* Activating the Fi S24 phone
When you get the phone:
1. The SIM is already installed in the phone, although the phone box is sealed.
2. Turn on the phone, connect it to WiFi and log into the same Google account that was used to purchase the phone.
3. Download and install the Fi app from Google Play Store.
4. Leave WiFi ON. Run the Fi app. It will insist that you turn Data ON. Go ahead and turn Data ON. It might use a few MB of Data before switching to WiFi. If FI charges you for that Data at all, it will be 1-3 cents added to the 2nd bill.
5. Go through the activation process with the app which will transfer your Fi service from yourl old phone to the S24.
6. Your S24 phone should be activated on Fi then. Make some test calls/texts to make sure that the phone is working on Fi.
* Tracking Your Promo Discount
Log into your Fi account on the web site. There's a countdown in your Billing-->Fi Savings-->In Progress that shows how many more days your Fi service has to remain active. About 24 hrs after you activated the Fi SIM, the In Progress Tracker should show a checklist with entries like: Bought a phone, Got a discount, Activated the SIM, Stay xxx more days on Fi. Make sure the "Activate the SIM" entry is checkmarked and it shows 120 days to go. Then for a few days after that, keep checking the In Progress to make sure the countdown is decreasing each day. The countdown is updated at the same time each day (around the time of day that you activated the Fi SIM).
* How to Verify that your S24 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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Steps I took as a former Fi subscriber to get this deal: https://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=
Strong recommendation: For people who activate service on a BYOD device to become an existing customer, wait a minimum of 24 hours (recommended 48 hours) before purchasing the S24. Those who activate and purchase the same day usually have major issues. The countdown timer will not be triggered and you will have no choice but to forfeit the discount or return the phone. You can try to contact support and ask to escalate to a specialist which may or may not have success and will likely eat up your return window.
For those that purchased same day, it seems that given early data points including mine that
Fi has manually approved the promo after escalating. Unknown if this will consistently be successful by others in future, though.
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Thought it's a 24 Month Bill credit?
"Get reimbursed over 24 months
Receive $27.09 off each bill for 24 months
The credit is tied to the person who activated the device"
Sorry for the ignorance but I'm new to Google Fi deals!
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- you are likely on a Simply Unlimited plan
Despite what the promo says about activating the new device on either Flexible or Unlimited Plus, your existing plan needs to be changed to either Flexible or Unlimited Plus.
Given you must remain on one of these plans for 4 months, your monthly cost will likely be higher.
For example, I have 5 lines in Simply Unlimited for $100/month.
Switching to Unlimited Plus will double my monthly bill to $200/month. Carry this for 4 months and I'm actually paying $650+$400 for the Ultra
If I switch to flexible, my minimum monthly cost will be $150 ($80 + $10/GB*7GB). It could go as high as $240/month.
Now, if you intend to upgrade everyone on your plan, you will spread those 4 month cost increases out.
I ended up getting the deal from Samsung using an S22+ I have. That phone was $429 when I bought it in 2022. Received a $550 trade-in credit against the ultra and also received my EPP discounts. Made the phone about $600 before taxes.
I assume you can skip the desktop part and go straight to the Fi app. Main thing seems to be activating the account with a phone because the account isn't fully activated until it's tied to a phone.
Last year I purchased a S23U from Google (very much same deal as this but for new customer). After 120 days, I cancelled Google Fi and used the phone on my existing Boost Mobile.
After reading your post, I reactivated that account with the email address on fille, but on a Pixel 8 that I have around without any plan or sim inside (I didn't have my S23U on hands - I guess it doesn't matter as long as my account reactivated with a new plan) with the $20 plan.
Then I logged into my recently reactivated $20 plan, I saw a new number also a message that the SIM kit will be sent to me. I cancelled the shipment since it seems that my Pixel 8 now has a plan on it on ready (I did make a test call).
The $650 off option showed up immediately. Thus, I went ahead and ordered a S24U. This time Google did not ask me for any plan on the S24U, so I guess Google will transfer the $20 plan that I have just got from reactivation onto it later.
The only strange thing was that the $20 plan I reactivated and chose was both esim and sim kit to be sent to my residence, which I cancelled the shipping portion.
I have the simply unlimited for 3 lines which I pay for my family ($80/month) and it showed $250 off as others have noted, but my billing cycle ends in 3 days so I figured I would be the guinea pig. I switched to the unlimited plus (which would be prorated over the next 3 days my bill was due, but that would be $135/month in full) which is instant and now see the $650 off deal and have pre-ordered the 512GB phone and elected to pay instantly to lock in the deal.
After I just paid for the phone, I tried to instantly switch back to simply unlimited since it would go back in my next bill cycle 3 days from now, but upon doing so I got a warning message saying I will forfeit the $650 discount since I need to remain on either the unlimited plus or flex plan (also as others have noted).
So when comparing the required payment on the unlimited plus for 120 days (4 months) which would cost me personally $63/month extra ($143 (inclusive of 6% sales tax) - $80) to stay on the unlimited plus plan, total out the door to buy this phone with google fi would be $707 ($650 cost of phone + $57 sales tax) + $220 = $959.
I did pre-order off the samsung website earlier today with the EDU discount + trade-in of my samsung galaxy s21 before I saw this google fi deal and opted for titanium orange, which was a samsung exclusive color. In addition to that, there was an instant $100 accessory credit which I was able to pickup two phone cases, two screen protectors, and one samsung tag 2 at no extra cost. Out the door w/ taxes for the 512gb phone + free accessories was $1,039 ($927 for phone + 84 in taxes).
Bottom line is, for my own personal situation, because i pay for my family's phone plan, the cost for me to get the phone through google fi actually costs more than buying it off of samsung directly for the following reasons:
1) the phone requires 120 days activation on the unlimited plus plan, not when i switch over to the unlimited plus. So if I do not receive the phone until February, I may be stuck with the unlimited plus plan for an additional month to meet the minimum 120 month requirement because of the timing of my billing cycle and when I can switch back to simply unlimited
2) Samsung has the exclusive color and I get some "free" accessories
3) Very minor, but I think i get like $5-10 in samsung credit if I convert the points I earned from buying this phone off them
4) I don't have to track the 120 days to switch back to simply unlimited
5) I use about 20gb-30gb of data a month, but don't travel outside the U.S. often so the simply unlimited has worked well for myself and the unlimited plus would not be beneficial to me or my family.
I could sell my phone on ebay or somewhere if I go the google fi route, but that is additional time and effort I don't want to have to deal with to save $100 at best.
I just went ahead and canceled my google fi order and switched back to simply unlimited which will take place in 3 business days. So I will just pay the prorated unlimited plus (and get the benefits which I won't need lol) for the next 3 days.
Hope this helps for those planning out the purchase - if you only have to pay for your individual line for google fi and/or you live in a sales tax free state to have this shipped to you, then buying the phone through google fi would be cheaper. If you are like me, Samsung may be a better deal and less hassle.
I just wonder why it went to taxes and fees and why my other credit did not go to the $20 or if it will when my bill trys to charge
You can see the bill attached. I have excess trade in credit from last year that should cover my bill
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