There are new data points from 9/14/23 on which seem to indicate that the BYOP SIM trick below no longer works. (i.e. Even though the deal is still available to people who have been Fi members for a while, someone who just activated a BYOP SIM won't see the instant discount and only see the 24-month credit offer). Therefore, I'm crossing out the info about the BYOP SIM trick.
=============================================================
[b]=============================================================
* Added on 8/1/2023 by hpham_53: It's still 3-4 months away until people doing this deal will be close to completing their promotion. But I'll go ahead and add the 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.
This post can be edited by most users to provide up-to-date information about developments of this thread based on user responses, and user findings. Feel free to add, change or remove information shown here as it becomes available. This includes new coupons, rebates, ideas, thread summary, and similar items.
Once a Thread Wiki is added to a thread, "Create Wiki" button will disappear. If you would like to learn more about Thread Wiki feature, click here.
Leave a Comment
Top Comments
https://slickdeals.net/f/16418272-google-fi-512gb-samsung-galaxy-s23-ultra-smartphone-pre-order-600-more-w-activation-port-in-free-s-h?src=SiteSearc
703 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
1. Activate new Google FI sim on old phone ( BYOP )
2. After first bill generation which you receive on your email , order Samsung S23 Series device
3. Setup S23 with the same google account as Google FI
4. Install Google FI from Play store and allow to transfer your sim from old phone ( BYOP ) to S23
5. Wait for a couple of days to ensure the days counter is reducing in Google FI app
6. Once satisfied , remove Google FI app from the S23 device and only then remove the Google FI Sim Card ( do not put the FI sim in any other device )
7. Use any carrier sim card you want
If you want to port in a number to FI, it should be done when activating the BYOP Fi SIM which gives you a choice of getting a new number or port-in a number.
​Follow the steps provided by hp_ham53 in the post if you are not an existing Google FI member
https://slickdeals.net/f/16804301-google-fi-256gb-samsung-galaxy-s23-ultra-unlocked-smartphone-various-colors-600-more-w-existing-fi-account-free-s-h?p=164836667#p
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Should I sign up for google FI first and then put the sim card in my phone?
OR
I should be putting the sim card in the phone, download the fi app and follow the instructions on the phone to activate the new sim?
When I try to sign up first, I don't see an option to select that I already have a SIM card, how did you guys deal with that?
Should I sign up for google FI first and then put the sim card in my phone?
OR
I should be putting the sim card in the phone, download the fi app and follow the instructions on the phone to activate the new sim?
When I try to sign up first, I don't see an option to select that I already have a SIM card, how did you guys deal with that?
1. I created a new Google account (use your existing Google account if you like).
2. Signed up with Fi using my new Google account.
3. Picked the Flexible Plan.
4. When it asked to select a phone, I selected Bring Your Own Phone. It asked about the make/model of the phone then said the phone was compatible with Fi.
5. It offered to send a SIM, but there was also the option "I already have a SIM" which I selected. Then I clicked on Bring This Phone to proceed. I read that nowadays you don't have the option "I already have a SIM", but I don't know if you still can click on Bring This Phone to go to the next step.
6. From here on, it asked whether I want a new number or port-in a number, I selected New Number. Then it asked for Service Address, Billing Info, presented the total amount due, and said Welcome To Fi.
7. I put the BYOP Fi SIM into the BYOP phone, downloaded the Fi app and ran it to activate the BYOP Fi SIM with the new phone number selected in Step 6.
8. I waited 2 days until my 1st Bill was available then ordered an S22 as an existing member (and only 30 days of service were required).
If you can go from step 5 to step 6 despite the fact that you have no option "I already have a SIM", then use the BYOP SIM that you bought to activate service, and just keep the SIM they're sending as a spare.
Maybe someone who just went through the process can confirm if that's the way they did it.
Should I sign up for google FI first and then put the sim card in my phone?
OR
I should be putting the sim card in the phone, download the fi app and follow the instructions on the phone to activate the new sim?
When I try to sign up first, I don't see an option to select that I already have a SIM card, how did you guys deal with that?
The way I did was
1. Bring the SIM Card from the Store
2. Follow the process to register on Google FI . As hm_ham53 mentioned at least presently there is no option to deselect SIM when you click BYOP in Step 5 . Google FI will send one more free SIM kit by default . Anyways you are getting 10$ credits for the retailer SIM card so the only loss is the VAT component. Complete the process
3. Put the sim card in your phone with Google FI installed and follow the steps on Google FI app to setup the BYOP with Google FI sim
4. Wait for bill generation activation +2.5 days till the bill is received in your gmail id
5. Order S23 Series .
6. Once received install FI app and automatically it should detect and ask you to transfer
7. Keep a track of the counter
Based on the comments on this topic I understand that I can use the phone on any other SIM card as the phone comes unlocked, just that I have to ensure that the google fi SIM card is not used on any other phone.
But at the end of 120 days counter, do I have to put the FI SIM card back into the s23 phone for anything? or I can just discontinue my service and discard the FI SIM card?
1. I created a new Google account (use your existing Google account if you like).
2. Signed up with Fi using my new Google account.
3. Picked the Flexible Plan.
4. When it asked to select a phone, I selected Bring Your Own Phone. It asked about the make/model of the phone then said the phone was compatible with Fi.
5. It offered to send a SIM, but there was also the option "I already have a SIM" which I selected. Then I clicked on Bring This Phone to proceed. I read that nowadays you don't have the option "I already have a SIM", but I don't know if you still can click on Bring This Phone to go to the next step.
6. From here on, it asked whether I want a new number or port-in a number, I selected New Number. Then it asked for Service Address, Billing Info, presented the total amount due, and said Welcome To Fi.
7. I put the BYOP Fi SIM into the BYOP phone, downloaded the Fi app and ran it to activate the BYOP Fi SIM with the new phone number selected in Step 6.
8. I waited 2 days until my 1st Bill was available then ordered an S22 as an existing member (and only 30 days of service were required).
If you can go from step 5 to step 6 despite the fact that you have no option "I already have a SIM", then use the BYOP SIM that you bought to activate service, and just keep the SIM they're sending as a spare.
Maybe someone who just went through the process can confirm if that's the way they did it.
So it will now be just a matter of waiting for 120 days . Thank you for all the support and it was only possible to obtain the deal due to the clear steps mentioned in your post
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Leave a Comment