NE2: Dead. Annual Upgrade: Dead. What's left for the faithful?

**AshG** · 01-04-2011, 12:26 PM

My RSS feed brought some very disturbing news a few minutes ago. New Every Two and Annual Upgrades are dead as of January 16, 2011.

As a smartphone user, NE2 helped make the upgrade process a little less costly. I enjoyed the $100 (on top of whatever rebates or discounts) that made it more affordable. That is now gone, with no explanation or alternative incentive.

Let's pile on top of that the death of annual upgrades. This past year, I almost lost my mind with a chain of replacement BB 9630s that seemed to be each one worse than the one before. I made use of the annual upgrade policy for the first time to get away from what was an increasing point of frustration. I knew LTE was around the corner and started another coin jar to upgrade again this August when an annual upgrade was next available and LTE had more market penetration. The new policy now means that I can either pay full retail for a handset (which is not going to work with my budget or savings with baby #2 and grad school on the way) or wait until April 2012 with a phone Motorola is already in the process of abandoning (X).

Other than the coverage, what is really left for the faithful? With NE2 and annual upgrades gone, incentives to stick around are waning. Does VZW have something up its sleeve to make up for this decision or should we just face the fact that we're entering a new era of consumer disservice?

**andross77** · 01-04-2011, 12:34 PM

If you are budgeting for graduate school that costs between $10,000 and $50,000 a year and budgeting for a baby that costs another few thousand and cannot budget an extra $100 for a luxury item you obviously care a lot about (otherwise you wouldn't have created a username and login on this forum and actually started a thread), you are doing something wrong....

**kilofox** · 01-04-2011, 12:40 PM

Humm.... I wonder if Verizon will be waiting until after Jan 16th to release any of their new LTE phones that will be announced at CES?

I am eligible for a annual upgrade now, but was hoping to use it for the Thunder. If the Thunder is released after the 16th, then I will probably use it on a DroidX prior to the 16th and sell it along with my Droid Pro to purchase the Thunder at retail.

Make sense?

**JP Whoregan** · 01-04-2011, 12:53 PM

As I understand it, if you have an Annual Upgrade USE IT NOW, because it WILL NOT BE THERE longer than a couple of weeks.

Unless of course, you are waiting for the Thunderbolt or some other LTE phone, which I can promise you will not be here before VZW is done taking the wrecking ball to NE2 and AU.

**AshG** · 01-04-2011, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by andross77

If you are budgeting for graduate school that costs between $10,000 and $50,000 a year and budgeting for a baby that costs another few thousand and cannot budget an extra $100 for a luxury item you obviously care a lot about (otherwise you wouldn't have created a username and login on this forum and actually started a thread), you are doing something wrong....

Meet my wife. She runs the family budget like a business. What I save out of my pockets I get to do as I wish with. And yes, the skirt is drafty.

**Joe0378** · 01-04-2011, 01:24 PM

Does this mean we can't upgrade annual for us that do 1 year contracts? Maybe I don't understand this. If you can only upgrade every 2 years and they have 1 year contracts, I would just cancel my line after 1 year and open a new line.

**sneakattack** · 01-04-2011, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by AshG

And yes, the skirt is drafty.

hahahahahahh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

**cellularsales** · 01-04-2011, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Joe0378

Does this mean we can't upgrade annual for us that do 1 year contracts? Maybe I don't understand this. If you can only upgrade every 2 years and they have 1 year contracts, I would just cancel my line after 1 year and open a new line.

no, if you sign a 1 year you are still elligibile at 10 months.

if you want to upgrade every year sign 1 year contracts and pay the difference.

**ushneb** · 01-04-2011, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by Joe0378

Does this mean we can't upgrade annual for us that do 1 year contracts? Maybe I don't understand this. If you can only upgrade every 2 years and they have 1 year contracts, I would just cancel my line after 1 year and open a new line.

This does not effect 1 year contracts for obvious reasons. But it still sucks that they are killing off annual upgrades and NE2. If you have a NE2 right now for any reason, you should use it before the 16th. At least that way you'll be reenrolled in NE2 before it's officially killed which means by Sept 2012 you'd have another NE2, albeit your last one, but a discount is a discount.

**sneakattack** · 01-04-2011, 01:32 PM

ok, so my primary line is eligible for an annual upgrade in February, are they saying that it's not gonna happen or does this only applies to every 2 year contract signed after January 16?

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

**JP Whoregan** · 01-04-2011, 01:48 PM

Based on the wording I saw, no, you will not see your Annual Upgrade now. If you were enrolled in NE2 before January 16th, 2011, and become eligible for a new every 2 between now and September 16th, 2012, you have 6 months from the date of eligibility to use it, or else it disappears.

**BuffaloTF** · 01-04-2011, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by JP Whoregan

Based on the wording I saw, no, you will not see your Annual Upgrade now. If you were enrolled in NE2 before January 16th, 2011, and become eligible for a new every 2 between now and September 16th, 2012, you have 6 months from the date of eligibility to use it, or else it disappears.

Would that not be a breach of contract? Thus, negating the contract entirely... allowing you to therefore cancel your line at will at re-open a new line and/or change carrier?

**JP Whoregan** · 01-04-2011, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by BuffaloTF

Would that not be a breach of contract? Thus, negating the contract entirely... allowing you to therefore cancel your line at will at re-open a new line and/or change carrier?

No. Read your contract Terms & Conditions, and nowhere in there will you find the "New Every Two Discount" in the T&C's of your contract. NE2 was a "promotional program" sort of like the "VIP" program that Verizon canceled last year. Promotions are not contracted, and therefore aren't grounds to break the contract.

**Joe0378** · 01-04-2011, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by JP Whoregan

Promotions are not contracted, and therefore aren't grounds to break the contract.

JP - On this topic, I signed up for the $20 data discount promo today (1400 min, unlimited text and data). However, in order to receive this promotion, I had to agree to a new 1 year contract on both my lines which I had no problem doing. Would this be an example of a promotion being contracted, though different from what is being discussed above?

**deadwrong03** · 01-04-2011, 03:08 PM

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.7 (WindowsMobile; PPC; Opera Mobi/35267; U; en; Presto/2.1.1))

so this is confusing to me ive been doing annual upgrades the past 2 to 3 years and im enrolled in the ne2 program. So since ive been upgrading every year that would mean im currently on a 1 year contract and can still upgrade every 10 months right?

also the flyer for the ending of these 2 promos says that u have to wait 20 months or u can upgrade via any promos they mail u or offer u which isnt bad because i get alot of those promos now atleast 2-3 every 4 months