Over the weekend, a number of Verizon customers reported that they were able to upgrade to the iPhone 5s (and other handsets) without losing their grandfathered unlimited data plan—something the carrier put a stop to last summer.
As we expected, this was the result of a software glitch, and Verizon fixed it first thing Monday morning. But here’s something we didn’t see coming: the company says it will honor the orders and let customers keep their unlimited plans…
Here’s the statement from Big Red via DroidLife:
“Over the past weekend, there was a software issue involving some orders for customers seeking to upgrade their devices. A number of customers who were upgrading devices were able to maintain an unlimited monthly data feature while paying a subsidized price.
Verizon Wireless will honor those orders that were approved this past weekend, allowing those customers to retain their unlimited plans for the duration of their contract and receive their new device.
Verizon Wireless corrected this software issue today (9/30). The company no longer offers unlimited data plans and customers who want to retain existing unlimited data plans, must pay full retail price for a replacement phone.”
Unfortunately, we’ve heard from a few folks who were able to place an upgrade order with their unlimited plans intact that their confirmation email showed they were switched to a 2GB data plan. And some orders were just outright canceled.
But it looks like those who were able to successfully complete their upgrade orders with unlimited data will get to hold on to their plans for now. I’d commend Verizon for doing what’s right here, but it was probably just to avoid bad PR/lawsuits.