phone upgrade strategy?

Depending on which phones she has yea it's really simple. As long as her phone is E911 ready then there is no worries. The only time this can be an issue is if the phone is real old because once it is unactivate they may not allow you to reactivate it. I learned this the hard way when I had a StarTac still active and changed ESN's, once I unactivated it they would not allow me to reactivate it because it does not fit the new gov't guidelines because it did not have E911. Anywhoo I do this all the time between my work accounts, and personal ones. If you wife has a NE2 right now call in go to the store or whatever. Get the phone you want using her account and NE@. They will force you to activate it, once the phone has been activated on her account you can then turn around and activate the old phone again. After doing so turn around and just activate the one you bought on your account. then come summer time you'll have another NE2 to use from your account if you wish. If you have a my account setup as VZW online you can do the activating on your own by just swapping ESN's which I think it the easiest way.

Here's how I normally do it, let's say my work account is up for NE2, but my personal phone isn't., and I wanted the new z6. I order the phone online using my work accounts NE2. Get the phone via Fedex, log on to my work My Account and activate the new phone. Wait about 10 mins, log back in and activate my old phone v3m lets say. Once that is done log into my personal my account and activate the new phone ( z6) to my account and done deal. I now have my new phone on my personal account (z6) but used my companies NE2 from it's account, and still have the v3m on the work account.

 

There really isn't any sort of strategy involved unless you are working around a family share plan with Verizon. Then you have to swap out a good 3-4 months before the line closest to NE2 is ready and set it as the primary line. My wife doesn't like change, so I will probably be employing this trick for a while.

 

While Verizon has proven to me to be a customer-focused company, I don't think that they would honor your wife's NE2 discount on your line. Unless you were explicitly told otherwise and there was some documentation to go along with it, they are going to cite corporate policy and feed you a few generic lines - not to anger you but to cover their behinds.

If you don't want to change out the primary lines, have your wife's phone upgraded and then switch back to her current phone. Check on My Account what your wife's current phone is capable of first, because they may not allow you to activate the phone again as previously mentioned. I used a pre-Paid phone on my VZW account about 8 months ago when my VX5200 started to fall apart. I got past the CSR telling me the phone was pre-paid and she activated it no problem. When I found another VX5200 to use, I switched back and when I had more problems I tried to use the pre-paid phone again - DENIED!

Not only on the VZW site but also by Customer Service. Verizon had updated their systems accordingly. I was SOL.

Just don't upgrade to a phone like the Voyager - which I believe you must be signed on with the new Nationwide plans. It may also force an upgrade on both lines.

 

Okay...maybe I'm slow, but why can't you get the new phone for your wife's line, and then go home and reregister the ESNs online to reflect your wife with her original phone and the new phone reregistered with your phone number?

You can switch around phones easily through My Account online provided your plan accepts the phone in question.

 

When you upgrade, the first activation has to be on the MTN that the phone was ordered for. I know people sell their phones on eBay like this:

a) Call in and upgrade to model "X"
b) Phone arrives in 1-2 Days via Fed-Ex
c) User goes online and switches out ESN online, using ESN on outside label
d) User switches back to current handset and sells the phone making a decent profit

In this particular case, the OP could go ahead and do all this without opening the new phone and with his wife's line too much. Then he can swap out ESN's on his line.

 

This is why I like the idea of just switching out which line is the primary in a Family Share plan - you don't have to worry about this sort of thing.

I'm not sure if the BB service is mandatory when you get the phone or if you can wait until after the phone has arrived and you activate it. Which, if that's the case, I'd do an online ESN switch to "activate" the line and then swap to my line and in the process get my wife back on her old phone.

It's a fair amount of work, but it's nothing a VZW rep wouldn't do for you.

 

To do this cleanly, and without switching to a new Nationwide Plan that you may not want, I would switch your line over to the primary and give it about a week and see if they will force you to be eligible for the NE2 upgrade.

Their oversight would then be your gain.

 

You are correct - if you bought a phone one year ago and your wife two, she would have the NE2 upgrade available if she was the primary line on the account.

I don't know how to get around your dilema without causing a lot of chaos on the account. If you have to change plans to get the new phone, there is going to be a pro-rated charge for the new plan. In that case, I'd wait until closer to the end of the month so the pro-rated charge that follows you onto the new bill isn't as high.

Is there a specific Black Berry plan or is it more like an add-on feature? If it is just a feature, maybe it won't be so bad to activate it on the wife's line and then swap phones and switch it over to you. Like I said, though, do it towards the end of the month. There would be pro-rated charges on your line and on her line for the same feature/add-on.

 

The problem is going to be the fact you want a BB and she has a phone. You can't swap ESN's that simply online because of the specific plan you have to have when you buy a BB. It's kinda like when I want to activate my Moto Q. I can't do it online when I have any of my phones active on the account, I have to call in and do it. Now if I choose to swap between any of my phones ( v3c,v3m,Maxx Ve, slvr, v9m...etc) I just log on and swap no problem.

If you were to just buy a phone and not a BB it would be real simple as mentioned above. Get the phone on her account being it's primary so you get the extra $100 credit on the NE2. Activate it, turn around and re-activate her old one, and then do what you wish with the new phone, done deal.

 

All you need to do is upgrade using phone B, online, when phone comes, activate, after activated, call *611 (customer service) and switch your number to new phone, and wifes back to her original phone. I have done this numerous times.

 

What is the major reason for getting a Black Berry? For work? Just want the cool gadget? There are options, free and otherwise, that really can boost your productivity if that's what you want/need.

For example, I use AirSet to sync my Outlook Calendar and Contacts on my phone. I used to be an avid Palm user, but right now my Zire 31 has been regulated to being an emergency card reader here at work.

If you don't want to pay for something to organize your life, Google Calendar + Remember the Milk + Gmail is a great option as well. Mix in Jott and you've got several organizational tools at your disposal.

For example, you can use Jott to create a task in Remember the Milk, which with add-ons is viewable in Gmail and can be linked into GCal as well. You can get a text message sent a day before, the day of, or any time frame you specify before the event is due.

Jott™ - Official Site
Remember The Milk: Online to do list and task management
This will get you hooked up with Gmail + Remember the Milk.

 

Really, I have been a VZ customer for many years, and have 5 phones on my plan, we do this all the time, as long as one of the phones are eligible for upgrade.... and have had no problem... matter of fact, getting ready to do it now.

 

Oh, the one negative to Gcal on your Verizon phone is that you'll have a hard time editing the Calendar events from your phone. For example, my wife told me a few minutes before our church service that she was going to be signing in the Worship team three weeks from now.

I created the event sending a text message to GVENT, but operator error lead to a mistake in the translation.

It wasn't until the following day when I was at my work computer could Iog into Gcal and fix the mistake. AirSet would have allowed me to make the change on the fly. [That and I can sync with Outlook for free, using my work calendar to keep me up to date on work events]

 

Have any of them been PDA-style devices?

 

Either way, Verizon gets you for another two years. You don't simply walk away with a free lunch, the contract extension serves as an equipment subsidy versus paying for the phone at full retail. Just as strongly as there is a market for those willing to extend their contracts to get a decent phone, there is a growing faction of users that don't want to be under a contract and opt to purchase their phones via eBay.

Verizon gleefully offered to switch my wife's just upgraded SCH-U540 back in April of '07 to my line without me having to change over to the primary line and wait another 3-4 months to be vested.

 

They technically start hitting you up 4 months early for the NE2 discount. That's why I have a U540 now instead of waiting until Spring.

 

powerdog, Maybe I missed it but have a question for ya. Are you and your wife on a shared plan or do you each have you own account?

Obviously you do have a My Account, reason I bring this up is because VZW does offer a yearly upgrade if you have a My Account. Here is the info directly from there site

Annual Upgrade available for My Account customers
You can get a new phone every year with Annual Upgrade. Sign up for a 2-year agreement on a calling plan of at least $49.99 and you can purchase a new phone at its promotional price through My Account every year with a 2-year renewal (upgrade fee may apply).

The reason I bring it up is because if you are on a shared plan only the primary line get the NE2 credit, and the other line/lines get NE2 but with no extra credit, you just pay the promotional pricing.

 

But you can keep swapping out the primary and secondary lines several months before the NE2 option becomes available, since they go by when the phone was purchased and which line is primary.

 

If you are registered to view your account information online, you are a "My Account" customer. The annual upgrade + free address book back-up software are Verizon's way of saying thanks for registering for online account access. In theory, if a customer has access to all the information they need online, calls into Customer Service will be reduced.

Less overhead = greater profits.

It's absolutely pointless to not be a My Account customer. If you can access your account online, you can see what plan you are on.

 

I don't know what the Loyalty terminology means. If I were to take a stab at it, I would say that it's a retention plan used by Customer Service when they fear a customer is going to leave and it is a billing related issue.

I don't know necessarily what the perks are with that plan, or how soon it will be absoleted with the eventual progression of Verizon's network technology. One would assume for the next several years you would be fine unless something drastically changes within the infrastructure of Verizon's network causing users on older plans & phones to migrate to newer plans and technology.

You know that will happen when you get a nice letter from them informing you that they've made significant changes to the network which would technically remove any liability you have for the account and that if you were unsatisifed with the changes you could leave Verizon w/o a term fee.

 

true, but they will catch on to it sooner or later. I know first hand, which is why I finally just dropped the second line on my personal account. They do in fact log everything done to the account every time you call in now. Then again I go threw phone like no ones business. I swap phones out numerous times a month, and buy a new one about 3 times a year.