Switching to Verizon - Best Deal on a couple droids?

[jacob80]

Hey guys,

Well its about time for us to look for new phones and switch over from Alltel, which would inevitably happen anyways. I've been looking around for the best deals on Droids with a new 2 year contract and I see that Amazon is offering the phones for $19.99 with a new 2 year contract! Link:

Amazon.com: Motorola DROID A855 Android Phone (Verizon Wireless): Cell Phones & Service

This seems to good to be true, is there a catch? We will have two droids and one basic phone on the account using the 1400 minute talk and text plan. Is this the best way to go about this, or should we buy them directly from out local Verizon store? Thanks for your help guys!
:motdroidvert:

 

[Warweasel]

No problem with the Amazon deal. That's where I bought mine. No issues. Good luck!

 

[jacob80]

Is there any rhyme or reason that they are 96% cheaper than anywhere else?

 

[Warweasel]

I think they get subsidies from the manufacturer. If you look, they're pretty cheap on all of their phones. Only catch is that you have to keep the service for 181 days, or they charge you $250 per phone.

 

[jacob80]

Hmm, but that factor would be irrelevant considering I would be signing a two year contract, correct? Are they basically saying if you try it out and don't like the service and cancel before you've been a customer for less than 181 days, we want $250 for each phone so that you're not essentially stealing it, correct?

 

[Warweasel]

Exactly! Just so they know that you're not selling them on eBay or something.

 

[jsh1120]

The Amazon deal is perfectly legitimate. At least a few weeks ago, however, it applied only to "new" contracts. Existing customers up for renewal had to pay $49.95. However, at that time, there was an activation fee for the "new" contract and no activation fee for those who "re-upped," I believe.

In any case, my wife got her Droid through the $49.95 deal and all went smoothly.

Amazon (or their phone partner; I don't recall the name) may have dropped the price $19.95 to meet competition from WireFly and other retailers.

I'm not familiar with the conversion of Alltell customers to Verizon so it's not clear to me whether you are viewed as extending your contract or as a new customer. But in either case you should be able to take advantage of the Amazon offer.

P.S. You do realize, I hope, that you'll be paying $29.95 per month for the data plans on each of the Droids. No avoiding that. And that's why Verizon doesn't care what kind of deal you get on the phones.

 

[modette]

I guess that is the only difference then the deal I did through Costco. We did the two phones for $199 deal. But the ETF is only $350 (which goes down $10 a months) and the ETF is to get out of BOTH phones as per the contract.

I remember something on TV once where they were talking about getting good deals through sites, but you were then through a 3rd party and not directly through Verizon. Something about you had to deal with that 3rd party for warranty stuff as VZ would not help you...but I'm not sure Amazon falls into that. Plus from my experience Amazon has pretty good customer service.

So I would thing a $20 through them would be legit.

 

[jacob80]

Alright, awesome! Yes, I do realize I will be paying the $30 a month data charge as I currently do with my BlackBerry Curve, which by the way is not a phone I've had a good experience with. Does anyone have a bill of theirs they wouldn't mind sharing? The account will have two droids and one regular talk and text phone without any kind of data. I will also have insurance on both of the droids. I think its going to be ~$290 but I would just like to confirm with you guys, thanks!

 

[takeshi]

This seems to good to be true, is there a catch?

Just whatever's in their fine print. Make sure you understand it and that you're ok with it (same as any reseller).

Does anyone have a bill of theirs they wouldn't mind sharing? The account will have two droids and one regular talk and text phone without any kind of data. I will also have insurance on both of the droids. I think its going to be ~$290 but I would just like to confirm with you guys, thanks!

FWIW we're paying ~$213 for 1400 minutes talk & text, 2 Droids, insurance on both and ringback tones on one.

 

[blueridge]

I just did the same thing.. switched from Alltel to Verizon.. went from rockr to droids.. i searched out the best deal.. knowing i wont change from the plan made it easy.. i was going to go with either amazon or walmart but found the deal on wirefly.com that when you use your bing cashback account that you could get $50 cashback for each phone.. so thats what i did and got 2 droids with no problems so far.. again i dont plan on changing anything so i read all the fine print and fees for breaking contract.. i was with alltel for 7 yrs.. now im going to stick with verizon.. oh and btw.. we love our new droids.. makes it so convenient to have unlimited internet access anywhere i go.. 3g is fast

 

[sergeantnic]

amazonwireless.com is where I just got my droid for $19.99

 

[jacob80]

Awesome! I just ordered our droids last night. What is the process of activating the phones and knowing what our new numbers are? All we did was buy the phones and agree to the contract basically. I'm assuming our bill will come by the end of the month? Also, I thought I read something domewhere that our first bill is free? Correct me if i'm wrong here. Thanks!

One more thing, when ending our alltel service, is it just a matter of calling and telling them we want to drop them?

 

[blueridge]

Awesome! I just ordered our droids last night. What is the process of activating the phones and knowing what our new numbers are? All we did was buy the phones and agree to the contract basically. I'm assuming our bill will come by the end of the month? Also, I thought I read something domewhere that our first bill is free? Correct me if i'm wrong here. Thanks!

One more thing, when ending our alltel service, is it just a matter of calling and telling them we want to drop them?

cool.. activation is simple.. or atleast should be.. when you first charge and turn on the droid.. it will ask you if you want to activate.. and then it will call and you just listen to the operator.. the first few times i tried it didnt work.. i called wirefly and asked them about it.. and while on the phone the guy must of done something cause they then started to activate..

as for first month free? i wish.. you will be billed the next billing cycle.. i think verizons billing cycle is around the 15th of the month.. atleast thats what they told me.. your first bill will also have activation.. etc.. unless u got that free..

i just called alltel last night and canceled our service with them.. they of course wanted to know if there was something they could do to keep me from canceling.. he even tried to give me 25% off and i said no.. already moved to verizon.. simple as that..

 

[fis]

...and if you started with a search at Bing.com, make sure you click on the link on your Wirefly order status page to ensure you get Bing cashback credit. An extra $50 per phone from Microsoft will appear in your Bing cashback account within 48 hours.