Thread: Ask ANY VZW related question, including Tethering (no OS ?s)

Originally Posted by jasonfyc

ALRIGHT SWAMI!!!
When I renew my contract, my bill is under $100.00. After, it is always well over $200.00. and I spend the next two years gettin' it back down under $100.00. :banghead:
Im at $175.00 now. 700 mins. family share,3 phones(mine storm), mine data, others text.


HOW DO I SPEED UP MY PROCESS?:cool2:

your bill should be at exactly $140 before taxes and other govt fees. $110 for a family share 700 min select play plus $30 data plan for your berry unless you signed up for bes server berry which is $45. Do you have insurance? its 7.99 for bbs and any phone that has an html based web browser. What is sales tax in your location? You may be paying for exactly what you signed up for. IF you go to Cell Phones,Prepaid Cell Phones,Cell Phone Plans - Verizon Wireless and check your online account you can click on view my bill and see a full pdf that explains your bill. when you look at your bill check for 1. equipment charges (things you billed to your acct when you upgraded), and 2. there is a place that shows data and voice charges.
If either shows then you have voice overage or data overage i.e. downloads, 411 calls, etc.

Hope this helps

Originally Posted by cveklund

When does the buy one, get one blackberry offer end?

Thanks,
Chris

I know this is from a very old post but the bogo offer is back and now ends mid oct. there was a previous sale that ended in june but they are rerunning it and i actually think its nation wide. You have the option of purchasing any bb and getting another for free. Or you have the option of getting any other device of equal or lesser value for free after mail in rebate. the best deal though is if you get a bb tour you can get a netbook completely free. pm me if you are have any questions on pricing etc. I can help you pick something out or I can at least point anyone in the right direction.

Wirelessly posted (storm 9530)

Originally Posted by Beta360x

Is tetherberry legal to use according to Verizon's contract, is tetherberry good, is there any way to upgrade to a new phone before your contract is up but without having to pay like 700$ for a new phone, and is there any way to just open up another 10$ a month #, switch your number with that number so that you have the upgrade and are able to get a new phone early?

Sorry for asking a lot of questions. mfg:

Wow full of questions tonight... :lmao: alright I think I can cover this for Nepperz! Tetherberry: it would be a no no with VZW... There is a way to use it without getting extra fees tact on. You have to ramp up your use over an extended period of time and not exceed 5gbs... What they day is unlimited isn't really unlimited!
Upgrade: you could add another line for 10 bucks like you said, but just tell them what your doing, and they'll put your # on the new phone. So you won't have to change #'s. You can do the contract as a 1yr and pay it all up front... So it would be 120 (for a one year contract but you could do a 2 year if you wanted) + the start up fee and the promo price of the phone. That would be if you paid it all up front. Or you could extend it out over the 1 or 2 year contract if you would rather make payments. For specific #'s, you can ask Nepperz in the morning. I hope this helps and ask away if you have anymore...

Originally Posted by Geeanywhere

You only had it for one year and they are giving you ok on getting a new phone?? wow...

If you have a ne2 credit of $100 you would want to consider possibly doing a bogo (buy one get one) option. you could get the tour for $50 after rebate and get either a netbook or another tour for free. I understand though if you dont need another bb you might consider any phone under $150. even though you are getting the tour for $50 you still have the option of any phone under $150. Its an awesome promo in your situation. You are very lucky. I can break it down better after seeing your account. pm me for my work number if you have questions about sales options.

Wirelessly posted (storm 9530)

Originally Posted by htessmer04

Originally Posted by jasonfyc

ALRIGHT SWAMI!!!
When I renew my contract, my bill is under $100.00. After, it is always well over $200.00. and I spend the next two years gettin' it back down under $100.00. :banghead:
Im at $175.00 now. 700 mins. family share,3 phones(mine storm), mine data, others text.


HOW DO I SPEED UP MY PROCESS?:cool2:

your bill should be at exactly $140 before taxes and other govt fees. $110 for a family share 700 min select play plus $30 data plan for your berry unless you signed up for bes server berry which is $45. Do you have insurance? its 7.99 for bbs and any phone that has an html based web browser. What is sales tax in your location? You may be paying for exactly what you signed up for. IF you go to Cell Phones,Prepaid Cell Phones,Cell Phone Plans - Verizon Wireless and check your online account you can click on view my bill and see a full pdf that explains your bill. when you look at your bill check for 1. equipment charges (things you billed to your acct when you upgraded), and 2. there is a place that shows data and voice charges.
If either shows then you have voice overage or data overage i.e. downloads, 411 calls, etc.

Hope this helps

Welcome to BBOS htessmer04! Thank you for jumping on these questions, but I would like to point out that these are at the beginning of the thread and substantially old. This is :haha: actually my post about 5 months ago... I have since changed and added a BB to my bill. The dates are at the top of the posts. As I said before, welcome and thank you for jumping in and answering questions... :fing02:

Originally Posted by FISH4RUDY

Hey jnepsa, Have you ever heard of a vzw list called 5 star? I read on another site that vzw has added the tour and palm pre to this 5star interest list. so that people can be called prior to vzw releasing these phones. Just wandered if you know about this list. I am not asking about any release dates, rumor phones etc..... Only the validity of said list.

Thanks, again for your help.

To be a little more informational on the whole "5 star" thing; what "5 star" is. "5 star" allows us in the vzw sales dept to comb accounts for things like: text, mb usage, and downloads to help us find customers who go over on their plans. It helps the sales side because we get paid commission and it helps the customers because we are only calling you if you have overages. now occasionally we will get "5 star" campaigns for customers who are out of contract and may be interested in a certain "device" i.e. storm2/pre/touch pro2 based on what device and what features you are using currently. So in short if you have a bb and are coming upon an upgrade or early upgrade you may be in a sales person's "5 star" campaign call list.

Hope this was informational and helpful to you

Originally Posted by jnepsa

this is the kinda stuff I want to stop, I will not name the site I pulled this from

Hey,
So i am looking for some advice from maybe a rep or someone experienced. I am from Canada but work out in the US 5 days a week, my company gives a blackberry with data but since i'm here so much i thought i would get a Verizon phone just so i don't have to worry about roaming charges. I bought a Pearl off of craigslist just because i like texting on that and because i don't want to carry two chargers around and when i went into the Verizon store they said i need to activate a data plan in order to use the Pearl.
I was told something diff. when i called before i purchased the Pearl so i'm stuck with a phone i can't use; any advice on this? Has anyone gone through this before?
Thanks a lot everyone


very first response he gets

call up a verizon rep and have them put a data block on your phone......
You can receive sms/ txt's but not mms picture messages.

:261::nutkick:at:

Well if any canadians are having this issue I'll give an answer anyway, lol.
You can create what is called a nationwide plus canada calling plan that would allow you to call in either country. the benefit is it is still very competitive to canada's calling plans plus the commitment is only 2 years with a lot lower etf. idk if anyone here is familiar with canada's rates but they are fairly pricey with very high cancellation fees. the downside is that if you want a berry you are looking at a $65 per month for international data (or you can go pay/use + $30 local, but its not worth it because international pay/use is way expensive). If you want a good texting phone though you could get a Samsung Integrity for free if you talk to the right person, yours truely. lol. The canada plans arent bad though and if you are considering using vzw for a couple years its worth the contract.

Great find jnepsa!! I too hate to see wrong info spewed from the mouths of the ignorant.

Originally Posted by catstide

thanks for not being mad....by the way...i'm not a saint either :laugh2:
i would suggest that you take out the insurance on your storm. that way if it gets damaged you can get a replacement($50 deductible) in a day or so. also when you take out the insurance it doubles your warranty to two years, so if it messes up within the two years verizon will replace it.

Just in case you dont already have insurance and for anyone else out there that doesnt and wants it, you can currently add insurance to any line whether you just bought the phone or bought it a year ago. Asurion has a promo right now that allows anyone with verizon to add insurance to an existing account until the end of oct. so say you broke your phone today and dont have insurance, you can add insurance now and claim it in 3 days. typically you have to add insurance within the first 15 days of purchasing the device and you can't make a claim for 30 days. So Jump on it people if you need insurance.

Any questions or need help with this pm me

Originally Posted by htessmer04

To be a little more informational on the whole "5 star" thing; what "5 star" is. "5 star" allows us in the vzw sales dept to comb accounts for things like: text, mb usage, and downloads to help us find customers who go over on their plans. It helps the sales side because we get paid commission and it helps the customers because we are only calling you if you have overages. now occasionally we will get "5 star" campaigns for customers who are out of contract and may be interested in a certain "device" i.e. storm2/pre/touch pro2 based on what device and what features you are using currently. So in short if you have a bb and are coming upon an upgrade or early upgrade you may be in a sales person's "5 star" campaign call list.

Hope this was informational and helpful to you

That is def very informative. Is there any way a customer knows what their star rating is, or is that held confidential by the vzw sales dept?

Originally Posted by jasonfyc

Wirelessly posted (storm 9530)



Wow full of questions tonight... :lmao: alright I think I can cover this for Nepperz! Tetherberry: it would be a no no with VZW... There is a way to use it without getting extra fees tact on. You have to ramp up your use over an extended period of time and not exceed 5gbs... What they day is unlimited isn't really unlimited!
Upgrade: you could add another line for 10 bucks like you said, but just tell them what your doing, and they'll put your # on the new phone. So you won't have to change #'s. You can do the contract as a 1yr and pay it all up front... So it would be 120 (for a one year contract but you could do a 2 year if you wanted) + the start up fee and the promo price of the phone. That would be if you paid it all up front. Or you could extend it out over the 1 or 2 year contract if you would rather make payments. For specific #'s, you can ask Nepperz in the morning. I hope this helps and ask away if you have anymore...

ahah thank you for all your help! just curious about the tetherberry thingy cause it would be very useful to use the bb as a router and play World of Warcraft virtually anywhere. Thank you for your input. And one more thing...if I currently own a storm and would want 2 upgrade 2 an odin when it comes out, are the obvious methods (create a new number, pay $10000.00/0 the only methods available, is there an easy cost effective way of doing it?

Originally Posted by jlevy73

That is def very informative. Is there any way a customer knows what their star rating is, or is that held confidential bya the vzw sales dept?

5 star isnt actually a rating despite the name. Idk why they call it 5 star. It used to be called "campaign manager." We still refer to it as so between each other. Personally though i would rank a customer higher if they had more overage as that would be more beneficial to me and the cst because a lot of cst sign up for auto-billpay and dont realize how much they are spending. I could help them sort their bill and potentially make some commission and the cst could lower their bill and save some money. that is the idea behind "5 star." So in short there isn't a rating, its just a name for the program.

Wirelessly posted (storm 9530)

Originally Posted by Beta360x

Originally Posted by jasonfyc

Wirelessly posted (storm 9530)



Wow full of questions tonight... :lmao: alright I think I can cover this for Nepperz! Tetherberry: it would be a no no with VZW... There is a way to use it without getting extra fees tact on. You have to ramp up your use over an extended period of time and not exceed 5gbs... What they day is unlimited isn't really unlimited!
Upgrade: you could add another line for 10 bucks like you said, but just tell them what your doing, and they'll put your # on the new phone. So you won't have to change #'s. You can do the contract as a 1yr and pay it all up front... So it would be 120 (for a one year contract but you could do a 2 year if you wanted) + the start up fee and the promo price of the phone. That would be if you paid it all up front. Or you could extend it out over the 1 or 2 year contract if you would rather make payments. For specific #'s, you can ask Nepperz in the morning. I hope this helps and ask away if you have anymore...

ahah thank you for all your help! just curious about the tetherberry thingy cause it would be very useful to use the bb as a router and play World of Warcraft virtually anywhere. Thank you for your input. And one more thing...if I currently own a storm and would want 2 upgrade 2 an odin when it comes out, are the obvious methods (create a new number, pay $10000.00/0 the only methods available, is there an easy cost effective way of doing it?

Hi Beta... I explained the most cost effective way in my post that is no where near 1000,00 you could walk out the door with a new S2 for what ever the prome price is at that time, retain your #. Just reread the bottom section... :haha:

Originally Posted by jasonfyc

Wirelessly posted (storm 9530)



Wow full of questions tonight... :lmao: alright I think I can cover this for Nepperz! Tetherberry: it would be a no no with VZW... There is a way to use it without getting extra fees tact on. You have to ramp up your use over an extended period of time and not exceed 5gbs... What they day is unlimited isn't really unlimited!
Upgrade: you could add another line for 10 bucks like you said, but just tell them what your doing, and they'll put your # on the new phone. So you won't have to change #'s. You can do the contract as a 1yr and pay it all up front... So it would be 120 (for a one year contract but you could do a 2 year if you wanted) + the start up fee and the promo price of the phone. That would be if you paid it all up front. Or you could extend it out over the 1 or 2 year contract if you would rather make payments. For specific #'s, you can ask Nepperz in the morning. I hope this helps and ask away if you have anymore...

Now idk what type of price plan you are currently on, but even if you don't get use out of this info someone else might. If you are on an individual plan you get to combine your bb internet into your minute and/or texting plan to bundle. great right? well it isn't exactly "well known" (at least not with my colleagues) that in this bundle verizon is charging you $30 for a plan bb plan that includes the BES option (usually $45). When you have the BES option you are entitled to 5gb of tethering per month (called "broadband access connect w/voice") for only $15 per month. Now I know that that is still more than tetherberry, but it is free for the first month right now and since it is offered from verizon you won't have to deal with anything 3rd party.

Simplified: on an individual bundled email plan tethering is only $15 per month from verizon. so if you are on a family shared plan you are s.o.l.

pm me if you need help setting up this plan.

Originally Posted by jnepsa

lol i think it will be a great phone, and hopefully you have no problems if you decide to but like i said i think they are really going to crack down on this lets hope i am wrong

I honestly believe that VZW pushed the storm 2 launch date to be very close to 1 year after the original as a way to prevent doing ineligible upgrades. This way a lot of the customers who bought the storm on the original launch and are eligible for their early upgrade will have the first opportunity to get the s2. Just personal opinion.

Originally Posted by SIMilan11

Question:

Lets say Verizon releases the Storm 2 and its January 2010 and I still have Verizon's limited 1 year warranty on my Storm 1. If my beloved Storm 1 does mess up, do you think they'll still ask me if I'd like to switch to another phone (besides the Storm 2). I just want to know that I won't be stuck with the Storm 1 (and its problems) after Verizon's 1 year warranty ends. I still love my Storm 1 though, but I don't want to have a useless (messed up) Storm 1 and have my 1 year warranty up.

Thanks!

If you are really concerned about your warranty expiring i would suggest adding an extended warranty. unlike insurance that is through the 3rd party company asurion and costs 7.99 now (no longer 5.99) the extended warranty is only 1.99 per month and is a Verizon in-house offer. It wont save your a** in the event of you chucking your "beloved storm 1" at the wall, but it will get you a "certified like-new" replacement if say your screen goes blank or stops clicking. Oh and you can add this feature at any time. If customer service won't do it because they are confused about the policy or our current insurance open enrollment policy just pm me and ill take care of it for you.

Hope this helped.

Originally Posted by Beta360x

Is tetherberry legal to use according to Verizon's contract, is tetherberry good, is there any way to upgrade to a new phone before your contract is up but without having to pay like 700$ for a new phone, and is there any way to just open up another 10$ a month #, switch your number with that number so that you have the upgrade and are able to get a new phone early?

Sorry for asking a lot of questions. mfg:

Believe it or not this is a common issue we face in the store regularly. Say you broke your storm and dont have insurance. Would you rather buy one outright for $450 or just add a line and get it for $50 and pay $10 per month for 2 yrs. total cost $290. Now the best way to go about this and save you the most money is to purchase the phone with the add-a-line option ($50) and to place an old phone that doesnt require a data package on the new number so you arent paying for unnecessary data costs. If you dont have an old phone ask your vzw friends, any phone will do (doesnt even have to turn on).
If you need help or want me to do this for you just pm me.

Originally Posted by Beta360x

Is tetherberry legal to use according to Verizon's contract, is tetherberry good, is there any way to upgrade to a new phone before your contract is up but without having to pay like 700$ for a new phone, and is there any way to just open up another 10$ a month #, switch your number with that number so that you have the upgrade and are able to get a new phone early?

Sorry for asking a lot of questions. mfg:

lol you are ok.. tetherberry yes and no.. as long as you dont blow the 5gb hard cap on you phones data you should be fine,i.e.- you use it very rarely just as a back up, you will be fine. sometimes there is.. there is really no set way to upgrade your phone for sure, as there have been alot of ppl taking advantage of the fact that the reps were being nice vzw has started becoming more strict on this. but your final option adding another line.. just an hypothetical, S2 drops you add a line to get it at the lower price, then activate an old regular phone on that line and put the S2 on your line that is perfectly legal as long as that line remains active until its contract is up you will get no ETF's. Hope that helps

Originally Posted by jnepsa

lol you are ok.. tetherberry yes and no.. as long as you dont blow the 5gb hard cap on you phones data you should be fine,i.e.- you use it very rarely just as a back up, you will be fine. sometimes there is.. there is really no set way to upgrade your phone for sure, as there have been alot of ppl taking advantage of the fact that the reps were being nice vzw has started becoming more strict on this. but your final option adding another line.. just an hypothetical, S2 drops you add a line to get it at the lower price, then activate an old regular phone on that line and put the S2 on your line that is perfectly legal as long as that line remains active until its contract is up you will get no ETF's. Hope that helps

This is all so confusing, so it sounds like the easiest way to do this when the Storm 2 comes out is add a second line @ $10/mo for one year? Pay that up front and ask them to put the storm2 on my original number. Will I get the promo price for the Storm 2 when adding a line for a year? Will I want them to put my origanal Storm on the new line or should I use an older phone that I have laying around? If I pay the year upfront $120 can I Cancell it soon after setting it up or does it need to remain open for the year?

yes you will get the 1 year contract price on the S2 if you open the line, and if you pay the 120 upfront wont help you at all.. you need to keep the line open for the year.. usually the 1yr price is at least 40 more than the 2yr price so that is up to you but yes that is the best way to do it. What did you want to use tetherberry for? the thing is they have a5gb hard cap on your unlimited bb data.. knowing that 5gb is hard to hit from just the phone.. say now you use .5-1gb a month from the phone.. if you download and use tether berry and go from that amount to 3.5-4gb they will notice the 3gb jump and it will raise a flag in the system.. now if you use it little bits just as a secondary means of connecting from the laptop you should see no trouble or if you slowly up it. like over the course of a couple of months work from .5-1gb up the 3.5-4gb.. that will not raise a flag you will just need to keep an eye not to go over the 5gb does that help? and hows your girl BTW

do verizon salesmen make a commission for VZ Navigator? the guy who sold me my storm put it on without asking me, told me the first month was free and i would have to cancel within 30 days to not be charged for it. this was after waiting 45 minutes for him to set up my phone (when he said it would take 20) so i wasnt going to hang around and get him to remove it.

he was pretty helpful overall, so i wasnt about to get pissed about it or anything, but i was wondering if he did this because he recieved a commission, or if he was just trying to be helpful.

i plan on canceling it anyways. everything i would need it for can be done for free with the google maps app.