keep that data package on his line! so its pretty much a waste of money. They do this now just so you get rid of unlimited data instead of paying $30/mo for the next 2 years. Honestly the easiest way is buying the phone you want outright.

BTW How many GBs do you use a month?
 
Now that Verizon is getting rid of contracts and subsidies, aren't these all essentially moot? You'll just need to pay the full price for the phone upfront. Everyone else will also be paying the full price, but can use an installment plan to spread out the payments over 2 years.
 
Now that Verizon is getting rid of contracts and subsidies, aren't these all essentially moot? You'll just need to pay the full price for the phone upfront. Everyone else will also be paying the full price, but can use an installment plan to spread out the payments over 2 years.

Many don't get that verizon is NOT getting rid of contacts/subsidies completely.
They stop it for new customers. Old customers still on old plans can still continue to receive subsidies unless they switch to a mobile share plan.
 
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You have a few options.

You can of course buy the device at full price.

You can upgrade your father's line, but it will be required to keep the $30/2GB data plan on the line for the duration of the contract even if theres a dumb phone on there.

You can transfer your upgrade from your unlimited line to the other line when ordering on Verizon's website. This will ask you to choose a data plan for the line you transferred the upgrade to. When the phone arrives, just turn it on, it will activate on the line your transferred the upgrade to. Then swap your sim card for your unlimited line into the new phone and you're done. This extends the donor line (unlimited line)'s contract by 2 years but keeps unlimited.

You can use the best buy method which you can find more info about by googling around for the slickdeals thread. Essentially how it works is, you use your upgrade on bestbuy's website, order the phone you want, it will warn you that you will lose your unlimited data plan, ignore that and just choose the 2GB/$30 plan anyways. The phone will arrive. DO NOT turn it on. Remove the sim card the phone ships with and throw it away. Instead put in your existing sim card from your old phone and it will activate and your plan will not be changed. This works because most third party retailers do not have direct access to Verizon's system to change your plan. Instead the pending order is made in such a way to where the plan change occurs when the sim card the phone ships with from best buy is activated. Since you're never using that sim card, the plan change never occurs.
 
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You have a few options

You can transfer your upgrade from your unlimited line to the other line when ordering on Verizon's website. This will ask you to choose a data plan for the line you transferred the upgrade to. When the phone arrives, just turn it on, it will activate on the line your transferred the upgrade to. Then swap your sim card for your unlimited line into the new phone and you're done. This extends the donor line (unlimited line)'s contract by 2 years but keeps unlimited.


This seems like the easiest option and similar to what I have done before. However I did not know I could transfer the upgrade on my UDP phone to my wife's phone. Is that new? I have always been told there is no transferring of upgrades and once you use the upgrade on the UDP line you loose UDP.

Are you sure you can transfer upgrades?
 
This seems like the easiest option and similar to what I have done before. However I did not know I could transfer the upgrade on my UDP phone to my wife's phone. Is that new? I have always been told there is no transferring of upgrades and once you use the upgrade on the UDP line you loose UDP.

Are you sure you can transfer upgrades?
it was in the past...not sure about now... you should see the transfer upgrade option on the my verizon page after you select upgrade device..
 
I believe they have closed the "transfer upgrades" loophole from non-smartphone accounts. Slickdeals has a thread devoted to this topic.
 
I believe they have closed the "transfer upgrades" loophole from non-smartphone accounts. Slickdeals has a thread devoted to this topic.

OP has two lines on one account, one on another. The two lines on the first account are both smart phones so it will work just fine in that instance.
 
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