How to Keep Unlimited Everything Verizon Plan

August 25, 2015 1:53 PM

I may be moving out of state, how do cell phone plans work when you move?

I may be moving across the country. I'd like to keep my old unlimited voice, text, and data plan with Verizon. I've been able to keep it by purchasing my smartphones directly from the manufacturer. When you move that far, do carriers change your plan? I looked at Verizon's map, and the new city is totally covered. It's a major metropolitan area so I figured it would be. I'm just worried they may use it as an excuse to switch my plan on me or something. I know they like trying to get rid of the old unlimited contracts whenever possible.

posted by Avosunspin to Technology (8 answers total)

No. I've moved 4 states with Verizon and only got my plan changed when I upgraded.
posted by sandmanwv at 1:54 PM on August 25, 2015

It shouldn't be a problem, but, honestly, unless you're constantly streaming video, you may be surprised that you don't really need that plan. I hung onto that unlimited data plan for as long as I could, I'm now down to the 1 gig plan and seldom even get close to the 1 gig.... (and it's costing me about 1/3 of the old plan)....
posted by HuronBob at 1:57 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

It won't do anything. I know several people who have moved cross country and kept that plan. They have, all, however been tricked by lying CS reps into losing it when they needed to change well... anything at all, or when they tried to do the full price upgrade thing.

Call them out if they try and tell you that you need to change it and refuse to. I've heard from someone who worked there that they get a sizeable bonus of some type for every person they switch off of one of those plans.
posted by emptythought at 2:05 PM on August 25, 2015

Are you planning on changing your phone number? I don't understand why Verizon would even care if you moved. Are you worried about a different billing address? I don't think that matters.

I have a no-contract phone, though many of my friends have moved cross-country with Verizon and have not had a problem with their plans changing just because they moved.
posted by Guess What at 2:05 PM on August 25, 2015

Best answer: Absolutely nothing about your plan needs to change other than your billing address. You should call them well in advance of your move to inform them of this change, at least a month, unless you do online billing in which case you can let them know after the move. They may offer you new/different things on your current plan. You don't have to agree to anything you don't want.
posted by poffin boffin at 2:08 PM on August 25, 2015

Response by poster: I do plan on changing my number
posted by Avosunspin at 3:59 PM on August 25, 2015

You can change your number online for free, or over the phone for $15. It won't affect your plan at all although you should check with them. However, in case you haven't though of this, I highly recommend that you do not change your number unless you absolutely must. It's a huge hassle to give your number to your contacts, services etc. Nowadays everyone has a 'long distance' area code and it's no big deal. Unless you need a local number for business reasons it's almost never worth it.
posted by acidic at 4:25 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have moved several times without changing my plan (I did want to keep my old number, though, just for the convenience of everyone who calls me). But I just wanted to jump in here to say that I recently released that my old unlimited everything plan from another carrier, which I was grandfathered into and which seemed pretty cheap, actually was more expensive than new pay-as-you-go options. So I switched. You also might need to switch if there's an issue with coverage (I'm in a major metropolitan area and couldn't get Verizon to work on my block, for example).
posted by three_red_balloons at 6:31 AM on August 26, 2015