We just got the kids phones with Verizon. Get a company discount, also get unlimited data thanks to a company plan. But the catch - you can’t turn on hotspot. H called verizon yesterday about this and got nowhere - apparently, you need to pay 30$ more per month if you want hotspot capability with our plan. WTH?
I wonder what the discount is for unlimited data. We are getting 25% off for employer discount, but will not give up unlimited. I think all our phones are month to month, because we don’t buy phones through Verizon.
If one purchases a phone from someone other than Verizon, but the new phone is an upgrade when compared to the old phone…will one be charged the $70 upgrade fee and pushed back to the $40 line fee?
Not that I recall, but that is a good question, I remember an activation fee for Hs phone,( which was bought through amazon) which was $30, but I looked up our past bills when I changed phones and I didnt see any extra charges.
We’ve had the same 700 minute plan forever.
You can buy phone from Costco. I think tax is cheaper at Costco.
OMG, this is an incredible thread - 2 smart phones and 2 flip tops for me. OP, thank you so much. I expect Verizon stock to take a hit tomorrow based on your post.
Were you aware of them dropping contracts and subsidies:
http://recode.net/2015/08/07/verizons-new-plans-are-simpler-not-necessarily-cheaper/
I love Costco. No BS, what you see is what you get.
This is why I left Verizon.
When they dropped the price on the 6GB plan, I got text messages, emails and pop-ups on the website constantly letting me know I could switch to 6 GB from 4GB for the same amount of money. When I actually did it, my bill went down $30 a month and I don’t know why. I just accept it.
I’m waiting for the cable price to drop, now that I’ve heard Disney said fewer people are subscribing to ESPN. Then I actually can say that cost in my retirement budget will drop.
A few updates:
I verified with Verizon that my monthly fee for the out of contract phones has indeed dropped from $40 to $15. The first $100 retroactive credit has posted to my account. An additional $70 credit shows as posting next month. That brings the credit total to $200. I was promised $250. So the representative has promised to investigate and call me back later today.
Thank you for posting this. We are struggling with the decision to leave Verizon and go to Cricket wireless. I posted a question a couple of days ago.
We currently have three off contract phones with upgrades and three on contract. The on contract includes one flip phone, one smart phone and one Ipad. Because of this, we feel kind of stuck because leaving would mean we have to pay a termination fee for those devices on contract.
If we can get a cost reduction, we might just stay on another two years and hopefully by then, we can break free.
My D studies abroad and I didn’t realize, I could deactivate her phone while she is away and save on the monthly fee. While she is abroad, she only uses the phone on wi-fi. She would still have this option without us paying for the call, data and text that she doesn’t use overseas. She has her own local phone for that.
My new phone arrived today. I took the kid’s upgrade and finally got a smart phone. 0.99 for an iPhone 5c - I’ll take it! I am handing my old QWERTY key board phone to my mom who is still trying to text with an old school flip phone, bless her heart. :)]
As a reminder, Verizon’s new plans go live on August 13.
Sam’s Club has a promotion booklet listing special pricing for Plus members on Saturday. It sounds too good to be true but apparently for my out of contract line, I can get the Samsung Galaxy S6 for $0 down (instead of today’s price of $97 with a 2 year contract of $40/line), and then it is $40/month, no contract, with a $25/month credit reducing it to $15/month. The catch is numbers are handed out between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.
The new Verizon plans make a few small changes. I went over this on the phone with them.
First, they’ve increased data amounts somewhat at the top end of their promoted plans, notably you get 2GB more for the same $80 as before, for a total of 12GB instead of 10. (They used to offer 15GB for $100 but the sizes now go to 20GB for $120 and up.)
Second, they’ve changed the “Edge” or “Device Payment Plan”. Now it’s that you pay $20 for the line instead of $40 minus a credit based on your data plan. This is $5 better for small plans - which received a $15 credit each month - and $5 worse for large plans - which received a $25 credit each month. Thus, if you’re going to upgrade and you want to pay for the phone this way you should consider keeping your current plan if it’s enough data for you. So for example, say you buy a new phone for $35/month … in the new system, that would be $20 + $35 versus the old or current at ($40 - x) + $35. The x would be $15, $20 or $25, so you see the new way can at best save you $5 or at worst cost you $5.
I called and was able to reduce my current plan $10 a month because I used less data per 10G that I’ve been charged, Verizon guy said my family rarely used more than 5G, so the 6g was enough. Next month when my daughters contract is ending, I get a $25 discount for just her number. So eventually I will get a total of $110 deduction. I’m currently paying $210 and my husband doesn’t even have smart phone. But he will get one.
So it seems beneficial to be an existing customer with Verizon because it’s $5 cheaper than not, it will cost $20 to start otherwise. For existing customer it’s $15 per month.
It works out for me. We were on the 500 MB (yes that’s right MB)plan for $20 a month plus $40 for each of our 3 smart phones. So instead of $140 it’s $90.
Just want to say thank you for this thread. I called Verizon as we have one of our 5 phones (family plan) that is past its 2 years and we will reduce our monthly bill by $25. I was also told that a supervisor would pursue getting a retroactive credit, possibly for 3 months and would get back to me. Just reading this thread and realize no one got back to me so I need to go call…not a huge amount of money but every bit helps!
As an FYI, after 2 years you’ve paid off the subsidy that’s built into the line charge so they can drop the price. They should let people know but that’s not how most businesses run. Best example maybe ever: flyers at Heathrow have been asked for a long time to show boarding passes in stores. Why? Because if the flight was out of Britain, there is no VAT (20%) and rather than give that to the flyer the store can legally keep it. You don’t have to show your boarding pass but they didn’t tell you that.