Advice Please!! Verizon contract..etc etc

I can give you some insight on the plans.

1350 for $79.99 is not a family share plan
1200 for $79.99 was the old family share which it seems you had.

With the new plans ther is a $99 family share plan that includes 2 phones and 1500 minutes or 79/2phones/1000 minutes

If you upgrade the secondary phone it now has a new contract. The primary does not. However when you upgrade the primary phone it changes the contract for all the phones.

 

When you transfer the secondary phone into a separate account, you will have to sign a new contract, but you should be able to choose your plan. Have you been trying to do all this over the phone? I would highly suggest visiting a VZW store (not an authrized retailer, either) and talking to someone there.

I assume you're trying to get the AC 1350 mins for $79.99 a month. There's no reason they shouldn't let you get that plan for your single phone.

 

If you are not on a family plan, then changes with one phone have no impact on the second. You are two separate customers. You could just as well be speaking about your phone and your neighbor's. In that case, there is no "primary" or "secondary" phone.

If you took a new phone and received it at a discounted price under the new every two, then you got a new contract. So you are no longer month to month.

I do believe that Verizon lets you change contracts within the same set of plans without a new contract, but if you want any new promotion, then you are bound by a new contract. It's their way of locking you in.

Cingular lets you change in the first half of your contract without extending the contract (so first 6 mos of a 1 year, first year of a two year.) Personally, I like to stick with one year contracts.

My mother had a negative experience with Verizon and now our family is all consolidated on an ATT plan. But she is keeping the other phone until April so she does not have to pay a termination fee. Initially, Verizon was demanding a new contract in order to drop to the cheapest plan, but they did back off on that. They also did agree to let her try a new phone without a new contract since the phone was bad (they did not admit that for a year and a half, despite numerous complaints, but that is another story!)

I do agree that you should visit a Verizon Wireless corporate store, preferably with your bills in hand. And you may want to speak to a manager/supervisor.

 

Ok, you're on separate plans. You confused us by saying that you and your sister were on a plan together. That would imply FamilyShare. But both plans come on the same bill? Do they have different account numbers then?

If your phone is in your sister's name, then she "owns" the number and is the only person that can make changes to the plan. The fact that you paid for the phone upgrade and got the rebate means nothing according to "ownership". My parents' and siblings' phones are all in my mom's name. My mom has to make changes to the calling plan or upgrade phones. If you would like to get a separate bill and have control of the phone number, you and your sister will both have to go to a VZW store to do the transfer.

When you upgraded phones, you got a new contract. Since your sister's phone has a separate plan (500 min AC), she didn't get a new contract. Simple as that. Contracts are for each service plan. If you sign a new contract (for whatever reason) on a FS plan, all the phones on that plan will be bound to that contract for service.

 

Because you have separate plans, you have separate contracts.

Hope you can get the other stuff worked out w/ VZW.

I would hate for you to have to switch to GSM. j/k

 

The problem with the retailers is finding a good one. There are several American Cellulars around here and I don't recommend them. When I went to them asking about transfering my line off my parents' FS and onto a new FS plan with another new line, they acted like they new what they were talking about and said they could help, but they didn't do anything but sign up my single new line. A few weeks later, I had to visit the VZW store w/ my mom to get thinks straightened out.

Basically, I don't have anything against getting a new line of service from a retailer. I might even upgrade w/ one sometime. But when you have problems with your account, visit a VZW store. That's what I've suggest in this thread.

 

So what you saying is your sister has two INDIVIDUAL plans under her name. Even though there is only one bill there are TWO phone numbers. Each one is a separate contract. If you change the plan on one number that does not affect the other. Before i switched to Family Share i had two INDIVIDUAL AC plans under my name. One for me and one for my wife. If i was making any changes to one number it did not affect the other.

 

If you want to get a promo plan, you'll have to extend your contract. You say they aren't offering you any deals or promos, but you just said you're getting a promo (1350 min for $79.99 a month). Get it straight. And the contract extension only counts towards your plan. You can still upgrade your phone 22 months from the last time. It's complicated stuff.

Glad we could help.

 

You did get a promotional plan. That's what the 1350 minutes for $79 plan is -- I assume it comes with unlimited IN and unlimited nights and weekends? That's a promotional plan. You already have a nice new phone so they aren't going to sell you a new phone.

So: you got a phone in December 2004 -- you will be eligible for New Every Two in October 2006. You signed your plan contract this month, you will be out of contract in March 2007. They are separate things.

Now, when you do NE2, you will have to re-sign a contract, and at that point your contract will be extended to October 2008. If you want to change plans, that would be the time to do it.