Original Post
Written by
Edited September 26, 2022
at 01:20 PM
by
Not sure if I should make a separate thread for this. For those of you who have been around for awhile, Google Fi deals really is nothing new. The only reason why I am making a new thread is because I just saw them giving some unusual trade in value for the Galaxy S21 (regular S21, not the + or ultra). Right now, I am seeing them offering $625/$640 trade in value for a S21 with working screen, and $492.5/$500 trade in value for a S21 with cracked screen. (values for 128GB/256GB version)
With the increased trade in value, you can get a S22 Ultra for around $50 + tax out of pocket by trading in a S21 (port in and 4 months of services required). You can also do the same to get a Z Flip 4 by trading in a cracked screen S21.
Example: Break down in cost for S22 Ultra:
Phone cost: $600 + tax on the $600 price
Service cost: $80 + ~$20 regulatory fee
Trade in value (S21 with working screen): $625 (iirc, if trade in value is higher than phone price, the extra go to service credit. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong)
Referral credit: $20
Cost out of pocket: $600 + tax + $80 + ~$20 - $625 - $20 = ~$55 + tax
Example: Break down in cost for Z Flip 4:
Phone cost: $500 + tax on the $500 price
Service cost: $80 + ~$20 regulatory fee
Trade in value (Cracked screen S21): $492.5
Referral credit: $20
Cost out of pocket: $500 + tax + $80 + ~$20 - $492.5 - $20 = ~$87.5 + tax
Similar to most of the Google Fi deals, you have to pay for the promo price + tax when ordering the phone and the trade in value for the phone will be refunded to your card until later.
Update (9/25, ~5:30pm EDT): I went back to check the trade in value after reading through some replies. I might've missed some of them last night or maybe they just updated some phones trade in value during the day. These galaxy phones also seem to have their trade in value increased:
Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G - Non cracked - $610/$620/$630 (128G/256G/512G)
Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G - Cracked - $485/$490/$495 (128G/256G/512G)
Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G - Non cracked - $580/$605/$605 (128G/256G/512G)
Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G - Non cracked - $430/$442.5/$442.5 (128G/256G/512G)
It is kinda interesting because for the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, you are actually getting a higher trade in value from Google Fi vs BestBuy.
https://fi.google.com/about/phones/
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Get Get Google Voice numbers and port that to Google Fi.
Once you get the new phones activate them with the fi sims.
Then the fi sims can be removed and the tmobile sims put in. Keep fi sims in a drawer and cancel fi service after 4 months.
Fi phones come unlocked.
If you want to see what people had reported in the past, you can read through some of the replies on this thread: (I searched using the keyword void on that thread)
https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?s
You are missing the point here. Google Fi is offering lower trade in value, but their phone is also a few hundred bucks cheaper even if you added the cost for the service.
For BestBuy, S21 has a trade in value of $800 but the S22+/S22 Ultra is $800/$1000. Here, the S21 has a trade in value of $625 but the S22+/S22 Ultra is only $400/$600 + cost of service.
If you have a S21 (and not any other phone), it is still cheaper to do the Google Fi trade in vs the BestBuy trade in.
Edit: Fixed some sentences/wordings/grammars, etc.
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No. The phone costs $799 for current users. Also could not verify trade-in works for current users. Curious though.
Promotion terms for current Fi user: (Edit: for Z Flip 4)
How do I qualify for the $400 discount?
An existing Fi customer is someone who currently has Fi service or whose last day of Fi service took place within the last 180 days.
To qualify for the $400 discount, you need to:
Activate the phone on an existing full service plan (data-only SIMs do not qualify) within 30 days of the shipment confirmation email and keep the qualifying phone active on Google Fi for 60 consecutive days.
You must activate on the same Fi account used to purchase the phone or be a current member of the purchaser's group plan. If you activate the phone on a new Fi account, you are not eligible for this promotion.
If you do not currently have Fi service and your last day of Fi service took place within the last 180 days as part of an existing single subscriber or group plan, you must also bring/transfer your number to Fi within 30 days of the shipment confirmation email. Fi-to-Fi number transfers are not eligible.
The discounted price will automatically apply during checkout. If you do not meet the conditions above, $400 will be charged to your Google Pay account.
Edit2: For S22+, you only need to keep the phone active for 30 days for current Fi user.
Question: Can you order the phone with the lowest plan, and route data through an esim to save money? Else the single person plans are prohibitive at ~8 GB.
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Question: Can you order the phone with the lowest plan, and route data through an esim to save money? Else the single person plans are prohibitive at ~8 GB.
However, I know people who ordered phones from Google Fi usually just activate the Google Fi service, then immediately replace the Google Fi with their own carrier sim after that since the phone is unlocked.
This works because the promotion terms only required you to activate the phone on Google Fi and keep the service active for 4 months. Basically, as long as you pay for 4 months (either with Google Fi credit or with your credit card), they don't care whether you make call/text or use the data at all. The only thing you cannot do is to put the Google Fi sim to another phone because that will associate your account to a different imei, which violated the promotion term that required 120 days consecutive service on the phone.
However, I know people who ordered phones from Google Fi usually just activate the Google Fi service, then immediately replace the Google Fi with their own carrier sim after that since the phone is unlocked.
This works because the promotion terms only required you to activate the phone on Google Fi and keep the service active for 4 months. Basically, as long as you pay for 4 months (either with Google Fi credit or with your credit card), they don't care whether you make call/text or use the data at all. The only thing you cannot do is to put the Google Fi sim to another phone because that will associate your account to a different imei, which violated the promotion term that required 120 days consecutive service on the phone.
https://fi.google.com/about/promo...d2eN8FA
Also no mention of any plan needed. The standard $20 plan should work.
BTW, looks like you cant order a SIM card to go with the phone.
If you do, you'll get your money back in Fi Credit rather than in cash.
Fi credit
If you finance a phone or order a Google Fi SIM
Screenshot for reference: https://imgur.com/a/Cm8bVz7
https://fi.google.com/about/promo...d2eN8FAA== [google.com]
Also no mention of any plan needed. The standard $20 plan should work.
BTW, looks like you cant order a SIM card to go with the phone.
If you do, you'll get your money back in Fi Credit rather than in cash.
Fi credit
If you finance a phone or order a Google Fi SIM
Screenshot for reference: https://imgur.com/a/Cm8bVz7
You should select "Credit Card Refund" option. From experience, the Google Fi sim should be inside the phone already, so you don't really need to order another sim for that.
(The second option probably just means whether you want to get a second Google Fi sim for another phone. Then when they issue the refund, they can issue the refund as Google Fi credit so that you can use it to pay for the service. Personally, I never picked that option)
(The second option probably just means whether you want to get a second Google Fi sim for another phone. Then when they issue the refund, they can issue the refund as Google Fi credit so that you can use it to pay for the service. Personally, I never picked that option)
The SIM is inside the phone ? As in Google pays Samsung to install the SIM inside? For the same SKU as the unlocked SKU's?
Went hunting on the google Fi Subreddit, looks like adding an esim is fine:
https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleFi..._dis