This is just an FYI to all those who may fall into the trap I did. I wish I had know about this prior so I would have made my choices accordingly.
VSW has changed the upgrade plans for those with older unlimited data plans. If you use a line upgrade to get a smartphone that line not only gets the 24 month contract but you will also be forced into a min of $30/month data plan.
I have 3 phones on my account. 1 of them have unlimited data and the other two are simple flip phones (no data).
For 3 years I have used one of these non-data plan lines to upgrade the smartphone and then would move the phone to the unlimited line and the flip phone back to the non-data line. This worked great as my 2 non-data lines had contracts that ended on opposite years.
This last time I upgraded, In January, I explained to the sales person what I wanted to do, they told me they do this all the time and they would take care of it.
My Feb bill was a bit higher than I expected so I called support. I showed them the $30 data fee and how I did not want this on a flip phone. They stated oh yes we understand, will fix it and credit you. Perfect I thought. Sure enough March's bill came and the credit was there but the $30 data charge had not been removed. I called support again and this time they dropped the hammer on me.
My credit was an "Inconvience" credit, it was a range of $3-$8 per line, it was not a reversal of the $30 data charge. This is when I find out that VZW has now changed thier smartphone plan upgrades for accounts who are on grandfarthered in plans. If I switch to thier current plan, ie lose my unlimited data then they are more than happy to remove the data charge. So now I'm stuck paying $30 a month for the next 22 months = $660 in charges for something I will not use. A full contract 24 months $30/month is $720 which is more that the cost of most smartphones.
If this is your situation please be sure you have all the facts prior to getting tricked into a contract worth more that the darn phone you get for "FREE!!!!"
