* 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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Their faq used to say that everyone is automatically given a 7 day extension, but I'm not sure if it's still the same.
I did this twice successfully. Once the rep said it was done, I could go in and immediately see the new due dates in my order history.
Separately, you can also request an extension of the return policy, but it's already 30 days because you have 15 to request a label, and another 15 to mail the return once the request goes through. An extension would give you 45 days to return.
In my case, I was out of the country at the time I placed the order and had a relative who could return the device in case they denied the extension. Honestly, I wouldn't try it unless you have a similar situation where someone could ship it back as a return if the extension doesn't work out.
So I'm actually thinking about creating a new Google Fi account using my other Gmail, and getting a flexible plan and purchasing the phone with the $650 discount.
As I understand it, as long as I do not use the SIM card I purchased the phone on in a different device, my promotion will not get voided.
Does anyone know whether the promotion will get voided if I activate my s24 ultra on the new flexible plan and then a few days later, I activate a different Google Fi account on the new phone?
This means the SIM card I bought the phone on will not go in a different phone but the new phone will be used with a different SIM card.
Reactive my FI service to unlimited plus. Then install the esim, then you should see the $650 in 3 months? Then downgrade to a flex account?
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Instead, buy from Samsung with better trade in values?
We get 150$ worth of watch or a12 5g phone as accessories.
Looks Samsung is hassle free for another 50$ if we are consider accessory credit
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The S23 has a 10MP sensor with a 10X optical zoom lens while the S24 has a 50MP sensor with a 5X optical zoom lens.
Would I have liked to have 10X Optical zoom, yes, but because the S24 has a larger sensor, and theoretically better photo processing, the S24's zoomed cropped photo should be better than the S23's 10MP Sensor with 10x Optical Zoom. I will test it out once I have the phone.
I understand the sensor is bigger but optical zoom trumps everything else for zoom capability.
What people are basically saying is that they would trade picture quality upgrade, for losing the physical zoom capabilities. So yes you get a bigger sensor but you lose zoom, its not an upgrade, more like a side grade. You're just tweaking the lens stack inside of the camera with a different focal length that can accommodate a bigger sensor.
No amount of black magic is going to beat the physics of it, a physical lens stack of 10x is simply always going to be able to physically zoom in more
The S24 ultra is just marketing and hype and nothing more, there is no reason to "upgrade" and lose your zoom camera on the S23 ultra
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