Robert has his eye on a shiny new smartphone, and he’s eligible for an upgrade. He’s on a family plan, and has devised a scheme to take advantage of some promotions. These promotions are intended for new Verizon customers, so his plan is to discontinue one of the lines on his account, and start a new one in order to get the discounts and perks that come with a “new” line. He wonders: has anyone else out there tried this and succeeded?

Starting 4/22/2012, Verizon is going to start charging a $30.00 “upgrade fee” for all existing contracts eligible for a new every 2 phone upgrade. Additionally, they are running a “double data” special for all new 4G LTE customers ($30.00/month for 4GB of data as opposed to the 2 GB that existing customers get). And finally, the phone I have been looking at (The Droid Razr Maxx) is on sale at amazon wireless for $229.99 for existing customers eligible for an upgrade, and for $199.99 for new customers getting added to a family plan.

My question is basically; What is keeping me from just cancelling my current line on the family plan that I am a part of (I wouldn’t be eligible for an early termination fee since I’m already due for an upgrade), then adding a line back to the family plan once I’ve been dropped, essentially making me a new addition to the plan, which would A) get my upgrade without worrying about the existing customer fee, since I technically would be a “new” customer, B) get me double the data for the same price as a “new customer”, and C) save me $30.00 on amazon wireless since I wouldn’t be “upgrading”, I would be getting a new phone as a new customer and therefore be eligible for the $199.99 price?

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