Phone upgrade experiences.

[redhat]

I have finally broke down and decided that I would like to upgrade my cell phone. I currently have an iPhone 4 8GB on Verizon. I've had this phone since March 2011.

The phone is in great shape and still works pretty well, but the 8GB storage isn't cutting it. Currently I experience a bit of crashing and performance issues and I attribute that to the fact that there is approximate 56MB free on the phone (WOW!).

In the coming weeks I will upgrade to an iPhone 5s 64GB Black. I am currently grandfathered in with unlimited data so I know I will loose that. But to be honest, with how slow the iPhone 4 is, I hardly go over 200MB a month. Is there anything special that I (the upgrade-ee) would need to tell the upgrader to make sure I don't mess up the whole plan I'm on? Currently have a Nationwide Family Talk and Text 700 with individual data plans. With a phone upgrade, the plan doesn't automatically get moved to a Share Everything, correct?

Also, anyone have any good experiences at any particular retailer with upgrading? I have gone to VZW corporate in the the past but always thought they acted as if they had better things to do. Was thinking maybe BestBuy, maybe RadioShack?

 

[hypervish]

You can't upgrade and keep your unlimited data.

You can buy the phone out of contract ($$$$), and then get it activated on verizon to keep your unlimited data.

 

[JHZR2]

Wow, VZ sucks. You can buy outside of the subsidized plan as the only way to keep unlimited data.

I also find it questionable that the iphone 4 is so slow. My wife used one up until a few weeks back and routinely pulled 2+GB/month without issue. 3G at a few hundred kb/s is more than fast enough for anything short of HD videos. If the OP is having an issue, it may well be the general service around, its not the phone.

ATT allowed us to keep unlimited when we went to the 5S iphone. Id drop VZ for ATT or T-mobile or one of the prepaid carriers.

 

[redhat]

Originally Posted By: hypervish
You can't upgrade and keep your unlimited data.

You can buy the phone out of contract ($$$$), and then get it activated on verizon to keep your unlimited data.


I know... I'm fine with that, more so wondering if the plan moves to a Share Everything or if the data plan goes to a 2GB or something.

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I also find it questionable that the iphone 4 is so slow. My wife used one up until a few weeks back and routinely pulled 2+GB/month without issue. 3G at a few hundred kb/s is more than fast enough for anything short of HD videos. If the OP is having an issue, it may well be the general service around, its not the phone.

ATT allowed us to keep unlimited when we went to the 5S iphone. Id drop VZ for ATT or T-mobile or one of the prepaid carriers.


No it's the phone, VZW 3G may not be as quick as AT&T 3G. An iPhone 5 right next to my 4, 5 with full 4G LTE signal and 4 with full 3G signal, the 4 is blown away. Also plan to stick with VZW as they really have better coverage where I travel for work. Verizon is one of the few that consistently will work in the Southern Tier of NYS and at some of the SNF that I visit.

 

[Donald]

When I had VZ cell service, I found the actual VZ stores could do deals than the retailers like Radio Shack.

Buy the phone outright and sign up for the VZ $50/month no contract.

 

[redhat]

I got to admit though JHZR2, VZW does sound evil at times. Food for thought in thinking about switching... Might be a good chance to check into what's available instead of just going with the same old same old. Through work, we have the same VZW and AT&T discount.

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Wow, VZ sucks. You can buy outside of the subsidized plan as the only way to keep unlimited data.
If the OP is having an issue, it may well be the general service around, its not the phone.

ATT allowed us to keep unlimited when we went to the 5S iphone. Id drop VZ for ATT or T-mobile or one of the prepaid carriers.


Getting terrible service on data 4LTE on Verizon is still superior to the best throughput of a iPhone 4 & iPhone 4s. My wife has iPhone 5 I have a iPhone 4s to compare. Our coverage is spotty to incredible in my locale. Her iPhone 5 always can pull data at decent clip when mine is maddening to use.

I wish one day ATT or T-Mobile had better coverage. But VZW rules New england by a far shot. I am guessing rural NY too.

 

[donnyj08]

im running into the same issue here. I have a 4S on VZW and my contrct is up in February. I also will loose my grandfathering upon upgrade. I never go over 2G a month of data, but the fact that i have the limit bothers me.

Im thinking of moving on to a HTC ONE android phone. Ive been happy with my apple, but i would also like to see what else is out there. if i hate the android i can always get a decent penny on Craigslist for it and pull the 4s out of the junk drawer.

ive been able to upgrade at a discount for a while, but im not 100% sure i want to stay with VZW. the problem is all my friends and family have verizon as well. VZW has the market cornered here in southern Indiana.

 

[redhat]

Does anyone know if AT&T did work recently in NYS? I just check the 4-5 coverage spots I normally check with cell phone providers and was pleasantly surprised, it looked good.

I normally check 44 Fox Farm Road, Wilmington, NY (Lake Placid KOA Campgrounds).

Souther-tier NYS

Altoona, PA area

Work and Home

 

[dgcamero]

Originally Posted By: donnyj08
im running into the same issue here. I have a 4S on VZW and my contrct is up in February. I also will loose my grandfathering upon upgrade. I never go over 2G a month of data, but the fact that i have the limit bothers me.

Im thinking of moving on to a HTC ONE android phone. Ive been happy with my apple, but i would also like to see what else is out there. if i hate the android i can always get a decent penny on Craigslist for it and pull the 4s out of the junk drawer.

ive been able to upgrade at a discount for a while, but im not 100% sure i want to stay with VZW. the problem is all my friends and family have verizon as well. VZW has the market cornered here in southern Indiana.


If you have more than one line on your account, you can transfer your upgrade between the lines and only upgrade the secondary line. The secondary line *will* lose unlimited data, but you can then put the correct phone on the unlimited line with no issues, as long as you purchase from a retailer with brick and mortar presence and I also believe Amazon (some internet retailers have repercussions if you swap devices between lines on your account).

The reason Verizon is so brutal with this process is having unlimited data on your LTE Verizon phone affords you the right to add a completely unlimited mobile hotspot for $30 a month. The icing on the cake, however, is the federal government prohibits them from slowing your data speeds while on the 700 MHz LTE network, I am not sure if they are able to throttle unlimited customers on the new AWS (T-Mobile afaict) towers. When you frequent an area where there literally are no other broadband options like I do, this is worth its weight in gold. You can even add and remove the hotspot by the day!

Considering your phone options, the HTC One is a bit outdated imo, and has a lackluster camera. If going the Android route, I'd check out the devices with a Snapdragon 800, or the Moto X / newest Droid line (they're flawlessly optimized by Google)...perhaps the LG G2, Galaxy Note 3...they're large phones though. The iPhone 5s is a great phone too, tho it's not great for hotspot purposes.

 

[beast3300]

I would not ruin unlimited data plan. Once you use LTE you would wish you kept it. My friend is has unlimited LTE with his thunderbolt and the phone junk but he murders them for 20gb a month. He is always streaming videos. I envy him but unfortunately I was late to the smartphone game.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: redhat
I have finally broke down and decided that I would like to upgrade my cell phone. I currently have an iPhone 4 8GB on Verizon. I've had this phone since March 2011.

The phone is in great shape and still works pretty well, but the 8GB storage isn't cutting it. Currently I experience a bit of crashing and performance issues and I attribute that to the fact that there is approximate 56MB free on the phone (WOW!).

In the coming weeks I will upgrade to an iPhone 5s 64GB Black. I am currently grandfathered in with unlimited data so I know I will loose that. But to be honest, with how slow the iPhone 4 is, I hardly go over 200MB a month. Is there anything special that I (the upgrade-ee) would need to tell the upgrader to make sure I don't mess up the whole plan I'm on? Currently have a Nationwide Family Talk and Text 700 with individual data plans. With a phone upgrade, the plan doesn't automatically get moved to a Share Everything, correct?

Also, anyone have any good experiences at any particular retailer with upgrading? I have gone to VZW corporate in the the past but always thought they acted as if they had better things to do. Was thinking maybe BestBuy, maybe RadioShack?


Since your phone works well except for being full of data, maybe it is time to remove all the pictures and downloads to another location and simply remove them from the phone to free up the storage? That way you keep a phone that works, as well as the unlimited plan.

I haven't had ANY good experiences with VZ customer service.

 

[97tbird]

VZ CS has been really good for us so far, and 3G service on our two 4s iphones has been very reliable.
We also have the grandfathered-in unlimited data plan.
Recently we got emails from VW noting how much data we were using, and it seemed like we can get an upgrade, get $200 back, and give up the unlimited data, and if we go with one of their suggested plans, it will still be more than enough for us, as far as data goes...and pay LESS per month, and upgrade to 5s.

BUT...it's SO hard to give up the unlimited data, even knowing that we would be fine with a lesser plan....

 

[dgcamero]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
VZ CS has been really good for us so far, and 3G service on our two 4s iphones has been very reliable.
We also have the grandfathered-in unlimited data plan.
Recently we got emails from VW noting how much data we were using, and it seemed like we can get an upgrade, get $200 back, and give up the unlimited data, and if we go with one of their suggested plans, it will still be more than enough for us, as far as data goes...and pay LESS per month, and upgrade to 5s.

BUT...it's SO hard to give up the unlimited data, even knowing that we would be fine with a lesser plan....


You can do an alternate upgrade and only lose unlimited data on one of your lines. I just did that at the Fayetteville Best Buy store (mobile only store in the mall didn't know how to do it). Not sure if you have to wait a bit to upgrade both lines though (in my head you need to wait 6 months, but don't quote me)...if so, Galaxy S3s are pretty cheap on Fayetteville Craigslist...and are a legitimate upgrade to an iPhone 4s, and pretty solid and well supported device. If you hated it, you could always sell it for what you paid, and get an iPhone 5s in a few months. I would never give up my unlimited data...unless I sold a transfer of liability of the unlimited data on Ebay.

 

[redhat]

Hmm... now I'm seriously considering migrating to AT&T. The coverage doesn't look as bad as I thought it was. Looks decent!

My Mom has AT&T and since out house is like a bomb shelter for any type of cell signal, we already have an AT&T MicroCell. Interesting!

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Wow, VZ sucks. You can buy outside of the subsidized plan as the only way to keep unlimited data.
If the OP is having an issue, it may well be the general service around, its not the phone.

ATT allowed us to keep unlimited when we went to the 5S iphone. Id drop VZ for ATT or T-mobile or one of the prepaid carriers.


Getting terrible service on data 4LTE on Verizon is still superior to the best throughput of a iPhone 4 & iPhone 4s. My wife has iPhone 5 I have a iPhone 4s to compare. Our coverage is spotty to incredible in my locale. Her iPhone 5 always can pull data at decent clip when mine is maddening to use.

I wish one day ATT or T-Mobile had better coverage. But VZW rules New england by a far shot. I am guessing rural NY too.


Youre mixing multiple issues - 3g vs LTE; service quality in your area; and devices.

LTE is faster. But it may or may not matter at all. I was never disappointed with my 3G service, and if I had an opportunity to take a discount on my 5s and just stick with 3G, I would have. I dont watch HD videos much and thats the only time Ive noted issues.

If your local service is poor, thats an issue with your location and the service provider overall. LTE may have better reach, and likely better throughput at less bars, but its still an issue of YOUR local service, which is separate.

I highly doubt that the data throughput of a 4 vs a 5s on 3G service is any different. Its a few hundred kbps or even a bit more on 3G. The best I got on 3G, combing through my speed tests, is 924 down, 312 up. Not bad for most anything.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: redhat
Hmm... now I'm seriously considering migrating to AT&T. The coverage doesn't look as bad as I thought it was. Looks decent!

My Mom has AT&T and since out house is like a bomb shelter for any type of cell signal, we already have an AT&T MicroCell. Interesting!


I travel a LOT for work and personal reasons, even to many out of the way places. Ive never had any issues with ATT. When I had both ATT and VZ devices, I couldnt say I had much of an edge, if any, to VZ.

 

[redhat]

I like the talk and use data feature of AT&T. That always irked me about VZW.

 

[dgcamero]

Originally Posted By: redhat
I like the talk and use data feature of AT&T. That always irked me about VZW.


Pretty much all current non iOS Verizon devices will provide simultaneous voice and data with VZW in LTE and 3G areas. The original 4G phones will still provide simultaneous voice and data in LTE areas, and I think the Thunderbolt also does that in 3G areas as well.

 

[TooManyWheels]

Originally Posted By: Donald


Buy the phone outright and sign up for the VZ $50/month no contract.


Is that available for regular Smart phones, or only the ones designed to work as pre-paid? I'm not aware of any such option, even after double-checking the web-site. ATT and T-Mobile have those plans, but last I checked VZ did not.