Help with 2year contract upgrade to a bb, wont be used by me

[Strideberry]

Hey, so I bombed my 2 year warranty on a phone that I no longer have, and I'm stuck with an alternative.

On the other hand, my sister hasn't upgraded her Curve, and was recently looking to get the new 8900.

Thing is, she doesn't really care, and is perfectly fine with her old curve, so we've discussed this and figured she might as well stick with Tmobile, get the phone, but give it to me and just keep using her old berry.

I just have one question, I'm getting it from radioshack since it's on a $80 sale, but since all new smart phones need to have a data plan and I have to put down her number obviously in order to extend her contract (she acknowledges this) will I have any problems using it on my phone because she doesn't have the data plan, she just uses unlimited texting and the advantage of the comfortable qwerty keyboard.

I just want to make sure I can upgrade her contract, get the 8900 with the plan, and use it on my number, my account and only have the data plan be accessible from my phone, and not having to pay for any DOUBLE data plans.

Please let me know, also, although I've read the terms, but has anyone else ordered the 8900 from radioshack, any bad outcomes, the price is really nice, but are there any HIDDEN charges my eyes didn't catch? Other than that, please don't tell me you didn't read this because it was TOO LONG Thanks guys=)!

[Strideberry]

Actually, now that I think about it. I rather just have her wait till November since her contract expires at the end of the year anyways and have her get me 9700 hahah. Except, still I was wondering. I could just probably have the data bill come to her house and I can just give her the $ but use the phone with MY sim card since the internet is connected with RIM anyways, and has nothing to do with whoever is using it, right?

[BlkBear]

Only thing I can think of is when she upgrades her plan to use the newer phone, she will be stuck with paying the new plan price, for how ever long se has to, for the phone she is upgrading for. Unless of course her current plan covers what is called for in the "Data Plan".

As for missing anything, just ask up front to have everything spelled out to you as far as fees, and charges above and beyond the X dollars a month. And get that written out for you so you can refer back to it, should there be a problem later. Anything they "SAY" but is not written down, will just be considered an employee mis-speaking. So if it's not on the contract, it's not part of the contract. Hopefully you will be going into the store with her, so both of you can ask questions and get answers, and again, anything they tell you, tell them to point it out on the contract before just taking their word for it.

[Strideberry]

Yeah, I'm going to wait and hopefully have the Onyx release in November. She's going to be stuck with an additional $25 on her monthly bill, but the issue here is we're on a family plan. It's me, her, and our mom. So if you think about technically, it's a single bill altogether, that certainly I am mature enough to work and pay for, BUT, there won't be any miscommunication as to where the heck does this extra $25 come from.


I just wanted to make sure that everything I am saying makes sense. I don't want to buy the phone and have it get RIM blocked because the internet will only be accessed through her SIM.

As far as all the papers and billings go, it's a family plan, I'm just going to dish out an extra $25 every month.

Do I make sense, kind sir?:>

[TequilaAddict]

Who is the primary account holder for your family plan? That person has to make any changes to the account.

Call Customer Service and ask if the curve will be grandfathered if she upgrades to a newer BlackBerry.

[BlkBear]

Makes sense to me. Be the same thing if she got the phone, and sold it the next day. You be paying the extra $25. So since both parties are on the same family plan, it's not as big a deal like it would have been, say a co-worker or a friend on their own plan.

The only thing is, DO NOT let them talk you into closing one account to open a "New" account.

This messes up any grandfathered/discounted plans, so if you have a family plan with a lot of nice goodies you do not want to lose, make sure whatever you are doing with the upgrading of the account, that you don't lose anything that you wish you had not, once the deal is done.

[Strideberry]

Yeah, grandfathered services are nice. I'm not going to close anything, just have her extend her contract and use the phone.

#5

What do you mean? You mean she can upgrade the phone but let my account do the billings?

[xTemptati0n]

Because of the new data requirement, you can no longer use another person's upgrade as your own. Her number is the one that is tied to the upgrade. If you try to process it and do not select the data package, then you face paying the full price for the handset.

[TequilaAddict]

Originally Posted by Strideberry

Yeah, grandfathered services are nice. I'm not going to close anything, just have her extend her contract and use the phone.

#5

What do you mean? You mean she can upgrade the phone but let my account do the billings?

Is the contract in your sister's name? She will have to sign that she is getting the new phone to use on her line in order to get the rebate. So, ask Customer Service if this is possible to give away a phone that she got an upgrade discount. I'm thinking no.

[5ONE2]

I got my girlfriends 8900 from Radioshack and they didn't make her get a data plan.

[Strideberry]

Originally Posted by TequilaAddict

Is the contract in your sister's name? She will have to sign that she is getting the new phone to use on her line in order to get the rebate. So, ask Customer Service if this is possible to give away a phone that she got an upgrade discount. I'm thinking no.

& #8

The contract is a "family plan" and the main owner is our parent. Thing is, all I'm saying is I will have her upgrade and extend her contract for another two years and she will get the data plan on HER line. Yet, she will not use the phone, but give it for me to use. I don't see what could go wrong with this, but I wanted to verify with you guys that I will be able to fully use the phone and its data plan. I understand that we will have to pay for the data plan and that is perfectly fine with me. It's my own blood and I have no problem adding an additional $25 on monthly bases to help her pay the bill with the service I am using.

Am I making sense, will this work? I just want the phone, and the full upgrade discount and I can only do it through her line.

I'm also not trying to share the data plan as it will be done through RIM (I assume) and will only work with the associated PIN, so unless she changes it to her own berry, shouldn't it work just fine with my sim card?

[dragonsamus]

When she upgrades, a data plan will be required unless they count the unlimited text as a data plan. I've read that they've done this for customers before.

The phone is not tied to her phone number. She can upgrade and hand you the phone same day. She'll just have to switch her device to her old curve and you'll have to switch your device to your new curve.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[siccmade00]

Originally Posted by dragonsamus

When she upgrades, a data plan will be required unless they count the unlimited text as a data plan. I've read that they've done this for customers before.

The phone is not tied to her phone number. She can upgrade and hand you the phone same day. She'll just have to switch her device to her old curve and you'll have to switch your device to your new curve.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I think the data plan is tied to the sim card, no? I mean, I have data on my bold, and my wife has no data on her curve. If I put my sim in her curve I have data, if she puts her sim in my bold, she has no data. I see what you're saying but they can't activate data by the phone, it would have to go by sim. If your number is not paying for data, how will your sim have data on the 8900or 9700 if you wait? Her curve that her sim is in would be accesing the data that she is paying for under her number. Make sense? Just use the wifi man. And there's always ebay haha

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dragonsamus]

Originally Posted by siccmade00

I think the data plan is tied to the sim card, no? I mean, I have data on my bold, and my wife has no data on her curve. If I put my sim in her curve I have data, if she puts her sim in my bold, she has no data. I see what you're saying but they can't activate data by the phone, it would have to go by sim. If your number is not paying for data, how will your sim have data on the 8900or 9700 if you wait? Her curve that her sim is in would be accesing the data that she is paying for under her number. Make sense? Just use the wifi man. And there's always ebay haha

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

You are correct. The data is tied to the sim. I was hopeful that the OP would be able to upgrade his sisters line without having to add a data plan to it. I was hoping they would count the unlimited text as the required data plan. I've read that people were able to do this before. But once the OPs sister gets the phone, it is always tied to her sim. So she would need to switch devices back to the old curve so the OP can switch to the new curve.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Strideberry]

since when are the data plans tie to the simcard if the data is coming from RIM? This puts me in a very bad predicament as I had to sell something in order to get the extra $ and blow it on a new phone, but if this is the case. This is going to be a very sad November for me once Onyx comes out.


This is really stupid, WHY does it matter who is going to use the phone anyways........ She is going to get her contract extended by 2 years and I'm on the family plan. They're getting their money, I'm using my sister's phone. Why can't they forward the phone to me. I want to buy the Onyx, I can't upgrade at a full discount and I'll have to buy 2 data plans if I wanna use the phone...


Is there anything I can do other than maybe being honest with TMO although I doubt they'll break the rule. I just lack to see the logic