Smartphone Upgrade loop hole

[faatdaat]

Does anyone have experience and knowledge of the following scenario.

I have a family plan which having two smartphones with unlimited data plan and two dumb phones with no data plan.  I plan to do an upgrade to one of the two dumb phone with a smartphone and then select a tier data plan for this line.  Activate the new smartphone for a shart period of time, then replace this new smartphone with the old dumb phone or a new dumb phone.  The new smartphone will be re-activated to replace one of the two existing smartphone. Doing all these steps is tring to get a new smartphone without paying the full price and keeping the unlimited data plan. So, I have a few questions, first, will Verizon allow me to activate a LTE 4G smartphone to replace a 3G Iphone without changing the data plan? Second, Will the new tier data plan on the third smartphone line be dropped after I replaced the new smartphone with a dumb phone?

[vzw_customer_support]

Never fear help is here!

@faatdaat, upgrading to a new phone is always a fun time. I understand you wanting to keep your unlimited data plan and I’m here to help clarifying your concerns.

To answer your first question, yes, you will be able to activate a 4G device on the line that currently has a 3G Smartphone and still keep your unlimited data plan.

In regards to your second question, if the device you are activating on the line does not require a data plan you can remove the tiered data plan at any time.

I trust this has fully addressed your concerns. Keep me posted if you need further assistance. I’ll be more than happy to assist.

John B

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSuppport

[lewisr13]

Be sure to remove the data plan after you activate the dumb phone, it may not be done automatically.

[BDA]

I just did this exact thing, I went to a corporate store and told the guy what I wanted to do and he took care of it without me even having to do anything. He upgraded the basic phone and then immediately switched it to my line and reactivated the basic phone. It was incredibly simple and I did not have to do a thing. I went to Best Buy to do this first and was told no way and that there was no choice but to switch to a share everything plan. I asked the Verizon guy about that and he said it maybe set up in their system so they have no choice as to what to do.

[Labrynthfire]

I find it absurd that we have to pay for dummy phones to keep our unlimited data. I did the math and it the cost over time to pay for lines you dont need is only beneficial if you are using more than 5 gb or so of data a month. Verizon wins on this one.

[lewisr13]

He's talking about dumb phones(ie. basic phones) not dummy phones. They actually use the lines the dumb phones are on, there are 4 people.

[Labrynthfire]

I understand he is actually using the lines but many people are not. I was actually instructed by a verizon rep to get a new line to upgrade my phone and then decrease the service and move the device to the other line. My point overall is we should not have to jockey phones around to get our service/plans the way we would like them. If it possible to go through all the trouble why not just do it for us in the beginning..

[EmagehtmaI]

I think I understand what he's saying. He's saying that if you have a "dumb phone" that is eligible for upgrade, use THAT upgrade to upgrade to a smart phone. You can add a $30 tiered data plan to the line without switching to shared data. THEN, you activate brand new smart phone on the line that has unlimited data, then REACTIVATE the old "dumb phone" on the line that you just upgraded, then drop the data plan. In theory it should work, BUT... doesn't Verizon have some sort of clause in the Terms & Service when you're upgrading that you can't downgrade your freshly upgraded smartphone to a "dumb phone" within a certain time period? I'm almost positive that's the case, because Verizon's people aren't stupid, and have foreseen this kind of stuff.

[lewisr13]

No they don't care if you transfer it to a different line.

[faatdaat]

you are right on. Three to four years ago, I was able to reactivated a dumb phone after upgraded to a smartphone with data plan. The data plan was dropped automatically. The only unknown is that has Verizon changed the policy on it. The response from customer support message suggests that the policy has not changed as long as the reactiviated dumb  phone is really a basic feature phone.