By 
If you are a long-time Verizon Wireless customer, you should be quite aware that you have the ability to upgrade your cell phone every two years. Normally customers were offered a total of $100 towards a new phone if they agree to sign another two year contract with Verizon and had maintained a monthly plan of $30 or more. However this is no longer the case. With Verizon Wireless’s “New Every Two” plan, pretty much everyone with any sort of contract has to pay more to upgrade to a new device.
The new plan goes as follows: If a customer has had a monthly plan of $35 or more for 2 years , they then now qualify for only $50 towards a new phone after signing another 2 year contract instead of the previous $100. To receive a total of a $100 towards a new phone, as it was before, the customer must be paying at least $80 or more for their monthly plan for the entire two years or the last three months before becoming eligible to upgrade. Even though some may be eligible to get a $100, they will still be stuck with a new contract. In addition those who are thinking because of their family plan, everyone can new phones, WRONG, only the primary line will be eligible.
Verizon, in their defense, claims that the cost of cell phones has been “drastically” dropping over the last 10 years. I have to agree that prices of any electronic gadget does drop over time as it becomes cheaper to produce. BUT when the price of the new popular Motorola RAZR 2, which will be a hit during the holiday season, is on sale at a price of $250 with yet another 2 year contract, I have to disagree. What do you guys think? Is Sprint, Cingular, or T-Mobile handset upgrades any better?
Links: Verizon Wireless New Very Two | FAQs
i think its absurd to even be trying to say hat verizon is ripping people off. they offer the best service and options although other companies might carry some other phones like the I phone, verizon commits to customer service and is always willing to help. now about the upgrade thing come on people ur paying a cell phone bill os aout 35 bucks a month y would u even expect to get 100 of a new phone… and like it is in everything the newer it is the more its gonna cost u. so really think about it its not at all dat bad. and by the way i believe that i heard that verizon turned down the i phone any idea why???? i heard it but dont know exactly why i am 100 pecent verizon client!!
wow that was a harsh article. the service is still much better than at&t. i just switched over and my new phone actually works now and it even has signal! i’m also paying the same price of 40bucks
@cris – “verizon commits to customer service and is always willing to help”
do you work for verizon or somethin’? haha
we’ll either way i’m glad you had a good experience, cuz mine with them has just been torture!
Interesting post, well I just started a company to help you out with your cell phone bill. This will not help the newe2 dilema but maybe we can help you save a few dollars. Check us out at http://www.myvalidas.com.
I don’t feel that the post was harsh at all, in fact, I concur in totality with all points made as I have experienced the same frustrations myself. The truth is, as Verizon mentioned, cell phone prices ARE dropping. With this in mind why doesn’t Verizon provide more help in helping their customers maintain an up to date phone at a discounted rate instead of gouging them with a huge mark-up. A cell phone selling for $200-250 stateside can be purchased for $35-50 in Japan, same phone, same features, but just not the “special discounted rate” offered by Verizon (or any other carrier for that matter…) to their “valued customers”. Let’s face it people, loyalty to associates is almost dead in this world, it’s all about greed and profit instead of just doing a good turn as a way of saying “thank you” for your continued business. The way to fight back against such injustice, you might ask? It’s simple, change carriers every two years! Just port your number to your new carrier and demand to have your deposit refunded (if applicable), and voila! A new, state-of-the-art phone is in your hands! A new carrier wants your business, so they’ll provide you that new phone for CHEAP. It’s only after they got you that they could care less about giving you a deal anymore. I know that hopping from lily-pad to lily-pad seems kind of harsh minded, but hey, we live in a harsh world.
Shazucal, you do realize that Verizon honors its discount online deals for every customer, $100 credit or not, don’t you? So those “special” deals you’re willing to sign at a carrier elsewhere (and pay activation fees and 1st month’s prorated bill) are still available to upgrades. They don’t just get the EXTRA $100 credit for sitting on their asses and using their cell phones. I go to WalMart for groceries every week, but they’re not giving me a $100 credit toward anything. Maybe you would suggest boycotting them too? God forbid people charge what things are worth! Businesses are out to make a profit. Oh noooo!
wow, this is a pretty cool topic i guess. To me It would seem like verizon should honor those people for bringing their kids or girlfriends or friends or whatever into a family plan and give them both updated phones. They are getting more business because of us family plan people and more people on their service. I Have been with verizon now for about 5 years and i love the quality of phone service they provide i just wish they could do the same with their customer service and give me 2 freakin phones since i do have 2 people that need phones. I dont even care if they are both free I just want to be taken care of for being a loyal verizon customer, but like you said they dont really care about how long youve been with them they are just greedy business people. god bless and merry xmas
Kare, that $100 “credit” you refer to is available ONLY to those folks who have the more “Premium” calling plans. For the average Joe spending $59.95 per month on his calling plan, the credit is only $50! Yeah, true story. And, just as billybob said, I too like the quality of phone service that Verizon provides. Their customer care and loyalty is in need of a MAJOR upgrade!!!! To upgrade your cell phone when the contract is up, I would strongly suggest doing business with one of the hungry, “little guys” to be found on eBay. Just be sure to check out their feedback prior to purchase to avoid any problems with THEIR customer service. Hee-Hee-Hee! :) Merry Christmas to all, and God bless.
I agree that these policies suck, and they end up being misleading. They make you think that you can get a new phone every two years, and the new contract is always a subnote. Also, 100 dollars towards a new phone doesnt mean much when you have a family plan with 4 phones to pay for. HOWEVER, despite the significant negatives, I have found just as many, if not MORE problems with the other leading carriers in my area. Sprint is famous for harassing phone calls after we left them, sometimes several times a day or at all hours of the night. Despite several requests to be removed from the call list, the calls continued. It wasn’t until angrily pursuing the legal sysytem that the calls finally subsided (after THREE years of hassling) They also don’t have a good service area in comparrison to verizon. At&t/cingular has much the same policies. When we switched to verizon, they tried to charge us $750 for breaking contract. It had been three years since we had signed up, and our contract was LONG up. This was easier to fix than the issue we had with Sprint, but they still weren’t very friendly about the situation.
So, basically, what I’m trying to say is that although this particular policy is an example of poor customer service, I doubt you’ll find anything better by switching to a different carrier. PLUS, by switching you will have to deal with activation fees. Good luck with that hassle.
The truth of the whole scenario is this…the cost to produce a phone has gone up significantly with every phone having more and more features. The price of these phones (with a contract) HAS gone down to be more competitive and because of the economy. For example (using a real phone as an example but not named) Motorolla phone “x” cost verizon $349.00 to purchase from Motorolla. The new customer price with a 2 yr contract is $99.99. That is a loss of 249.01 for Verizon. This same phone also has a $50 mail in rebate!! So that is a loss of 300.01 for Verizon. (Now they obviously make money from the contract being paid.)
If you are a NE2 customer, meaning you have completed at least 20 months of your contract, the main line of a family plan is elegible for an extra discount of $50 or $100. This is off of the already reduced price of $99.99 plus you get the rebate of $50. That means you made $50 by purchasing this phone!
I dont know how you could come out better. I know everyone thinks that you are being taken for a ride by whatever company but in this case the customer has the upper hand! I would think that someone writing for a tech website would at least know what they are writing about. I agree with the other people on this post that it is such a sassy article for a copmpany to publish. Shame, shame.
Each additional line is elegible for the regular discounted price of the phone 99.99 and any rebate (in this case $50). There are usually 3 or 4 phones priced at $49.99 with a $50 rebate so everyone can get a “free” phone.