After searching around and trying to find some sort of loophole – ANY sort of loophole – unfortunately, there seems to be no way to keep my Verizon Wireless unlimited data plan when I upgrade, UNLESS I purchase an iPhone at its $700 full retail price.
But you think that’s going to stop me from doing so?
Silly you.
In fact, I have already begun my scheme to keep my unlimited data plan AND make Verizon’s life a living heck in the process.
Just last week, I stopped back at the Verizon Wireless store in Colonie Center and purchased two more $25 Verizon Wireless gift cards. And I’m still buying them.
I also talked to my friend Mark “Zip” Pisani, my old college buddy and fellow broadcaster on WHCL, who has become quite the expert of late on cell phones and technology. He recommended that if I go with this “purchase a phone” project, that I buy the Droid DNA rather than the iPhone.
I’m taking that into consideration.
But I hear there’s a phone coming up that may give me everything I want. A phone that might actually do what I expect a phone to do, and be able to provide me with both functionality and fun.
It’s a BlackBerry 10. And it’s being announced today.
Now the thing is – I appreciate my BlackBerry cell phones. They’re dependable, they last a long time, and they’re just the kind of phone I need. I don’t need to launch cartoon birds at pigs. I don’t need to watch Lawrence of Arabia on a little screen.
So if I don’t get the new iPhone… and if i don’t get the Droid DNA… I’m going to get the upcoming BlackBerry 10 with the push-button QWERTY keyboard to which I’ve grown accustomed. According to this Forbes article, Verizon Wireless should have the new BlackBerry 10 in stock by May. Maybe June at the latest.
If I save all my gift cards, I should be able to purchase either calling device – the iPhone or the BlackBerry or even the Droid DNA – by that time. I can purchase it free and clear, keep my unlimited data plan, and Verizon can go climb a tree. In fact, how cool would it be to pull this “I’d like to pay for this item in gift cards, please – lots of gift cards, please” – on the day when the new iPhone comes out?
Pardon me, I’m feeling a little bit like Simon Bar Sinister right now, as he plans one of his fiendish schemes. And it feels good.
Look out, Verizon. I’m coming to one lucky store on a busy, busy day, with a deck of Verizon Wireless gift cards. And you won’t be able to stop me.
Nyah nyah…
Chuck The Writer 
I know it’s the principle of the thing – unlimited data – and I also know Verizon has no principles, based only upon my personal business, landline and wireless experiences with them.
But…
How much data do you really use? I have the 5GB plan because I pay extra for tethering/hot-spot service. In my craziest busiest billing periods I’ve never crack 3GB, and I’m usually less than 2GB. Do you use a lot more data due to photos and video?
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ErinsDad – To be totally honest, my current BlackBerry only allows me to do certain things, and it barely can handle a YouTube clip. That being said, if I ever did want to go to a super-powered smartphone, I want the same assurance from the Red Check Boys that they won’t pull this “bait and switch” by offering me one thing and then taking it away once I accept it. I don’t care if I download the entire James Bond movie series and watch it on my cell phone; I want to be able to do that without having Verizon show up with changed “terms of service” and just say “surprise, fool!” to me.
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As someone who shares a Verizon plan with a data-hog, I find their new requirement that you purchase a “data plan” complete crap! I have had the unlimited plan for years (I got my first verizon phone in 2000 if I remember correctly) and found it insulting that they first took the new every two option away and now they are taking away my ability to keep my current plan AND get a newer phone without having to pay full price for the phone. In order to not go over data limits each month I would have to get the 10g data plan which before taxes and fees is already over $250 for my 4 phone plan. You would think they would want to keep reliable, long-term customers happy. I am seriously thinking of dropping them when I hit the end of my contract because they are unyeilding and inflexible and I don’t have $400-900 for a new phone for each line. It is disappointing as I enjoy the reliability, but ultimately it will come down to cost.
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Love it, love it
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just a thought….T-Mob or Sprint
I understand that ATT and VZW have LTE and the best coverage but T-Mob and Sprint are upgrading to LTE and expanding their networks.
Less expensive and if you buy the phone at full retail I believe that you would receive a further reduction on the monthly $$
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/individual-plans.aspx
http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/plan/plan_wall.jsp?tabId=pt_individual_tab&INTNAV=ATG:HE:IndPlans
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Hey Chuck-
You don’t exactly need a “brand new” phone to keep your data. I have survived and so has my unlimited data by not upgrading. Instead I find lightly used Smartphones on Ebay or Craigslist with clean ESN numbers. You just go to the verizon store and activate it under your current line.
This saves your data, your wallet, and screws over verizon…activities you seem to want to achieve.
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Tim –
I appreciate that. But I shouldn’t have to buy second-hand or “lightly used” cell phones just to keep what I have. Verizon should be able to provide me with a clean new phone just like it would to any other customer, without having to make me take three lefts to make a right. So if they’re going to be jerk-o-saurs about how they deal with me… the least I can do is return the favor. 🙂
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Straight talk has unlimited talk, text and data for $45 a month. I ditched the money hungry Verizon and couldn’t be happier. Great coverage and no worries!
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I still say your gift card scheme is lame, but if you insist on being a jackwad, here’s an idea: go in and pay with quarters. That will be a much bigger inconvenience than swiping some gift cards, and it’s a nice tribute to the pay phone era.
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Edward – I could do that, but here’s the problem. If I show up with sacks of quarters, Verizon can say to me, “Hey, we don’t have to accept payment this way.” A lot of places don’t accept rolled coin or loose coin. But with the Verizon Wireless gift cards, they HAVE to accept them because they are considered legal tender for Verizon Wireless purchases. Ha ha ha ha ha…
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700 / 25 = 28
So they have to scan 28 to 30 cards … sorry, I don’t see this a big deal. Im with you, but…
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Mike – that’s assuming I keep the cards at a $25/card amount. Maybe I’ll start getting some $5 and $10 cards while I’m at it. 😀
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I just don’t see where making some Verizon employee “pay” for their company’s unfair practices is a good thing. The employee didn’t make the rules – but that employee is the one who will pay for it.
Verizon will just see that they made yet another sale to some schlep.
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CSSM – by that argument, one should always take whatever bill hikes are given by Time Warner Cable, and not complain about it because the employees aren’t part of their company’s unfair practices. I guess I can only hope that the Verizon employee who draws the short straw has a sense of humor about it. That, or Verizon could just e-mail me, tell me that they’ll continue to give me the unlimited data plan if I get a new phone, and this little standoff won’t ever take place. Verizon drew the line in the sand. I’m just crossing over it.
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Chuck – I understand why you are doing what you are doing. I am not one to keep my mouth shut when faced with what I feel are unfair pricing practices/bad customer service. (Time Warner was an excellent example as I have had several conversations with them)
However – I always go out of my way to preface my conversation with “please understand I am not complaining about or yeling at YOU – you are just the unlucky one that happened to answer the phone”.
On the other hand – that sole Verizon employee is the one getting dumped on – so that you can make your point. Like I said – Verizon doesn’t care how you pay for the phone – they just want you to buy it. And I’m pretty sure that (probaby minimum wage or close to it) employee that you encounter at the Verizon Store isn’t the one that “drew the line in the sand”.
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CSSM – You make good points. However, every time I’ve ever entered a Verizon Wireless store, somebody invariably runs up to me and makes me “sign in” before I can eve see a customer service rep. It’s almost as if I’m being shoehorned or cattle-driven into various spots. Also, I’ve discovered that these (probably minimum wage or close to it) employees have a nasty tendency to tell you that you’re signed up for one program, when in fact they have signed you up for an entirely different (and more expensive) program. This has happened to me at least three different times with the Red Check Boys. So if they’re not training their Verizon employees properly, that’s the company’s fault, not mine. It’s almost like Verizon wants its customers to just act like sheep and take whatever highly expensive program they can sign them up for, or they’ll just do it and you won’t notice until the bill arrives. Such is life. As I’ve said before, all Verizon has to do is tell me, “Chuck, you can upgrade to whatever phone you want and you won’t lose your unlimited data plan,” without putting anything hidden inside, and I’ll play nice. Just treat me like a customer instead of like an account.
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You tell them Chuck. I agree, we are stuck at this time too because our plan is currently unlimited and if we upgrade or attempt to purchase a phone at less than full retail we will lose that plan. Bend over America, here comes another shot at us.
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I didn’t read the other threads but here is how I did it…but it requires having a family plan.
In my case my wife has an unlimited plan and I don’t. I upgraded my line with the new iPhone 5 and then I called up and switched phones between my wife and I. Now my wife has the unlimited plan and an iPhone 5
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Here is the solution – buy the iphone straight from Apple.
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@7 Chuck
That logic makes no sense, just because you shouldn’t have to do something doesn’t mean that you don’t have to – especially as a consumer in a limited choice scenario. You’re arguing that you should be entitled to keep your current contract terms in perpetuity – which isn’t realistic. And since you can’t, you’ve decided to fall into line, but to buy your new full priced phone with gift cardst o stick it to the man? I don’t get that. How about taking the suggestion in comment 6, and taking advantage of the actual terms of the contract by buying a reduced price, previously owned phone and in so doing saving yourself several hundred dollars and keeping several hundred more out of the pockets of VZW.
Your plan hits them nowhere, buying a used phone at least hits their bottom line.
I can understand if you don’t want a used device, but to suggest that you’re making some point of protest against the new terms by buying a phone with gift cards is just silly.
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Huh –
Here’s my concern with purchasing a previously used phone. I don’t know where that phone came from. I don’t know if it’s stolen. I don’t know if it’s been jailbroken. I don’t know if it’s got some sort of malware on it. And I don’t want Verizon to use an excuse to say, “Well, we’re not going to activate your phone, and you’re out of pocket, tough luck, son.”
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Chuck:
I do understand those concerns. As someone who buys items off CL and Ebay fairly regularly, there is certainly a peace of mind that is missing and which must instead be replaced with a healthy dose of skepticism. I therefore take all the necessary precautions in those situations and feel entirely comfortable in the transactions I make. I always assure I have the necessary information should something go wrong, e.g., a name, phone number, address, credit card dispute process, etc. . I’m probably at this point making it sound more scary than it is, so I’ll stop.
With VZW phones, you have the ability to check the ESN at any point to make certain it’s clear. I’ve bought a half dozen phones from Ebay and CL without any issue. It’s saved me hundreds of dollars and allowed me to keep my unlimited data plan.
I think you should bear in mind too that buying a full priced device isn’t going to keep them in the future from eliminating unlimited data for everyone.
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CNET had an article about 5 or 6 weeks ago about this subject. The bad news was, that once your contract is up and you start paying monthly, they are under no obligation to honor the grandfathered unlimited plan. The good news was, there is apparently fewer and fewer people each year using your type of plan (most people don’t want to pony up the big bucks for a new phone), so it’s not worth the bad publicity. So far.
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I dont get it. You are still giving Verizon $700 of your hard earned money. They dont care how they get their money (cash, gift cards, etc), as long as they get it. A better option in my opinion would be to purchase the new cell phone from another store, such as Amazon, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Walmart, etc. Dont give Verizon your money. Once you have the new phone, you can activate it on Verizon’s website.
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Confused – I understand what you’re suggesting. Somehow in the back of my mind, however, this whole endeavor is something Verizon doesn’t want published. They want people to just bend over and take whatever payment setup they suggest. It still goes back to Verizon offering something and taking it away; it’s “we promised you something” and reneging on their promise. And they need to understand that if they’re going to make us customers jump through hoops, then I’m going to make a very public purchase of their phone – in the most uncomfortable way they can imagine. They threw down the gauntlet. I’m just picking it up and slapping their faces with it.
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Once you get your new phone, watch the $30 activation fee they put on the bill after you activate a new phone, without any notice ahead of time.
I recently purchased and activated a new phone @ Radio Shack, and was shocked to find the (previously undisclosed) $30 charge on my first bill. I scoured the internet for a way out – no joy.
It appears Vz started charging $30 activation in 2012 just because they can. If somebody has a solution, please post.
I agree, Verizon has a ham-handed, monopolistic way of treating longstanding customers.
I am a senior citizen and planned carefully for what I thought this was going to cost. To compensate for the surprise charge, I won’t be adding text as intended. That will cost Verizon more than the $30 over time.
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