If I buy a used phone after June 28th, do I keep my unlimited data plan?

yiannis

Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
Messages
363
Reaction score
2
Dear all,

Droid-life says that if we buy an unlocked phone (full retail) after 06/28/12 we will still be able to keep our unlimited data plans. Does this hold for used phones in the secondary market?

Thanks!
 

lr54912

New Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
19
Reaction score
0
Yes, you should be able to. If you currently have a 3g phone and buy a 4g phone, lets say on e-bay or Craiglist, all you have to do is take it to a Verizon Corporate store and ask to get a SIM Card for it, you should not have to pay for the SIM card, however if you go to a retailer store for Verizon, they will charge you up to $25 for the SIM Card. Once you get the SIM card in the Corporate Office, make sure you let them know that nothing on your current plan should change, specially the current unlimited data plan that you have.
 
OP
Y

yiannis

Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
Messages
363
Reaction score
2
Yes, you should be able to. If you currently have a 3g phone and buy a 4g phone, lets say on e-bay or Craiglist, all you have to do is take it to a Verizon Corporate store and ask to get a SIM Card for it, you should not have to pay for the SIM card, however if you go to a retailer store for Verizon, they will charge you up to $25 for the SIM Card. Once you get the SIM card in the Corporate Office, make sure you let them know that nothing on your current plan should change, specially the current unlimited data plan that you have.

I assume that those of us with an LTE phone will be able to keep our grandfathered LTE SIM CARDS.
 

cybertec69

Silver Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2010
Messages
2,205
Reaction score
267
Location
Staten Island, NY
It is all explained for you right here, enjoy.
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by kparks

I got a question when I get my gs3 I plan on selling it on eBay do I need to do anything with the sim I'm assuming I ship everything unactivated... I'm keeping my tbolt!! And when I order my next htc phone :) ill just get another sim



When you order your next phone you will have to pay full price for it, don't forget the SG III you are planning to sell "which you bought at a subsidized price" still belongs to Verizon for 2 years "until it is payed off", reason for them locking you in for another two years is so they can recoup the additional $350 for the original price of the phone, someone has to pay Samsung for the device, so by them giving you a break so you can upgrade to a brand spanking new device at a fraction of said devices full retail cost, they lock you in so said device will be paid off in full, THEY "Verizon" are making the payments for YOU "Joe Blow" at a 2 year rate, of course it is coming out of your account, it's just so you don't have to pay the full price up front, but after two years the phone is payed for BY YOU, and then is yours TO DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH IT, so you can continue on a month to month basis, unless you buy another subsidized phone, you again will be locked in for two more years " so you can pay for the phones full price at a two year rate, it's like a loan, a two year loan".

Reason Verizon locks people in for two years is so they can recoup the money's for the phone that was sold to you INITIALLY at a subsidized price, someone has to pay for the phone, and it sure is not going to be Verizon, that is why if you BUY a phone at fully price, Verizon has no incentive and can not lock you in for another two years "all they are now is doing is selling you their service", because the phone is payed for, no risks for them, another reason they bang you for that $350 early termination fee "the termination fee goes down the longer you have the phone", so in case you decide to leave, they still get the money so they can pay off the phone to whom ever vendor they purchased it from. Samsung, LG, HTC, Sony are not in the charity business. You all need to remember, Verizon is a service provider "they provide you phone service", they are NOT a Vendor for smartphones, the only reason they are able to sell you a phone at subsidized price is because that is the deal they have made with the phone suppliers, so they can get people to be able to purchase a phone and use on their network, win win for both Verizon and the phone manufacturers, since they know that the majority of people can not afford to go out and spend $500 plus on a new phone outright, so this helps the consumer by beign able to have the latest new gadget on their network at a fraction of the cost of the device if sold at full price at the outset, the reason they lock you in for two years is because they need to recoup that additional money for the device so they can pay the phone manufacturers, without such deal, everyone loses, especially the phone manufacturers.

And in regards to your SIM question, I believe the new LTE Sim is build into the chipset, that is the way that Qualcomm will be going with the S4 chipset, it uses less power this way.

Sent from my HTC Rezound using Droid Forums​


Last edited by cybertec69; Today at 11:03 AM.​
 
Last edited:

cybertec69

Silver Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2010
Messages
2,205
Reaction score
267
Location
Staten Island, NY
I assume that those of us with an LTE phone will be able to keep our grandfathered LTE SIM CARDS.
All new phones will not have anymore LTE SIM cards, looks like the LTE Sim is now build into the chipset, more streamed line approach which uses less power.
 

cybertec69

Silver Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2010
Messages
2,205
Reaction score
267
Location
Staten Island, NY
Yes, you should be able to. If you currently have a 3g phone and buy a 4g phone, lets say on e-bay or Craiglist, all you have to do is take it to a Verizon Corporate store and ask to get a SIM Card for it, you should not have to pay for the SIM card, however if you go to a retailer store for Verizon, they will charge you up to $25 for the SIM Card. Once you get the SIM card in the Corporate Office, make sure you let them know that nothing on your current plan should change, specially the current unlimited data plan that you have.
I bought my HTC Rezound on eBay, went to a Verizon corporate store, they put in my new SIM card and activated my phone to my existing plan "with unlimited data", now I am on a month to month plan, Verizon does not care since they are no more liable for the costs of the phone, I bought it outright myself, they are just selling me their service. So if I want to keep my unlimited my next phone will also have to be purchased at retail cost, or whatever I pay for it, they don't care. People have to remember, Verizon is a service provider, not a Hardware Vendor.
 
Last edited:

tgyberg

Silver Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
3,961
Reaction score
319
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Current Phone Model
Pixel 2XL & Pixel C
All new phones will not have anymore LTE SIM cards, looks like the LTE Sim is now build into the chipset, more streamed line approach which uses less power.

That will be nice not having to mess with sim cards anymore!
 

cindylike24

Member
Joined
May 19, 2012
Messages
35
Reaction score
2
Location
Vincennes, IN
Yes, you should be able to. If you currently have a 3g phone and buy a 4g phone, lets say on e-bay or Craiglist, all you have to do is take it to a Verizon Corporate store and ask to get a SIM Card for it, you should not have to pay for the SIM card, however if you go to a retailer store for Verizon, they will charge you up to $25 for the SIM Card. Once you get the SIM card in the Corporate Office, make sure you let them know that nothing on your current plan should change, specially the current unlimited data plan that you have.

I bought the Motorola Droid Bionic off of e-bay a few months ago. I had a hard time getting to activate at first but then I called Verizon support and they said that I would need a new SIM card. I then went out to a Verizon Wireless retailer (not corporate store because the closest corporate store is 1 hour away) and they charged me $20 for the SIM card. They way that I look at it, that was well worth it to get the phone activated so I could use it instead of the LG Enlighten that I was using. By the way, I love how this phone works! Most customizable phone that I've ever had.
 
Top