Discount on plan rates?

[mrericvo]

Hi,

Anybody know of tips on how to get discounted rates, special promotional offers, etc for long-time Verizon customers?

I know there is a website named SprintUsers.com that shows all sorts of good tips to achieve great plan rates.

Thanks,
Eric

[admin_mvu]

Hi, mrericvo.
Welcome. That's a good question. We are trying to be the equivalent of SprintUsers.com for the Verizon users.

This is just my own personal experience and I hope others can also offer other tips as well.
- If you are a brand new subscriber to Verizon, chances are you will get better deals and free stuff from an indepenent Verizon authorized dealers than from Verizon superstore. These dealers get certain amount of $$ for each new subscriber they sign up for Verizon and they try to entice the new users by giving good deals. (e.g. lower cost for the new phones, free accessories, etc.)
- However, if you are already a Verizon subscriber and renewing your expired contract, you are better off going to the Verizon superstore directly and get the $100 credit towards the new phone for signing another 2 year contract.
- If you are already Verizon subscriber who already fullfilled your contract and you are willing to get a new number, I guess you could cancel you account and sign up a new account for Verizon at the independent dealer.

These are tips on getting good phones and accessories. I don't know much about the rates.

[mrericvo]

So calling retentions when your contract is near or already expired, will not allow CSRs to give you special promotional offers , and upgrades?

So, do people really pay Verizon the higher cost because of the better connection?

I'm a Sprint customer, and my signal is average, at best. However, after calling retentions, I was able to get a great, great deal on my plan.

[admin_mvu]

I haven't tried to call the retention center and threaten to cancel yet.

I have been using Verizon since 2001 and even though their rate isn't the lowest, it's pretty reasonable. I think I pay like $44.99 + tax for 500 anytime minutes, which I never went over. Verizon has like over 50 some million subscribers and most of my friends are on Verizon so my airtime with them does not count towards the 500 minutes. That rate is for national coverage. I think they also have local coverage for maybe $29.99 or $39.99.

All in all, I've been pretty happy with them and don't have any plan to switch to another carrier. Both Sprint and Verizon use same CDMA technology, which is superior to Cingular's GSM.

If you are happy with what you have and got a great deal, you should probably stick with it.

I personally know some Sprint users who have switched to Verizon mostly for the coverage issue, not because of the rates.

[ClwTL]

Originally Posted by admin_mvu

Hi, mrericvo.
Welcome. That's a good question. We are trying to be the equivalent of SprintUsers.com for the Verizon users.

This is just my own personal experience and I hope others can also offer other tips as well.
- If you are a brand new subscriber to Verizon, chances are you will get better deals and free stuff from an indepenent Verizon authorized dealers than from Verizon superstore. These dealers get certain amount of $$ for each new subscriber they sign up for Verizon and they try to entice the new users by giving good deals. (e.g. lower cost for the new phones, free accessories, etc.)
- However, if you are already a Verizon subscriber and renewing your expired contract, you are better off going to the Verizon superstore directly and get the $100 credit towards the new phone for signing another 2 year contract.
- If you are already Verizon subscriber who already fullfilled your contract and you are willing to get a new number, I guess you could cancel you account and sign up a new account for Verizon at the independent dealer.

These are tips on getting good phones and accessories. I don't know much about the rates.

the downfall to doing that is if you cancel and sign back up you lose your number and it gets recycled for other people so the chance of keeping your number by cancelling and joining again is low at best

[ClwTL]

Originally Posted by mrericvo

So calling retentions when your contract is near or already expired, will not allow CSRs to give you special promotional offers , and upgrades?

So, do people really pay Verizon the higher cost because of the better connection?

I'm a Sprint customer, and my signal is average, at best. However, after calling retentions, I was able to get a great, great deal on my plan.

quite simply, yes. The plans are around where the other companies are but the feeling vzw has is that "they have the best service, and people will pay to use it" They have more towers than anyone, more blanket coverage for the fewest dropped calls and ineffient attempts, and they are one of if not the only provider that has techs and customer service reps in store to deal with your issues instead of having to send your phone somewhere for a few weeks. I used to have tmobile and sprint, my girlfriend had cingular.....now we both have verizon.

[BobP1968]

Hey, folks! New to the board here...

I agree with those statements about coverage. At least in our area (SE Pennsylvania) it seems that Verizon has the best overall coverage, with Congular a close second.

One note on getting discounts: a lot of businesses have deals with Verizon, and sometimes you can take advantage of the company discount. Go to the verizonwireless site and follow the steps to see if you are eligible.

You have to be careful, though: I had a $100 credit for my upgrade. I wanted the enV, and could have gotten it for $100 through the work discount but would not have been able to use the upgrade credit. By going to a local store, I was able to use the credit and the net cost for the phone was $50. My wife and my daughter have their family share plans coming due, and I will buy their phones through the company discount because it will be cheaper than going to the store. In any event I also get 20% off my monthly bill.

Bottom line: it never hurts to ask.

[admin_mvu]

Hi BobP1968,
Thanks for sharing your experience and welcome to the forum.

[sweetsurndr]

okay...so my cousin dropped her cell phone in the snow today...and it's not working very good....so i told her she can borrow an older phone of mine until her upgrade is up in August...by switching phones now, will that change her upgrade date??

[admin_mvu]

That shouldn't matter. Verizon only cares that they are making monthly subscription fee for at least 22 months before they "discount" you the new phones, so whether your cousin is using her/his original phone or a different phone should not matter.