Switch from droid 1 to droid 4 without going through carrier's upgrade

[cmtptr]

Hi.

I currently have a Motorola Droid 1. My two year contract with Verizon has long expired and I'm going month-to-month now. If I go and buy a Droid 4 outright (that is, pay the full price of the phone without going through Verizon's upgrade+contract extension thing, either from a Verizon store or from another merchant) what is my experience going to be like when I try to activate my new phone with my Verizon number?

Can I do this without any changes to my account?
Am I going to encounter difficulties given that my phone is 3G and the new phone will be 4G?
If it's a problem, can I proceed anyway using the Droid 4 as a 3G phone if I were willing to do that?

Thanks.

 

[Enemyofthestate]

You will have no issues activating a 3rd party device. I recently did the same thing. I switched from my 3g blackberry to the 4g RAZR that my wife got me. No problems at all

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Droid Forums

 

[xDMONEYx]

Yeah, there will be no issues at all. I do this kind of thing all the time, even using Verizon's upgrade online, getting the phone in the mail and activating it myself online. It's all the same process. Just be sure you get a SIM card for the Droid 4, because when I bought my Nexus the guys at Best Buy forgot to give me a SIM card and I couldn't activate it, had to go back and pick one up. Ha h ha ha.

Pretty much as long as you are still on contract and giving them money and the phone's ESID is legitimate, Verizon cares not what you do.

 

[dasanman69]

You'll only be allowed to purchsse the phone full price if you activate it but you wont have to go into contract. If you buy it used you're going to have to csll VZW to activate the SIM card or stop by a VZW store to get a new one.

 

[cmtptr]

Sorry for neglecting this thread for the past day or so...

Thanks for the replies. I was concerned because I've been bitten by red-tape in the past, and I realize that 3G and 4G use different radios. I wanted to be sure that this, or any other technical details I wasn't aware of, would not be an issue.

That's a good pointer about the SIM card, thanks. I'll be sure to check that I'm getting one with my new phone.

 

[t35rk]

How much for the new phone, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[cmtptr]

Don't know yet. I didn't want to even bother shopping until I knew I could do this no-hassle!

 

[t35rk]

New ones I think will give you sticker shock, and they depreciate very quickly. Used ones are, well used. They still cost a lot (relatively) and come without a warranty.

Using your upgrade isn't all bad. I just bought and returned a LG Lucid for .01 to Amazon Wireless. It was a mostly good experience and one I would recommend. I just checked and your phone isn't discounted there much - yet.

Good luck whichever way you go.

 

[tcrews]

The cheapest I've seen the Droid 4 is directly from Motorola for $549.99 new, no contract. To activate it on your Verizon account just log in on your PC and go through the "upgrade my phone" process but selecting "owner supplied equipment" (something like that). It'll tell you you need to change your plan (to a 4G one) but will give you the option to keep your current unlimited data (if that's what you have still).

 

[TatDroid]

Verizon absolutely LOVES customers like you! You're paying the extra amount that they build into the monthly service charges to subsidise the cost of new phones, but your phone has been paid off long ago. And even BETTER, you don't plan to buy a subsidised handset from them for your next phone!

Aren't there providers (T-Mobile?) that offer a discount on monthly service if you provide your own phone? Would you be better off going that route?

 

[jntdroid]

Verizon absolutely LOVES customers like you! You're paying the extra amount that they build into the monthly service charges to subsidise the cost of new phones, but your phone has been paid off long ago. And even BETTER, you don't plan to buy a subsidised handset from them for your next phone!

Aren't there providers (T-Mobile?) that offer a discount on monthly service if you provide your own phone? Would you be better off going that route?

Maybe - but you're also not locking yourself into a contract which is where they make the bulk of your money - and you don't have to buy the phone from Verizon either. But I guess if you plan to stay with Verizon either way, it makes them no difference, which comes back to your point... lol

T-Mobile's "family value" plans do that - they're greatness if you can get the phone yourself. When we were with T-Mobile, we were paying about $80-90 per month for a similar level of plan that we're paying Verizon almost double that now. Why we're doing that now? Good question... :blink: