Verizon Wireless allows customers to change plans without extending contract

Though you may be used to hearing Alltel boast of its consumer-friendly policy that enables users to change their plan at anytime without requiring a contract extension, now would be a good time to gear up for lots of similar chatter from Verizon. Reportedly, Verizon Wireless will soon allow its users to change up their plans mid-contract without asking them to sign on for any additional time, which should thoroughly excite those customers who've been regretting their plan decision since day two. So go on, Verizon customers, start scoping out which plan best fits your current lifestyle, because the new rule goes into effect on October 7th.

[Thanks, Kiwi616]

[Yojimbo @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:22PM]

Cingular/AT&T has allowed this for a long time... glad that Verizon jumped on the band wagon!

[Chris @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:44PM]

This was why I dumped Verizon and went to Cingular back in the day. I outgrew my minutes, was getting hosed every month, but did not want another two year commitment. Glad to see they are responding to the market.

[Lorraine @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:02PM]

That is completely BS about Cingular/AT&T letting you change plans without extending the contract..... they are the absolute WORST.... can't even decide on their name. Customer service reps are ALWAYS so RUDE and uninformed. That is why I left them after many years of service and am COMPLETELY happy with Verizon... what a difference!

[R1cebrner @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:23PM]

I must have been lucky ive changed plans a couple of times with out requiring a contract extension

[mlb @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:26PM]

You may be in for a surprise if you ever try to cancel your contract. This is a good deal for me because I overestimated the amount of minutes I need per month and would like to move to a plan with less minutes. However, I've been reluctant to call them for fear of activating the automatic contract extension. I will give them a shout once this goes into effect.

[aj @ Oct 3rd 2007 3:05PM]

Wow. I'm surprised Verizon is trying to change their ways. We've had nothing but trouble with them. From false negative credit reports they never fixed, to "accidentally" extended contracts:

http://www.fabbrication.net/blog/archives/35-Verizon-Wireless-Accidentally-Extends-our-Contract.html

[xman @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:25PM]

That's funny b/c a friend of mine got away with this 2yrs ago with Verizon. So, this is nothing new. All you have to do is complain a little and mention the fact that you are still fulfilling your obligation of 2yrs regardless of plan.

[Zach Marshall @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:34PM]

Cingular definitely didn't let my friend change his plan without signing up for an extension! Don't know what you're talking about.

I love Verizon, I've been with 'em for seveteen years now (back when they Bell Atlantic Mobile) and I wouldn't switch to another provider. This is just icing on the cake. Never had a service problem, and since I've been such a long time member and my dad worked for Verizon, they scratch your back real nicely.

[Bob The Mexican @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:37PM]

Wow, your friend got screwed by Cingular/AT&T then. I've changed my plan with them several times without an extension.

[Joshua @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:27PM]

I have done this several times with Cingular. I at first over estimated the minutes I would need, and moved to a low plan once I had built up rollover minutes. I changed to a higher plan later. I have since changed several different times both to more and less expensive plans.

[John @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:08PM]

Yeah, I've changed my plan numerous times over the years with Cingular/ATT and never had my contract extended.

[Arash @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:36PM]

T-Mo has always allowed this.

[blade417 @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:37PM]

That's what I like to hear!

Now i'm still searching for a way to get out of this frickin Helio contract without paying the ETF.

Any suggestions?

P.S. I hate helio

[Frankenstein Black @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:39PM]

WOW! Locked into a rate plan? How do you VZ customers standing for that when OTHER CARRIERS not only LET YOU CHANGE RATE PLANS but sometimes reach out to you to save you money if you are on the wrong plan?!

CDMA, EVDO, ESNs, Bluetooth/WiFi PHONE GIMPING and now this? Yea, you can keep taking it like a "battered spouse", or bounce...

[Mike @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:48PM]

While I haven't been a Verizon Customer for many years, they had by far the best coverage. I've tried just about all the major carriers, Sprint, Att/Cingular, Voicestream/T-Mobile, etc...

Also, signing contract extensions is a non-issue for those who are happy with their service providers and aren't intending to leave them anytime soon. I suspect that the majority of Verizon's customers ARE happy, otherwise they would no longer be in business.

[Andir3.0 @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:49PM]

I like CDMA and EVDO. I was with Sprint on CDMA and recently switched to Verizon to keep the CDMA and get a better phone (LG VX9900). When I was on Sprint, I never had a need to switch plans in just over 5 years with them. I don't see what the big deal is.

[Thomas S @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:52PM]

"CDMA, EVDO, ESNs..."

How are these three a "bad thing"? Rather have cdma which is a far newer technology than GSM. And EVDO rocks hardcore.

People who think GSM is the be all end all of cellular technology are just ignorant.

[ryantrevisol @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:23PM]

Verizon does have the best coverage and signalstrength in my area, but to me everybody who I talk to on Verizon sounds muffled and indistinct.

[Reid Conti @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:43PM]

Verizon's stance on this is really weird. I had to switch to Verizon when I moved to my new apartment building, which had no GSM at the time. I had to give up my awesome Samsung GSM slider for a mediocre SGH-930 "music phone" which was the only non-hideous phone they had.. but I got hit for a whopping $150 for this pile of junk.

Anyway, I was already bummed about having to sign up with Verizon, but the contract was even less inspiring. The salesman told me I had 30 days to switch plans without negative consequences, but after that it would extend my contract to the original term EVERY TIME I changed plans.

6 months later, though, I needed to change my plan from 450 minutes to 900 minutes; I knew I was going to go way over the 450 so I really had no choice. I did the switch online, and the form told me if I had between 12 and 24 months remaining on a 24 month contract, I'd keep the same term. If I had less than 12 months remaining on any kind of contract, it would (I think) reset my date so that my contract lasted another year from the point I changed my plan. So they were fairly friendly about it.

I switched BACK to the 450 plan a few months later, and again the same charade, but since I had over 12 months remaining, it made no difference.

Thank god I now have GSM service in my apartment so I was able to ditch Verizon.. not without paying the $175 cancellation fee, though. In a news article 2 months before I signed up with Verizon, they said it would no longer be a full $175, that they'd start pro-rating it for new customers.. guess that was a lie.

So, good riddance Verizon, but I think they've allowed plan changes without contract extensions for some time...

[Paul Novak @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:51PM]

Quite an advertising strategy. Stop doing something bad, and look like a hero. What's next, "Verizon to stop taking candy from babies!"

[bjkalski @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:12PM]

Babies shouldn't be having candy though...

[Josh @ Oct 3rd 2007 1:55PM]

This is great because I signed up when they just had the 400 minute plan, which is now the 450.

[bjkalski @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:09PM]

I got a call over the weekend from Verizon telling me they analyzed my bill and they could save me money by changing my plan to a lower one but that I would have to extend my contract. Sounds like they are cold calling customers to try to get them to extend their contracts before this change.

[Jay Schubert @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:12PM]

We can only hope that Verizon will be so accommodating with equipment upgrades when they change from CDMA to GSM for their 4G implementation. Seems like their customers who invest in high end CDMA devices right before their network upgrade will find themselves in a bad position.

[PChang @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:19PM]

Back in the day, you used to be able to change your plan with Verizon without extending your contract. I've done it many times before (but i only do 1 year contracts). I don't know when they started the contract extension thing because i've been happy with my current plan for 6 years now.

[Shahryar @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:51PM]

I'm with you PChang. I'm very anti 2 year contract. I don't know why people sign them. Usually, you can sign a 1 year and not save as much (like $50 maybe), but that works out so much better to your advantage. w/ Tmobile, you can still get sweet deals on 1 year contacts like w/ the new Wing. Check out slickdeals.net for more info on that.

[matfoley @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:47PM]

I've had Verizon for over 2 years now and I have never had a problem changing my plan mid contract. I've changed my family plan twice in 2 years and didnt have to extend anything. I guess it depends on where you live if this practice is enforced or not.

[UnnDunn @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:47PM]

How is this something worth celebrating? Why wasn't Verizon allowing this from the jumpoff?

[Alexander @ Oct 3rd 2007 3:01PM]

I love Verizon. The gimping they do to the phones sucks very much though... I want a VX9900 but they make it so crappy with the extra bull they put on there.

Why can't I make my MP3's my ringtone? Oh. Right. Because you want to charge me 5 bucks for a ringtone. A snippit of a song that is maybe 30 seconds long. And you want to charge me 5 times what it is on iTunes--which i don't use, but it is the only pricing model I have to go on.

F**kers. Too bad they are the best coverage here in Cleveland.

[byrd @ Oct 3rd 2007 3:06PM]

I was a V customer for a while. They always allowed me to do this. I switched to Cingular because I change phones Cingular 8525.

[Brian (redban) @ Oct 3rd 2007 3:37PM]

uh.. I dont know what you guys are talking about, Verizon has always let me change plans without extending my contract. I do it all the time.

[mlb @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:13PM]

Well apparently this isn't policy yet, because I logged into my VZW account and tried to change my plan to a cheaper plan just a few minutes ago. You have to agree to a new 1 or 2 year extension if you change your plan at all. Here is a screen shot if you don't believe it. I like Verizon's service, but man these telcos find anyway they can to lock you in to long term contracts.

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/2896/vzwsn0.jpg

[jmattick @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:27PM]

To quote the article...

"So go on, Verizon customers, start scoping out which plan best fits your current lifestyle, because the new rule goes into effect on October 7th."

[mlb @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:47PM]

It would help if I read the whole paragraph wouldn't it? :)

[TVGenius @ Oct 3rd 2007 5:28PM]

When I started with Verizon two years ago they had a similar policy already in effect, though I don't know if it was all plans or just certain ones.

[JesseBurton @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:38PM]

I am sooo freaking sure, I just fought with Verizon about this TODAY, and they wouldn't budge! Finally a got a manager to allow me to change my plan but not until after NOVEMBER. THIS RIGHT HERE, is why TODAY, I switched to Sprint!

[iRobot @ Oct 4th 2007 2:02AM]

Whatever. To little, to late -- that why I've gone with T-moblie. And knows how to mind their own business, without have to nickel and dime me for every little thing.

[Jason @ Oct 4th 2007 12:02PM]

AT&T actually called me to let me know that I wasn't using all of my minutes and recommended that I switch to a lower rate plan. I've switched back and forth several time depending on my needs and have never had to extend my contract.

I asked them about this and they said that I can change my plan every month if I want, the only stipulation being that you can only keep 1 months worth of roll over minutes. (ie if I switch from 900min/mo to 450min/month and I have 1000 roll over minutes banked then I lose all but 450. Likewise if I switch from 450 back to 900 I'll only keep 450.)

[Mark @ Oct 5th 2007 11:35PM]

Actually, with Cingular, you can change your plan at an any time BEFORE your current contract ends. However, after the end of your contract, should you try and change it, for the most part (and it's on record), they require a new contract. I'm sure some customer service people will override that, but I've been with them for years and they have always been this way.

Personally, I think contracts should be limited to six months and plans be changed at any time. This way, the cel phone companies would work harder to do their business better. Of course, Cingular has, for the most part, been good to me. Though they've been a ripoff pain as well, I'm sure the other companies are not much better, and probably worse.