Verizon No Longer Offering Early Upgrades in January

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No more getting a new phone at 20 months.

Back in January 2011, Version killed off its New Every Two deal, which provided credit of $30 to $100 towards an already-discounted new phone once the customer completed at least 20 months of a two-year contract. The change conveniently came just days before Verizon revealed its long-awaited version of Apple's iPhone.

Although disappointing to new and existing customers, that change made sense from Verizon's point of view. At the time, a 16 GB iPhone 4 cost $599 without a contract, but only $200 with a two-year contract. Throw in the additional credit when customers upgrade using the New Every Two, and Verizon was losing even more money. The Droid X at the time was $570 without a contract and $200 with a contract after a mail-in rebate. Another $100 credit would have made it a super-cheap deal.

However, now Verizon is getting even tighter with upgrades. Although the company discontinued the New Every Two credit offered at 20 months, the company still allowed customers to upgrade to a new phone after the 20-month period rather than force them to wait until the contract expires. That will change as of January 2014.

"In alignment with the terms of the contract, customers on a two-year agreement will be eligible for an upgrade at 24 months vs. today's early upgrade eligibility at 20 months," the company said. "This change aligns the upgrade date with the contract end date and is consistent with how the majority of customers purchase new phones today. The first customers impacted by this change are customers whose contracts expire in January 2014. As always, customers may purchase a new phone at the full retail price at any time."

Verizon added that customers still holding onto New Every Two credits won't be able to use them after Monday, April 15, 2013. That said, this weekend would be a good time to upgrade if the option is available.

"Customers may continue to share an upgrade with another person on an account if that customer is upgrading to a device within the same equipment category," Verizon added. "Customers can utilize a phone upgrade to purchase a new phone; however, the option to transfer upgrades from non-phone devices (such as a Jetpack or tablet) will no longer be available."

Can you feel that burning sensation around your ankle? That's Verizon's ball and chain getting a firmer grip.

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Kevin Parrish

Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then, he’s loved all things PC-related and cool gadgets ranging from the New Nintendo 3DS to Android tablets. He is currently a contributor at Digital Trends, writing about everything from computers to how-to content on Windows and Macs to reviews of the latest laptops from HP, Dell, Lenovo, and more. 

8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dalethepcman
    After the recent changes done to TMo's phone purchase options, this seems like horrible timing for Verizon to impose additional restrictions, unless they want to lose tons of customers..
    Reply
  • bombebomb
    Means nothing to me, I will not be upgrading from verzion in the near future due to losing unlimited data if I do. It hurts the wallet when you buy the new phone for retail, but it's nice knowing you can use lots of data.
    Reply
  • punahou1
    Stating retail rates include Verizon's profit margin. As a result, this is a pathetic excuse for the program cutback. Verizon most likely pays Motorola less than $150 for these phones - maybe even as low as $60.00. This article should have said "Verizon attempts to increase profit margins by cutting back program". My guess is that this is either a paid advertorial or Kevin doesn't want to upset his source at Verizon...
    Reply
  • raptorkill
    This is BS, I'm done with Verizon!! I will definitely be switching providers once my contract is up. Good riddance Verizon!
    Reply
  • lunyone
    Well I left Verizon last Thanksgiving and have never looked back. I'm saving about $100/month w/4 smartphones on a different carrier (Sprint) and I have unlimited data. Our area is currently upgrading to 4g speeds and that is a benefit over the 3g. The 3g service is okay, but with 4g almost on, it is well worth the switch to me.
    Reply
  • jigawatt
    Disappointing??? Not really. Upgrading just gets me off of the unlimited data plan that I'm still holding onto. Why should I have to pay more to have their lowest data plan offering?
    Reply
  • jigawatt
    Disappointing??? Not really. Upgrading just gets me off of the unlimited data plan that I'm still holding onto. Why should I have to pay more to have their lowest data plan offering? Besides, I use over 4GB a month as it is.
    Reply
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