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ilikewireless's profile

Professor

 • 

1.8K Messages

Thursday, September 1st, 2011 6:30 PM

GoPhone Data Plan

I have 2 questions:

 

  1.  Is it possible to add data plan by using the available balance on, say $100 GoPhone card?
  2.  Can I buy data plan for selected non-contiguous month of the year?

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

Master

 • 

10.2K Messages

13 years ago


@ilikewireless wrote:

I have 2 questions:

 

  1.  Is it possible to add data plan by using the available balance on, say $100 GoPhone card?
  2.  Can I buy data plan for selected non-contiguous month of the year?

Yes and yes. Deciding on which months you'd like to use a data plan is entirely up to your decision.

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

Master

 • 

5.9K Messages

13 years ago


@ilikewireless wrote:

I have 2 questions:

 

  1.  Is it possible to add data plan by using the available balance on, say $100 GoPhone card?
  2.  Can I buy data plan for selected non-contiguous month of the year?

Yes to 1) - you do it in two separate steps.  Add the refill card to your account first so that it's included in your account balance, and then you purchase the data feature plan using funds from your account balance.

 

2)  It depends on what you mean - if you are just asking if you have to maintain a feature plan every month to continue using one, the answer is "no" - you can pick and choose the months you would like to add a feature plan to your account.  But if you are on a limited allotment feature plan, you would lose any rollover of the unused feature plan balance by not adding the same type of plan in contiguous months.  There is not an option when purchasing a feature plan to purchase it for a future effective date, if that's the intent of your question.

Professor

 • 

1.8K Messages

13 years ago

Hey hme83 and Wild Banchi and Razr8, thank you very much for your support. As far as I recall I have not left out the names of other members that provide support in this area. Thanks to others whose name I cannot remember at the moment.

Master

 • 

10.2K Messages

13 years ago

You're welcome. 🙂 Glad to help.

Professor

 • 

1.8K Messages

13 years ago


@hme83 wrote:

@ilikewireless wrote:

I have 2 questions:

 

  1.  Is it possible to add data plan by using the available balance on, say $100 GoPhone card?
  2.  Can I buy data plan for selected non-contiguous month of the year?

Yes to 1) - you do it in two separate steps.  Add the refill card to your account first so that it's included in your account balance, and then you purchase the data feature plan using funds from your account balance.

 

2)  It depends on what you mean - if you are just asking if you have to maintain a feature plan every month to continue using one, the answer is "no" - you can pick and choose the months you would like to add a feature plan to your account.  But if you are on a limited allotment feature plan, you would lose any rollover of the unused feature plan balance by not adding the same type of plan in contiguous months.  There is not an option when purchasing a feature plan to purchase it for a future effective date, if that's the intent of your question.


 

Yah I was thinking about data plan for the months I have the need. Having read about the data feature pkg one more time, I am thinking that non-consecutive months usage would result in being billed at the much higher ppu rate.

Master

 • 

5.9K Messages

13 years ago


@ilikewireless wrote:

@hme83 wrote:

@ilikewireless wrote:

I have 2 questions:

 

  1.  Is it possible to add data plan by using the available balance on, say $100 GoPhone card?
  2.  Can I buy data plan for selected non-contiguous month of the year?

Yes to 1) - you do it in two separate steps.  Add the refill card to your account first so that it's included in your account balance, and then you purchase the data feature plan using funds from your account balance.

 

2)  It depends on what you mean - if you are just asking if you have to maintain a feature plan every month to continue using one, the answer is "no" - you can pick and choose the months you would like to add a feature plan to your account.  But if you are on a limited allotment feature plan, you would lose any rollover of the unused feature plan balance by not adding the same type of plan in contiguous months.  There is not an option when purchasing a feature plan to purchase it for a future effective date, if that's the intent of your question.


 

Yah I was thinking about data plan for the months I have the need. Having read about the data feature pkg one more time, I am thinking that non-consecutive months usage would result in being billed at the much higher ppu rate.

No - you can add the data feature package for isolated 30 day periods to avoid incurring the PPU rate during that period (of course with your new LG Thrive, you won't have access to prepaid PPU data anyway 😉 ).  The only "con" to not consecutively adding the data feature package is the loss of any unused feature balance rollover to the following month - you have to add another data package within 30 days to maintain that benefit.

 

Is there a specific statement within the data feature package description/terms that is leading you to the conclusion you would have to maintain it even when you didn't have a need for the data usage?

Guru

 • 

3K Messages

13 years ago


@ilikewireless wrote:

Hey hme83 and Wild Banchi and Razr8, thank you very much for your support. As far as I recall I have not left out the names of other members that provide support in this area. Thanks to others whose name I cannot remember at the moment.


 Thanks for the mention, but you have been very informative to me, so thank you!

Professor

 • 

1.8K Messages

13 years ago


@hme83 wrote:

@ilikewireless wrote:

@hme83 wrote:

@ilikewireless wrote:

I have 2 questions:

 

  1.  Is it possible to add data plan by using the available balance on, say $100 GoPhone card?
  2.  Can I buy data plan for selected non-contiguous month of the year?

Yes to 1) - you do it in two separate steps.  Add the refill card to your account first so that it's included in your account balance, and then you purchase the data feature plan using funds from your account balance.

 

2)  It depends on what you mean - if you are just asking if you have to maintain a feature plan every month to continue using one, the answer is "no" - you can pick and choose the months you would like to add a feature plan to your account.  But if you are on a limited allotment feature plan, you would lose any rollover of the unused feature plan balance by not adding the same type of plan in contiguous months.  There is not an option when purchasing a feature plan to purchase it for a future effective date, if that's the intent of your question.


 

Yah I was thinking about data plan for the months I have the need. Having read about the data feature pkg one more time, I am thinking that non-consecutive months usage would result in being billed at the much higher ppu rate.

No - you can add the data feature package for isolated 30 day periods to avoid incurring the PPU rate during that period (of course with your new LG Thrive, you won't have access to prepaid PPU data anyway 😉 ).  The only "con" to not consecutively adding the data feature package is the loss of any unused feature balance rollover to the following month - you have to add another data package within 30 days to maintain that benefit.

 

Is there a specific statement within the data feature package description/terms that is leading you to the conclusion you would have to maintain it even when you didn't have a need for the data usage?


Yes there is a specific statement. Here's the quote:

"Feature packages are good for 30 days as long as your account balance is not
expired. Standard rates apply if feature package is not renewed after 30 days.
Also, feature package balance rolls over if renewed before expiration date."

 

If a feature phone user who has a data feature package skipped 1 month, I can see that standard ppu rates would apply.

 

What will happen to smartphone users if they skip, say 1 month. During the skipped month with 0 kB balance, what would happen if a smartphone user accidentally enabled 3G data without knowing, and then tried to read e-mail while mistakenly thinking that the phone was in WiFi mode? Would it be similar to having $0 on airtime for talk* ?

 

* I once let a prepaid airtime hit 0, and the effect was immediate dropped call.

 

 


 

Professor

 • 

1.8K Messages

13 years ago


@Razr8 wrote:

@ilikewireless wrote:

Hey hme83 and Wild Banchi and Razr8, thank you very much for your support. As far as I recall I have not left out the names of other members that provide support in this area. Thanks to others whose name I cannot remember at the moment.


 Thanks for the mention, but you have been very informative to me, so thank you!



You're welcome.Smiley Happy

Master

 • 

5.9K Messages

13 years ago

Oh, now I'm with you. 🙂 Yes, if you let your data package expire without renewing it, feature phone users would pay PPU rates for any additional data use. With a smartphone recognized by at&t, I'd expect you will just get some kind of a data connection error message (not be able to connect), and not be charged.

 

But just to be certain there is no misunderstanding - you aren't limited to making changes only in 30 day increments. For ex., you can use a data plan for 30 days, let it expire and not use data for 9 days, then decide you want a package again, purchase one and have it available to use for the next 30 days. The only thing you've lost by having an interim period with no data package is the rollover of any unused feature balance from your first period of having the package.

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