* 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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With the S23 pre-release deal last year, I placed my order on Feb 2nd, 2023. Fi showed an estimated Delivery date of Feb 17 - 20. There was an email about a delayed shipping about 10 days after that. My S23 was shipped on Feb 20.
I think there is miscommunication. My issue was with the s22 deal over a year ago. I was never a Fi customer until I activated a byod sim within the same day. That caused issues and the countdown did not star
I would caution anyone who does this deal to wait 48 hours after activating a byod device before purchasing phone if you are not a customer prior to that
This year/s24 I have no issues. I was an inactive Fi customer since I already did the s22 deal. I activated on Sunday, purchased the phone Wednesday.
My original post was asking if porting in would complicate things at this time. no one knows the answer, it might, it might not, so I am not going to risk it because the porting was only to close my ATT line and I can just use US Mobile for that
I have the edu discount
I have the reserve credit which is supposedly embedded in one of these promos but not sure
Granted I may be able to save another $90 using cash bak
This does include Galaxy Buds2 Pro
This is for the s24 Plus with 256gb
Total after discounts, before tax is $909
Lets be nice and deduct $90 for cash back (that you have to wait 90 days usually for) - but Samsung usually calculates that at less in some computation - anyway $819, lets deduct $100 for the buds since you aint selling it for more than that , now we are at $719
Lets deduct $100 to offset the GFi service , $25 x 4 - granted most people will be paying at least 5, if you are doing unlimited that means you are likely using the service so that dont count, but there is the "friend" code so I think $100 is a fair estimate - so now we are at $619 vs $450 at Google Fi for the Plus
Screenshot attached
Only way maybe worth it to do Samsung IMO is if you have a trade in and dont want to be bothered selling it for a min $170 less than what they are offering
No one that did the reactivation of an old plan that continued to see the $650 over 24 months had it change to be instantly if they waited long enough.
I fall into that second bucket. I "paused" my Google Fi service just now as I couldn't find the cancel option.
If you can't cancel, go to Manage Plan and it should have "Leave Google Fi" at the bottom.
No one that did the reactivation of an old plan that continued to see the $650 over 24 months had it change to be instantly if they waited long enough.
I fall into that second bucket. I "paused" my Google Fi service just now as I couldn't find the cancel option.
What do you mean? Was this before you completed the order? When did you see 24 months?
My discount does show on confirmation email as :
Google Fi Wireless Device Financing - $550
Does everyone's order not show that? Under manage order, it uses the term "discount" instead of "Google Fi Wireless Device Financing"
I did some checking on Samsung site yesterday. An Unlocked 256GB S24 with no trade-in, no special-group discount, no protection, no accessories is $799 + $75 tax = $874. If I were eligible for a special-group discount (students, educators, first-reponders, military, government employees, etc) then there would be 10% to 20% discount. Even with 20% discount, the phone would still be $640 + $60 tax = $700. None of those prices can beat the $490 cost with Fi.
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Anyone else?
Anyone else?
Nevermind...maybe that's the intent? I do see the terms in the 1st post. Just don't understand why the 120 days showed up yesterday in my Fi account, but it disappeared today.
I want to confirm:
1. For new Fi customers, one needs to be on the Fi plan for 24 months to receive the $650 off while existing Fi customers need to be on the Fi plan just for 120 days? Sounds too good to be true?
2. Existing Fi customer need not create a family plan but can maintain existing Individual plan and port existing number from existing device to new S24 ultra device -right?
Thanks!
1. For new Fi customers, one needs to be on the Fi plan for 24 months to receive the $650 off while existing Fi customers need to be on the Fi plan just for 120 days? Sounds too good to be true?
2. Existing Fi customer need not create a family plan but can maintain existing Individual plan and port existing number from existing device to new S24 ultra device -right?
2. No needs to create a group plan, unless you have several family members/friends who want to partake in the deal.
2. No needs to create a group plan, unless you have several family members/friends who want to partake in the deal.
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