Tag Archives: verizon

How to: Sell Verizon Contract and Keep your Number

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Good info for those with unlimited data plans:

“OK 1st off let me make the disclaimer that I take no responsibility if this fails to work for you. Under Verizon you are 100% allowed to transfer your service to another individual, referred to as an Assumption of Liability (AOL), you can find it on the Verizon website.

With that said, I will now tell you how I was able to transfer my phone number I’ve had for 15+ years to a new provider and sell my existing unlimited data contract and make some money instead of pay hundreds in ETFs.

First thing you need to do is sign up for service with whatever new provider you want (I am assuming you are reading this b/c you want to leave Verizon and already have a new provider in mind). When you sign up for new service with another carrier it is VERY important you DO NOT port your existing Verizon number over. Porting the number over at this point will cancel your Verizon contract and you will be stuck paying the ETF.

OK so now that you have your new service with some new phone numbers, you will need to port your existing Verizon number over. To do this, call your new carrier and tell them you want to port your Verizon number over to the new service. You will need the number you are porting and the Verizon account number along with your account PIN (not your myverizon.com password, but your PIN can be found in your myverizon profile). Once your new service rep has told you the number has been ported, log into myverizon and request a new number on your Verizon phone. I’d say this step should be done about 15-30 minutes after you port your Verizon number.

While the number is being ported and your new Verizon number is being issued you will have some overlap with the devices and the numbers. For instance, if someone calls you on your new number it may ring on the new service, but you may not be able to make outgoing calls with the new service. They say the port takes about 24-48 hours for the number to fully port over to the new service, but mine was done in less than 24 hours. I was basically carrying around two phones with me until the port was completed.

OK so now that you have your number ported over to your new line of service you can sell your unlimited data Verizon account (non-unlimited data accounts are pretty worthless and I doubt you’d be able to find someone to buy it). I used eBay to do this, but there are other services like cellswapper.com. If you use eBay, search for Verizon unlimited data contract to get an idea of what your listing should consist of.

My Verizon contract consisted of an unlimited data line and a 2gig data line. I made it very clear in the listing that the winning bidder would be required to take both lines of service. I didn’t get as much money, but still better than paying an ETF.

OK so now you listed your contract online and you have a winning bidder. Hopefully, the bidder has paid immediately. So what you need to do is call Verizon and tell them you want to do an AOL and give them the phone number and the name of the winning bidder. I recommend calling the bidder and and going over the details of the steps and when they want to initiate the transfer. Once Verizon has the persons info, they will need to contact Verizon and assume ownership of the contract. If they have Verizon service already its easy, but if its new customer they will have to go through a credit check to make sure they can carry the service. Assuming they are approved for service, once they call Verizon the lines will be transferred. You will receive an email saying the transfer was in progress, but you can also confirm it went though by trying to log in to your online Verizon account (it should lock within a couple hours after the transfer. The transfer of service takes about a day or so to fully complete. Any balance on the account will be billed to or if its a credit it will get refunded to you.

There you go. You keep your original numbers, get out of your Verizon contract, and make some money.

I think I covered everything, but I recommend you read up on the AOL on Verizon’s website. If you have any questions, feel free to post them. I wrote this pretty quick so if something doesn’t make sense or you need more clarification let me know.”

Source: http://rootzwiki.com/topic/42073-how-to-sell-verizon-contract-and-keep-your-number/

How to keep unlimited data with Verizon…

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For those like myself who still have unlimited data and refuse to let it go, here are your options:

Option 1: Buy at Full Retail

If you’d like to keep unlimited data going forward on Verizon, all you need to do is continue to buy phones at full retail. This means paying $500-$650 for top tier 4G LTE Android phones, so that you don’t have to sign a contract. You see, as you sign contracts, that’s when Verizon has the power to take away your current unlimited data plan and force you into something you aren’t going to be satisfied with. If you buy at full retail, all you need to do is then slap your current SIM card into the new phone and continue to enjoy your current monthly plan. Since there is no upfront discount or contract signing, you get an expensive new phone on the same data plan you already had.

This is probably the least attractive option upfront for most consumers to choose, since it’s the most expensive, but we still feel that it’s your best overall. If you can force yourself to save up for phones and pay for them at full retail once your contract has run out, not only are you then keeping unlimited data, but you are also turning your account status to “month-to-month,” which means Verizon no longer has control over you. With a month-to-month account, you can walk away at any time without having to pay an ETF (early termination fee).

The best place to order phones at full retail from Verizon is through the Iconic Portal.
Option 2: Steal Another Line’s Upgrade

If you have more than one line on your Verizon account, the easiest way to keep unlimited data is to steal or transfer upgrades between lines and then use the newly purchased phones on your line with the unlimited data. Let me try to explain further, as there are details you don’t want to miss.

If you have multiple lines on an account, Verizon will let you take upgrades and transfer them between lines as long as the transfer is going from phone to phone. For example, my situation looks like this – 3 line account, two have unlimited data, with a third setup as a feature phone that runs me $9.99 per month. Since I keep my phones on a month-to-month status for the most part, I almost always have an upgrade available on one of my two unlimited data lines. So should I want to upgrade one of those two unlimited lines and keep unlimited data, all I need to do is transfer my upgrade over to that feature phone line and use the upgrade for a new smartphone.

There are a couple of ways to do this. The first would be to walk into a store, tell a sales rep that you have an upgrade to use, but don’t want to lose unlimited data. So you are going to transfer your upgrade to a different line, use the upgrade there, and then actually use the phone on an unlimited data line. They should be able to walk you through the process with no problem, just make sure when paperwork and signatures are flying around, that your unlimited data line isn’t being touched. They may have to add, remove, or tweak a data package on the line that you are technically using the upgrade for, but again, just make sure no changes are happening to your unlimited line. If you are like me, and use a feature phone line for upgrades to keep unlimited data, you can always remove a data package and return that line to a feature phone line of $9.99 per month once the entire process is all sorted out and your new phone is running on your unlimited line.

The second method involves ordering a phone online from Verizon’s store. To begin, you need to transfer an upgrade to a line that you don’t care that much about (a feature phone or tiered data line). You can transfer upgrades in the dashboard through My Verizon. Once you have the upgrade transferred to a non-unlimited data line (could be a feature phone line), you walk through the ordering process with that line, buy a phone, and likely deal with some sort of smartphone data package add-on (likely 2GB for $30).

Once the phone arrives, some recommend that you activate it on that feature phone/other line temporarily using the instructions that arrive with the phone. Be aware that this will also temporarily activate the previously mentioned smartphone data package. After activating, you will then need to call customer service to get the feature phone placed back in the system on that line as a $9.99 feature phone. This will kill off the 2GB $30 smartphone plan you just had on there and return your account to its previous state. Once that has been completed, grab the SIM card from your current phone with unlimited data and place it in the new smartphone that you would like to use on your unlimited line.

This may seem like a lot of work, and I’m not 100% sure those extra steps are needed, but it is a proven method. Should you receive your new phone and activate it immediately on your unlimited data line without addressing the feature phone/other line, there is a chance that Verizon will take that as you using an unlimited line as an upgrade, which could in turn wipe out your unlimited data. I personally don’t think that’s possible, since you are only making changes to your feature phone line and not your unlimited line, but it’s better to play it safe.

*Note – You may be able to remove the smartphone plan on your feature phone line through your account at Verizon’s website. Also, customer service can look back through your history to find the feature phone you’d like to use over and over again, so there is no need to keep that feature phone handy.

Keep in mind that even if you transfer your upgrade to another line and then use the upgrade, you are extending your contract on the line which the upgrade originated (could be your unlimited line), not the line you transferred the upgrade to.

This is probably going to be the most commonly used, assuming you have an account with more than one line attached because it is the least expensive.
Option 3: Find an Awesome VZW Store Manager

This may sound silly, but there really are ways for managers to override systems and return your account to unlimited data after purchasing a new phone at a discounted price. I haven’t personally gone this route, but a number of readers over the last year have emailed in with their success stories from select Verizon stores and dealing with employees who help get authorization on unlimited plans. I don’t have any stores to recommend going to to keep those unlimited plans, but I’m sure readers can help you out in the comments.
Option 4: Sign-up for New Service, Cancel, and Pay the ETF

This last option for you should technically work, but it definitely sounds like a lot of work and won’t save you all that much in the end. Should you choose to go this route, this is how it could go down.

If you sign-up a new line on your account or even completely new account altogether, you could in theory buy a phone at a subsidized price for say $199, then cancel the line or account, pay an ETF (early termination fee) of $350, and come out slightly lower than a full retail priced phone. Most top tier phones run you $600 to $650 off-contract, but at $199 for the subsidized price plus $350 for an ETF, you are looking at somewhere around $550. And that’s assuming that Verizon doesn’t charge you up front for the first month’s data and minute package, an activation fee, and any other new account costs.

I know unlimited data is important, but that all sounds like one massive headache. To keep it simple and clean, save up another $100 and buy the phone outright.

Source: http://www.droid-life.com/2013/09/17/keep-unlimited-data-verizon-upgrade/

Verizon customers lose unlimited data plans if they upgrade to iPhone 5

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Verizon (well all of the cell phone companies) just sucks (sorry if you do not like the language but it’s true, they really do). If you want to get the iPhone 5 on Verizon you will lose your unlimited data plan. These cell phone companies are like health insurance…we keep paying more and more for less and less and they keep having record profits. Go figure. Spread this around and make Verizon aware that we are not happy about this.

I did a little digging, and as it turns out these large companies have commercial general liability insurance, obviously. Well as it turns out, they have such good coverage that it would even protect them from customer complaints or class action lawsuits. There is no way to complain to them directly, or in any way affect them. Vote with your wallet people, it is just about the only way to make yourself heard.

Of course you can always buy the phone unlocked (just buy it outright from apple or verizon not on contract) for $650 and keep your plan. But come on, $650?

http://www.bgr.com/2012/09/13/verizon-iphone-5-unlimited-data-plan/

It appears that ATT and Verizon are ripping (some of ) us off…

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This is from a blog on CNET. This is something they have argued for years but now it seems like that tables need to be turned in favor of the customer given certain circumstances. Essentially what has happened is that carriers charge more for their cell plans so that customers can get a cheaper phone – so what happens when a customer buys a phone at full price or uses a phone they had previously? shouldnt they get a discounted plan?

“…regarding the price of your monthly service even though you have had to pay for a phone at full price.

When the FCC questioned wireless carriers in 2009 and 2010 about their early termination fees, which customers must pay if they terminate their contracts before the term is up, the wireless carriers argued the fee existed because it offset the cost of the phone during that contract period. They explained that a portion of the fee that customers pay each month for their service was going toward paying off the cost of the subsidy that the customer got when he bought a new phone on the network.

In other words, the $200 a customer pays to get the phone is only a fraction of the total cost of owning that device. The carrier picks up the other $400 or so on that device. And the carrier claims it recovers the rest of the cost over the life of the two-year contract.

But what happens when you buy the phone at full price? Or what about when your contract ends? Does the cost of your monthly service get reduced because you’ve finished paying off your device? The answer to this question under most carrier plans is no. (T-Mobile is the only major U.S. carrier that reduces your monthly service charge once your phone subsidy is paid off.)

I’d argue that if carriers are subsidizing phones and arguing that they must charge ETFs (early termination fees) to cover the cost of phones when customers cancel their service early, then they should reduce the cost of the service once the phone is paid off. And they should offer a discount on the service if you bring your own phone.” – Source

Tethering and Verizon: Yes you can now download free tethering apps legally:)

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First, what is tethering? Tethering is the ability to take the 3G/4G internet on your phone and use it on your PC. So if you are somewhere where there is no wifi but would like to connect to the internet on your laptop, just use your phones internet on your computer.

Just yesterday it was announced that the FCC has told verizon that it can no longer block apps from the Google Play store that allow people to tether their phones to the computer. Why was verizon blocking them? Because Verizon offered its own service that did this which of course was $20-$30 a month (I cannot recall actual price but it was around there). So now you can download those apps and use them for free. Yay!

Now notice I did not mention apple but only google. Apple has complete control of their app store and blocks these app, so iPhone users are out of luck for now. The only way to do this with your iPhone is to jailbreak it.

So what are these apps I speak of? The most popular is probably PdaNet. This app offers both a free and paid version. The free version will allow you to connect to any website for free unless it is an HTTPS site, meaning you cannot connect to your email. If you pay $15 you will be able to connect. So feel free to download and use. You no longer have to worry about getting in trouble, however, please watch your data usage if you do not have the unlimited plan.

For detailed info about the FCC ruling see here

Verizon’s shared data plans

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Well these plans seem to be terrible for people who use any amount of data. This will increase my plan and more than likely everyone’s. I mean who thought Verizon or ATT doing anything would save people money? The competition between these two is to see who can raise their prices the most. I currently am on the unlimited plan, so its $40 to add my line and I get unlimited data. Why should I pay the same for less?

Source: http://phandroid.com/2012/06/12/share-everything-family-plans-introduced-may-not-be-right-choice-for-everyone/

 

Verizon getting rid of unlimited data for customers who are granfathered in

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Verizon is not very customer friendly. First they are now charging you $30 to upgrade your phone and now they are going to get rid of unlimited data plans. I thought competition was supposed to keep prices down yet every cell phone company is increasing prices all the time. I tend to notice the same thing with my trash company. There are five trash companies in my neighborhood and each raises their prices each year.

Here is the article about Verizon: http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/16/verizon-cfo-says-grandfathered-unlimited-plans-on-the-way-out/