Questions Before I buy my Droid

[MonKENy]

This is mainly for people who know Verizon inside alot more than the average user.

So What I am looking to do is this....My roomate is currently on ATT but is sick of coverage and also paying for a smart phone (he has iphone) So what he might do is drop ATT in dec when his plan is over and come to verizon. He doesnt want any special phone so I am going to have him get the droid and give it to me

So heres the Questions...

Is there a way for him to "buy" the phone but not have them activate it at all so that when I take it in its activated directly to me?

If so can they only turn on the device but not configure even the slightest thing? I dont want to link anything to it, no face book, no email conatcts, Nothing.

Is there anything else I should know going in? What will they need? Is there anything Special coming up to help ease the cost of this? Im going to have to buy the phone + Get a phone for the roomie to replace it. I may be able to give him my phone but he might want a different one.

 

[Worm8199]

As long as the phone isn't reported stolen or broken, Verizon could care less what he does with it after buying it. You might run into a problem with the contract though. He would get some deal on the smartphone for buying it and signing for a year or two. Then immediately he would switch to some "dumb" phone for which he won't need some of the service he signed up for. It's not a problem for you, but he might be stuck paying for the data, email, etc. that he then wouldn't be using.

 

[longboardskier]

AFAIK, he will have to sign up for a one or two year plan with the phone along with the data package that goes with it. It will technically be in his name and he will be responsible for all costs associated with it.

So, the question is are you trustworthy and will pay him so that he can pay the bill every month? Whether you pay or not, he will be responsible. That's a liability for him. Not saying you're not trustworthy or anything, but you know how people can be!

 

[Big_Ron]

Why don't you just sign up for a family plan and you get a DX and get.him a free phone?

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App

 

[FastDad2007]

The people posting above me, have the right idea but are wrong. If he were to go to Verizon and buy a Droid X, he could set up his plan and everything, and the next day put a dumb phone on and change his plan. When you sign a contract through verizon they don't put you in a contracted term other than your two-year agreement.

However! IF you buy from wirefly, amazon, etc (third party reseller) THEY usually will lock you into a specific plan for 90 - 120 days WHEREAS you have to keep a data phone on and pay data associated with the line.

If you plan on doing this, your best bet would be to do this at Verizon, or VZW online.

My spare line (now which is used as a home phone) was how I got my droid X and had a dumbphone on it minutes later.

I've done this with ATT - Bought an iPhone, sold it and used service on another phone.


NOW - before I get jumped upon, and people tell me " WELL MY VERIZON SAID THIS" You should check, upon him signing a contract if he is liable to hold a plan for a certain period of time. However, i'm 99% sure you'll be fine.

 

[MonKENy]

The people posting above me, have the right idea but are wrong. If he were to go to Verizon and buy a Droid X, he could set up his plan and everything, and the next day put a dumb phone on and change his plan. When you sign a contract through verizon they don't put you in a contracted term other than your two-year agreement.

This is truth, Ive already looked into that part (I am a verizon member myself but am not even 1/2 into my current contract) Im gonna have him drop the plan to the lowest (which is what he wants) the next day

Im more worried about the physical phone. I dont want verizon to do ANYTHING to it. I dont want some arrogant "know it all" thinking hes king **** of droids and activating a bunch of syncing I have no want or desire of. Not to mention I dont want my Roomates emails linked to my droid (i know you can remove them but still..im paying for it I want MINE to be first dammit lol)

 

[longboardskier]

Well that's good news then! Didn't know you could do that.

Not positive about the whole "doing stuff to the phone" thing. I do know that when I went and got mine at Costco they asked for my email and all that stuff and set it up and activated it. My guess is that they will have to actually activate it (don't think they'd let him walk out of the store with an unactivated phone!), but as long as your friend tells them that he wants to do the rest himself they should leave it alone.

Oh and make sure they don't install Advanced Task Killer. They seem to really like doing that thinking they're doing you a favor.

 

[erict]

The people posting above me, have the right idea but are wrong. If he were to go to Verizon and buy a Droid X, he could set up his plan and everything, and the next day put a dumb phone on and change his plan. When you sign a contract through verizon they don't put you in a contracted term other than your two-year agreement.

However! IF you buy from wirefly, amazon, etc (third party reseller) THEY usually will lock you into a specific plan for 90 - 120 days WHEREAS you have to keep a data phone on and pay data associated with the line.

If you plan on doing this, your best bet would be to do this at Verizon, or VZW online.

My spare line (now which is used as a home phone) was how I got my droid X and had a dumbphone on it minutes later.

I've done this with ATT - Bought an iPhone, sold it and used service on another phone.


NOW - before I get jumped upon, and people tell me " WELL MY VERIZON SAID THIS" You should check, upon him signing a contract if he is liable to hold a plan for a certain period of time. However, i'm 99% sure you'll be fine.

So you are saying someone could get a droidx one day and the next day add a dumb and drop the droidx off the account?

 

[Dustin.]

Here's how you would want to do this.

Have him go into the store and sign either a 2-year or 1-year agreement, and have him say he wants the DX, once activated on the account you can call customer support and or go back in the store and have them swap out the ESNs.

But keep note that you cannot activate a phone if the ESN is already in use. So make sure the phone your giving your buddy isn't activated.

Once everything is all setup your friend will have to say he wants the data package removed because if not, he will be charged for it. You wont have to add it because once you type in a smartphones ESN it automatically adds the data package.

Goodluck and enjoy the DX!

Cheers!

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App

 

[MonKENy]

Heres to Hoping hes ok with all this lol. He seemed to be ok but he hasnt officially said yes yet