- Even if the promotion shows up , wait at least 24 hours after becoming a customer before purchasing the phone so that Google Fi's systems properly register you as an existing customer
- Activate service with the sim that ships with the s25 (assuming you are not using eSim)
- Do not use the sim that comes with the s25 that you use to activate in any other phone (if its a physical sim)
- Don't use a different Google Fi sim, especially from another account in the s25 during the 120 day countdown
- It is fine to use sims from other carriers in the s25 after you activate and your countdown has started
I am copying the contents of the Wiki from last years s24 deal written by hpham_53, which is very helpful
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Info on Activating the Fi Phone, Tracking your Promo Discount, Completing the Promo and Pause/Cancel Fi Service after 120 days ====== added on 2/1/24 by hpham_53
* 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.
The link to the original wiki is here https://slickdeals.net/f/17239057-select-existing-google-fi-customers-256gb-samsung-galaxy-s24-ultra-unlocked-650-min-120-days-service-activation-req?peid=24d02e
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S25+ is showing as $399 /$519 256/512 . FWIW, last year I paid $449 for the 512, so the 256 is cheaper and the 512 is more expensive
S24+ 512gb TIV is $350 however I prefer to trade in a S23 FE which is not listed or an IPhone 14 Plus which only gives $250 which is crap. Trade in deals sucked last year too. in 2023 they were great
I have a s24 ultra 512gb to trade in or sell. Wondering what the best deal is ? Sell locally for maybe $650 ? Pay $100 plus say $70 in tax I have done that the last two years in a row.
$841.60 after tax plus a 120 day requirement brings this to $950ish for the 512gb model. meh. gonna check out best buy and Samsung deals. really want it for the emergency SOS functions for Backcountry adventures
S25+ is showing as $399 /$519 256/512 . FWIW, last year I paid $449 for the 512, so the 256 is cheaper and the 512 is more expensive
S24+ 512gb TIV is $350 however I prefer to trade in a S23 FE which is not listed or an IPhone 14 Plus which only gives $250 which is crap. Trade in deals sucked last year too. in 2023 they were great
In '23, I got an S23U with a 512 upgrade for free for 50% off the 256 price, along with $315 trade in for an iPhone 11. Net for the S23U was under $400 even with the 4 months of Fi.
That was a slickdeal, and the S23U was the last worthy upgrade in this series, anyway.
Now they're offering less for my S23U than they did for the iPhone 11. Nah. Hard pass.
That being said, it's still a good deal if you're looking to get an S25 series phone with no strings attached past the 120 days. Half off is half off (although it's closer to 40% off with the service commitment). Just not what it was two years ago - which was closer to 70% off for more phone if you had the right trade in.
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I assume the post is getting downvoted by people the deal doesn't work for them, because this is an insane deal for people who already on Fi with the Unlimited plan. I already pay for the Unlimited Plus and have been for a while as I need to for other stuff. I basically just got $500 off for free. No one in the market at the moment is even close to offering something like that.
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