Millenicom → People who switched to VZW Unlimited

When all this went down, I bought an Assumption of Liability and used it for 2 months without issue. Last night I was getting no service, called VZW, and they said since I am using a jetpack on a phone plan that the plan will be shut down (but I cannot get out of contract), they want me to pick one of their crappier, more expensive plans.

Only thing I was trying to do is a SIM change since I believe the issue for me was I was using the old Millenicom SIM.

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do? I've talked to 2 CSR's and they said the same thing, they cannot help.

Log in to VZW.com and see if your AOL UDP line has been formally suspended.

If the line is still active, it may simply be that your Millenicom device's IMEI has been blacklisted. Put the UDP SIM in the same smartphone you used during the AOL, and see if it activates.

After talking to 4 reps who would not do it, or couldn't, that wanted to push me over to a 20GB plan for $99 I finally got a rep who would. Took approx. 10 minutes, activated a sim I had laying around put it in my Note 2, worked, then put it in my Jetpack. All seems ok again.

I got an unlimited plan via AoL around the end of October. I originally activated it on a phone with a brand-new SIM, which I then switched back and forth between the phone and my Millenicom jetpack a couple of times. Since activation, it has been turned off 3 times for "fraud", without very good explanations of what kind of "fraud" had been committed. But each time, I got it turned back on. They never suggested that the Jetpack was a problem, even though they were aware I was using it. But the last time, just to be safe, after getting the line re-activated on a phone, I bought a new Jetpack on eBay and moved the SIM to that, just in case VZW had some kind of grudge against the Millenicom Jetpack's IMEI.

Last time I got it turned back on, the rep told me it had been turned off because they had just screwed up and hadn't properly recorded the doc I sent to get it turned back on the previous time. She assured me that there were no other issues and now we're all clear. That was about 2 weeks ago and so far it's still good.

Everyone says that it's a bad idea to ever call Verizon while you've got a grandfathered UDP SIM in a hotspot or tablet. The reps will try to push you to a data plan.

That's a good point. But if they turn off your account while the SIM is in the hotspot, even if you move the SIM back to a phone, it won't activate, so the account still shows the jetpack.

In one of my disconnect episodes, the SIM was in the jetpack. I put it back in the phone. Phone wouldn't come online or make normal phone calls, but it was still able to call customer service via *611. My account on MyVerizon still showed the jetpack. CS rep says "I see this line with the jetpack has been suspended". I said "It's not a jetpack, it's a phone, I'm talking on it". Then she said "oh yeah.. I see the jetpack was just on it briefly today".

Ah! That's right. Didn't even think about that scenario.

Just watch which one you buy or rent. I'm renting a unlimited plan. I was told it can only be used in a hotspot. I've had 2 months of great servive.

And now another interesting chapter in my experience witn VZW.

The two bills I have gotten since opening my account in late October have been a complicated mess. As I mentioned, they have cancelled my account twice, and suspended my line once.

Each time they cancelled the account, they issued a prorated credit for the remainder of the month that they had billed in advance. But they also charged me a $350 ETF. Then when they reinstated me, they refunded the ETF and added more prorated charges and credits. So each bill I have gotten has been a confusing mess of charges and credits. Miraculously, it all netted out to a bottom line that seemed reasonable for the service period covered by the bill.

The most recent bill I got was about a week ago, with a bottom line of about $105, which seemed reasonable since it covered about a month, plus maybe a couple of extra days. The bill is due 1/7, and scheduled for autopay on 1/5.

Today, I checked my account online, and the 1/5 autopay has been reduced to $30. There is a notification that a $75 bill credit has been applied to my bill. No explanation of why they suddenly decided to give me $75. As I said, I don't think I had been overcharged previously. Maybe they just decided to do something nice to make up for the aggravation of having my account cancelled multiple times. Maybe it's a Christmas present. Who knows?

Considering the whole grey area of this unlimited data swapping business, I really was hoping I could fly under the radar and attract as little attention as possible. So far, I haven't been very successful at that. But I sure don't want to press my luck by calling them and asking why they gave me $75. I just hope they don't later try to claim that I somehow fraudulently got the credit and turn me off again.

The credit may be against a correspondingly larger charge on your next bill, so just go with the flow and enjoy the lower bill while you have it. I had similar accounting shenanigans when I simply changed my phone number---since I have yet to get a normal bill, I won't know for two more weeks what my usual monthly taxes and surcharges are.

My cell phone is a droid maxx hd. Im still on their old unlimited plan with internet for 30 bux a month. How the hell do I get that sim into a device to utilize it while at home?

I'm not an expert on Droid phones, but since nobody else has responded I'll chip in what I know.

My first suggestion would be to try to activate WiFi hotspot on the phone to provide its data service to your other wifi-enabled devices. I think the standard VZW hotspot app that may already be on your phone will not work with an unlimited plan. But there are other hotspot apps available.

One popular app is FoxFi, available on the Google Play app store. It may or may not work for you, depending on your phone and OS level. I had no luck getting it to work on an LG Lucid phone. This chart:
»pdanet.co/help/devices.php
suggests that it might work on your phone with Android 4.3, but not 4.4. But it might be out of date.

If FoxFI doesn't work, and you aren't scared by a technical challenge, you can try rooting your phone to install a different OS than the one provided by VZW, or a different hotspot app that works on a rooted phone. I can't provide any specific advice on that, but I think at least one person has posted here that he successfully rooted a phone to use as a hotspot.

If you can't, or don't want to, muck around with your phone's OS, you can take the SIM out of it and put in another device. I think the Maxx uses a micro-sim. That's the same format used by the popular Pantech hotspots, so you can swap it without cutting it down or using an adapter. You should be able to find a hotspot on eBay for around $100 for a new one or less for a used one. I'd be a little wary of used ones, because you might get one that has been blacklisted for some reason.

Taking the SIM out of your phone and putting it in the hotspot is not a difficult task. If you're not familiar with how to remove it from your phone, there are probably instructions in your user manual, or you can find instructions on the web. Sliding the SIM into the hotspot is piece of cake. Take the battery out and slide the SIM into the little slot under it.