[Added on 6/13/2023 by hpham_53) Since the promotion-completion date is approaching for members who activated their S23 phones around mid-Feb 2023, I'm adding some info below on how to verify that your promotion was Earned, and how to Cancel/Pause Fi service after that.
* How to Verify that your S23 promo was Earned:
There's a countdown in your Billing-->Fi Savings-->In Progress that shows how many more days your Fi service has to remain active. The countdown will never say zero day. On the 120th day, it will stay at "1 more day". On the morning of the 121st day, the countdown should say "Stayed (past tense) active on Fi for 120 days in a row". Then later in the day, the In Progress column disappears, and the promo discount gets moved to the Earned column. At that time or later, it's safe to Cancel or Pause your Fi service.
You can use this Date Calculator: https://www.timeanddate
Enter your activation date as the Start Date, select Add 121 days and it'll show the date when it's safe to cancel/pause your Fi service.
* How to Cancel your Fi service:
In your Fi account, click on Account-->Your Plan, scroll down until you see "Leave Google Fi". Click on that and follow the on-screen instructions. You'll have the options to Let Go your Fi phone number, or Transfer To Another Provider. (There used to be an option to port it back to Google Voice, but I think it's no longer available). If you choose to let go your Fi number, your Fi service will be cancelled IMMEDIATELY. If you choose to port out, your Fi service will remain active until your Fi number has been ported out to another provider.
* How to Pause your Fi service;
In your Fi account, click on Account-->Your Plan, scroll down until you see "Pause Service". Click on that and follow the on-screen instructions. Your Fi service will be paused and Automatically Resumed after 90 days, unless you cancel it before 90 days are up. Once it's Resumed, you can leave it Active, or Cancel it, or Pause again (I don't know how many times you can Pause). If you have a lot of remaining referral Fi credit (which is not refundable), you can choose Pause instead of Cancel to wait and see if there will be new Fi promotions in the future to use up your Fi credit.
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For those thinking about buying a phone number on Ebay to port in...approximately 13.99....Some of those numbers are valid for only xx days. Here's how to deal with that...Fi allows you to change the port-in number/info up to the moment you're about to activate the S23. So, put in any valid phone number and its info at ordering. When you receive the "Order Shipped" email from Fi, order a phone number on Ebay. The phone shipment takes about 2-days to arrive. When you have the phone, log into your Fi account and change the port-in number and info to the number bought on Ebay, then download the Fi app to the S23, and run it to activate the S23. [added by hpham_53 on 2/12/2023]
For those who need a valid cell number to port to take advantage of this deal...
I ordered the $5 per month plan on hello mobile website. It includes talk text and 500 MB data. Free sim and taxes included. The account number for porting is given to you in an email and you can see it as well by logging into your account online, no need to use their app. The porting pin is the last four digits of your phone number, I confirmed that with customer service. The new cell number which they provide will show up in your account I believe once you get an email that the sim has shipped. Hope this helps some here who need a valid phone number to port and do not want to take any risk with GV numbers as things may have changed this year.
And bonus, the $5 hello mobile plan second month is free. No coupon code or referral required. This comes in handy just in case the delivery date keeps getting pushed back by Google Fi.
Hello mobile does have a port protection lock on your account I recently found out. You can either call their customer service and ask them to remove it, or through chat on their website. This can be done in advance to avoid any headaches. If you forget to do this step ahead of time and your port into Google fi fails, you can contact customer service after the fact and then resubmit the port to Google fi.
SIZE="3"]*** BEFORE YOU READ ANY COMMENTS BELOW KNOW THIS *** You will see this comment below:[/SIZE]
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Quote from FakeBro One important note people.For 120 days every night at 12 Fi will ping the SIM, if it is not inserted into the phone you bought you get 500$ charged back. You have to use the Fi SIM in the S23 you buy for entire duration of promo. Learned it the hard way. |
Instead what is true, you will register the Google Fi sim card with the new phone. You can keep using it if you want, or what some people do it they toss that brand new registered sim card and throw it in a drawer (Do NOT use it in another device for 120 days!) and forget about it for 120 days and just keep paying your google fi phone bill using the cheapest plan available which is about $20 per month. They will then take a different sim card from their existing cell carrier (verizon, tmobile att etc...) and put it in this brand new s23 Ultra and start using it like normal. After 120 days you will see the $600 credit post to your account, then you can cancel your google Fi sim card that you forgot about when you tossed it in your drawer 120 days ago. This is an unlocked phone, so it is not locked to google fi. You just need to register the google fi sim card 1st, then ensure that google fi sim card doesn't go into another cell phone for 120 days. But feel free to put in your old existing sim after you register the google fi sim.
Next question usually is how do I get a "burner" phone number to port over since I was never an existing google fi user?
Seems like there are 2 answers (Not Risky or Risky)
1) Not Risky - pay a little more and get a $13 Boost Mobile numbers via eBay is the safest bet.
2) Risky - The fine details stat that you must port a phone number that has the ability to do voice, text , and data. So that means you land line will not work, and neither will your google voice phone number. However if you go to the google fi page it has an area where you can enter a phone number and it will say your google voice number or https://www.numberbarn.
See post #640 vs post #677 & #679 (and many more soon) Others (posts #683 are saying that google honored google voice number ports during the S22 deals last year and so they shouldn't be a problem this year. Do whatever you are comfortable with. Another safe option is get a number through Tello with 500mb, unlimited texting and 100 calling minutes for $6. (One user has reported they have transferred 5 google voice accounts on previous trade in deals successfully.)
A few people have texted google chat and there have been conflicting answers, so google chat people say google voice is not allowed, some google chat says it is allowed.
If you can risk the $600 then port a google voice number, or do the $7 numberbarn. If you don't want to risk it, then get a boost mobile number off ebay and use that number as your port number.
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$600 off Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra when you activate it on an existing Fi line. Plus, free storage upgrade included.
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Port-in IS required for new Fi users
Port-in IS NOT required for existing Fi users.
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Standard shipping dates seem to be slipping on the S23 Ultra models (it shows on the last step of checkout). Standard (free) shipping times I'm seeing as of the time of this post:Lavender: Feb 21 - Feb 22 Cream: Feb 24 - Feb 27 Phantom Black/Green: Mar 6 - Mar 13 |
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Just checked my order for a Phantom Black and it still says delivery by Feb 21-22. I'm guessing the pre-orders will be processed in a FIFO fashion if Google is saying March 6-13 for orders placed now?
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Yeah maybe, my says Feb 23-24 for Black
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Yes, it's FIFO. The black and green ones are more popular and more people ordered them, so orders placed now for those colors will take longer to ship.
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Please come update these values always.
| Model | Prices | |||||
| iPhone SE 3RD Gen | $130 (64GB) | $140 (128GB) | $150 (256GB) | |||
| iPhone SE 2ND Gen | $70 (64GB) | $80 (128GB) | $85 (256GB) | |||
| iPhone 13 Pro Max | $535 (128GB) | $560 (256GB) | $585 (512GB) | $610 (1 TB) | ||
| iPhone 13 Pro | $500 (128GB) | $525 (256GB) | $550 (512GB) | $575 (1 TB) | ||
| iPhone 13 Mini | $265 (128GB) | $315 (256GB) | $365 (512GB) | |||
| iPhone 13 | $360 (128GB) | $390 (256GB) | $410 (512GB) | |||
| iPhone 12 Pro Max | $425 (128GB) | $445 (256GB) | $465 (512GB) | |||
| iPhone 12 Pro | $345 (128GB) | $365 (256GB) | $385 (512GB) | |||
| iPhone 12 Mini | $230 (64GB) | $240 (128GB) | $250 (256GB) | |||
| iPhone 12 | $275 (64GB) | $290 (128GB) | $305 (256GB) | |||
| iPhone 11P Max | $250 (64GB) | $280 (256GB) | $310 (512GB) | |||
| iPhone 11P | $205 (64GB) | $225 (256GB) | $245 (512GB) | |||
| iPhone 11 | $310 (64GB) | $330 (128GB) | $350 (256GB) | |||
| iPhone XR | $120 (64GB) | $130 (128GB) | $140 (256GB) | |||
| iPhone XS | $120 (64GB) | $130 (256GB) | $140 (512GB) | |||
| iPhone XS MAX | $175 (64GB) | $185 (256GB) | $195 (512GB) | |||
| iPhone X | $110 (64GB) | $120 (256GB) | ||||
| iPhone 8 | $65 (64GB) | $70 (128GB) | $75 (256GB) | |||
| iPhone 8 Plus | $85 (64GB) | $90 (128GB) | $95 (256GB) | |||
| Galaxy Z Fold3 5G | $500 (256GB) | $520 (512GB) | ||||
| Galaxy Z Fold2 5G | $290 (256GB) | |||||
| Galaxy Z Flip 5G | $170 (256GB) | |||||
| Galaxy Z Flip3 5G | $265 (128GB) | $275 (256GB) | ||||
| Galaxy Z Flip | $150 (256GB) | |||||
| Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G | $260 (128GB) | $280 (256GB) | $300 (512GB) | $320 (1 TB) | ||
| Galaxy S22+ 5G | $160 (128GB) | $190 (256GB) | ||||
| Galaxy S22 5G | $130 (128GB) | $140 (256GB) | ||||
| Galaxy S21 Ultra | $80 (128GB) | $401 (256GB) | $416 (512GB) | |||
| Galaxy S21+ | $329 (128GB) | $339 (256GB) | ||||
| Galaxy S21 FE 5G | $135 (128GB) | $145 (256GB) | ||||
| Galaxy S21 | $270 (128GB) | $280 (256GB) | ||||
| Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G | $230 (128GB) | $240 (256GB) | $280 (512GB) | |||
| Galaxy S20+ 5G | $182 (128GB) | $192 (256GB) | $212 (512GB) | |||
| Galaxy S20+ 5G | $160 (128GB) | |||||
| Galaxy S20 FE 5G | $130 (128GB) | $130 (256GB) | ||||
| Galaxy S20 FE | $135 (128GB) | $140 (256GB) | ||||
| Galaxy S20 5G | $153 (128GB) | |||||
| Galaxy S20 | $140 (128GB) | |||||
| Galaxy S10+ | $105 (128GB) | $110 (512GB) | $115 (1 TB) | |||
| Galaxy S10E | $60 (256GB) | |||||
| Galaxy S10 Lite | $95 (128GB) | $95 (512GB) | ||||
| Galaxy S10 5G | $100 (256GB) | $105 (512GB) | ||||
| Galaxy S10 | $75 (128GB) | $80 (512GB) | ||||
| Galaxy Note 9 | $80 (128GB) | $85 (512GB) | ||||
| Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G | $115 (128GB) | $420 (256GB) | $440 (512GB) | |||
| Galaxy Note 20 Ultra | $280 (256GB) | $280 (512GB) | ||||
| Galaxy Note 20 5G | $225 (128GB) | $245 (256GB) | ||||
| Galaxy Note 20 | $250 (128GB) | $250 (256GB) | ||||
| Galaxy Note 10+ 5G | $305 (128GB) | $305 (256GB) | $315 (512GB) | |||
| Galaxy Note 10+ | $155 (256GB) | $165 (512GB) | ||||
| Galaxy Note Lite | $80 (128GB) | |||||
| Galaxy Note 10 5G | $95 (256GB) | |||||
| Galaxy Note 10 | $115 (256GB) | |||||
| Galaxy Fold | $315 (512GB) |
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I ordered the five dollar per month plan on hello mobile website. It includes talk text and 500 MB data. Free sim and taxes included. The account number for porting is given to you in an email and you can see it as well by logging into your account online, no need to use their app. The porting pin is the last four digits of your phone number, I confirmed that with customer service. Hope this helps some here who need a valid phone number to port and do not want to take any risk with GV numbers as things may have changed this year.
And bonus, the five dollar hello mobile plan second month is free. No coupon code or referral required. This comes in handy just in case the delivery date keeps getting pushed back by Google Fi.
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Worst case some cases will need a touch of Dremel work to round out the lower bottom camera area. Any case where the camera cutout is not exact could be ok.
The size difference is actually going to help on my Defender that is not a snug fit. The two for $5 cases from the Amazon deal are very thin and shallow not offering much screen protection but it will be good for glass screen protectors. Anyone see the poor reviews for the Whitestone Dome on the S23 Ultra, people saying there is not enough adhesive to cover the entire screen. Considering returning it.
The Ultra's image stabilization, especially for video recording, is a major advantage. However, I already have an Insta360 X3 for shooting video and I love the 360 stabilization and auto-tracking feature and there's no way I'll go back to a smartphone camera. (You can point to any direction during shooting and then in the post processing point to where you want. Amazing!)
The only thing I might miss from the Ultra is the extra 4GB of RAM, bringing it to a total of 12GB, compared to the Plus's 8GB. In my 6GB RAM S10e I always run screen overlay software and have experienced it being killed and having to restart it manually. The additional RAM in the Ultra may help prevent this from happening.
The main drawback of the U23 of course is the size, and for me more specifically it's the thickness. I own a 0.31 inch S10e and a 0.33 inch iPhone XR. I already know how much the 0.02 inch difference can affect how they fit in my jeans and how it make me reluctant to take the XR out with me. I will live with the thickness everyday when I carry the phone. I would much rather have the 0.30 inch Plus than the 0.35 inch Ultra. This is just a personal preference based on my own experiences and preference.
It's important to remember that everyone has different situations and preferences and it can be difficult to see things from someone else's perspective. Don't assume others are not doing then right thing when they didn't follow what for you is right. Instead, try to learn from different perspectives.
In my case it boils down to coming from a 2018 Z3 Play. 32gb, 4gb ram. No over thinking that decision 😛
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I still have a Fi Z Flip 4, was hoping an even trade for an S23 Ultra but looks like a no go at this time.
wondering whether anyone here had been in the same boat..
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