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Verizon upgrade eligibility extends to a full two years, New Every Two credits expire April 15th
Verizon subscribers, we hope your device habits don't revolve too closely around that 20-month upgrade cycle: it's about to get longer. Big Red has confirmed that upgrade eligibility will now start only after the two-year contract is up. Those who have an existing contract that expires in January 2014 or later will have to wait four more months before they can get hardware at a discounted rate. Ostensibly, the shift is to let customers count on a lone upgrade date for all of their connected devices, but let's not beat around the bush: the longer intervals are bad for any subscriber whose desire for a new phone or tablet doesn't perfectly dovetail with their contract length. There are a few other changes afoot. Those on multi-line accounts can still share their upgrades as long as it's within the same device category, but they won't have the option to transfer a hotspot or tablet upgrade. It won't be as easy to upgrade to that Galaxy Note 10.1, unfortunately. Likewise, anyone who's been hoarding New Every Two upgrades since the program ended in 2011 may want to use them this weekend -- the credits expire on April 15th. While these last two changes won't affect as many of us, they reinforce the notion that Verizon would really prefer that we hold on to the gear we've got.
Verizon officially kills off New Every Two upgrade discount program
There's already been plenty of evidence over the past couple weeks to call this a lock, but let's just go ahead and close the loop on this one: Verizon's official FAQ list has been updated to indicate that its New Every Two upgrade discount program is toast. In short, that means that new lines of Verizon service won't be eligible for an equipment discount -- which used to run between $30 and $100 -- after your two-year contract is up, and folks that are currently enrolled in an NE2-eligible plan will only be able to redeem the discount one more time before being taken out of it. The move kind of dovetails with Verizon's decision a few months back to bump the smartphone ETF to a groan-inducing $350, and it seems to be part of a larger industry trend toward making phones wincingly expensive to replace. Don't drop that Droid X, folks! Note: To be clear, you'll still be eligible for normal subsidized pricing once you pass into the upgrade period on your contract -- you just won't get an extra discount on top of that.
Verizon Wireless nixing early upgrades and New Every Two program?
Fan of the early upgrade? Hope you're not on Big Red, then. Android Central's obtained what's purported to be a slide from Verizon's training material, one that says customers on a two-year contract "will no longer be able to upgrade in months 13 - 20 of their 24 month contract as a standard policy" after January 16th. As for the the New Every Two deal, pared down once already in February 2009, new customers won't be enrolled if they activate or upgrade a line, also after the 16th. In other words, the program would be effectively dead in the water, but we don't know if this slide is gospel or a cruel forgery, and we may not know for about another two weeks... you know, after the deluge of exciting phones that'll be revealed at CES this week. Them's the breaks. [Thanks, Mike]
Verizon axing Test Drive, making New Every Two program less awesome
Verizon Wireless certainly isn't planning a romantic weekend with its customers this Valentine's Day, as it's completely nixing its Test Drive program and slashing benefits on its New Every Two initiative. Or, it will if documents rounded up by Boy Genius Report prove accurate. Currently, prospective subscribers who'd like to test out Verizon's network for a month without worrying over usage fees can do so; after February 15th, they can kiss that option goodbye, as anyone who signs up and ports out within a month will have to pay for their wireless access and usage charges during that window. On the same day, a few changes in the NE2 program will also go into effect, and while we'll point you to the read link for all the details, here's the skinny: the discounts you once got are being lessened. Awesome.
