Gizmodo - So the iPhone 5 is coming out. Its LTE data speeds mean you'll stand a
much better chance of blowing past your data caps, which in turn means
those grandfathered Verizon and AT&T unlimited data plans are more
precious than ever. Here's how to make sure you don't lose yours.
Don't Order Online
One note before you run off and
pre-order tomorrow:
Don't. AT&T and Verizon are both notorious for having opaque online
tools for carrying over grandfathered plans. That's a bad thing, since
if you accidentally ditch your plan, you probably won't get it back.
Reps at both stores said that you've really got to be careful, since
recovering your unlimited plan is pretty much a lost cause—not totally
impossible, just effectively so.
The real benefit of in-store is being able to stop and ask, "Now, you're
sure this isn't going to mess with my unlimited plan, right?" You're just sort of left to your own devices online.
Don't Add Anything to Your Plan
Adding anything to your
plan, like sharing bandwidth between devices or hotspot capability, will
void your unlimited and dump you into a shared, tired plan. So don't
splurge on, say, sharing your new iPhone's plan with your tablet's,
since that will stick you in a new, limited package. Sorry, you're stuck
with the basic data plan if you want to keep unlimited.
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