- 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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602 Comments
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Dont rush. Wait 24 hours before you purchase phone for new activations! Unless they fixed their systems. I posted earlier.
What is the countdown? The countdown is the 120 day countdown that shows how many days service you have left before you honored the commitment.
If you activate the same day and buy the phone, the system does not know you are an existing customer and wont honor promo, and chargeback
Worst part of these Samsung phones for me are the unlock is terrible with a normal screen protector. Fingerprint hardly ever works, Face is useless, especially in the dark. Versus the Pixel 9 Pro, face unlock works usually, optical fingerprint (I think) works fast even with a generic screen protector. I will switch over to the Pixel if S25 unlocking becomes unbearable, now that they have a place to replace Secure Folder and a Desktop Mode coming soon... plus 16GB RAM (but a worse processor..)
As for the deal, this is an excellent deal at $500-$650 off a new UNLOCKED device with NO trade in. Even better for those somehow getting another $100 off. Deal is a no brainer if you're getting the phone, just 4 months of pro-rated service and you're done, but you get to use the phone while you wait. Not a good as last year, but still the best way to get the phone.
strong reasonconvenient excuse to upgrade (even though I am aware that s25 is barely more superior to s24).Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Dont rush. Wait 24 hours before you purchase phone for new activations! Unless they fixed their systems. I posted earlier.
What is the countdown? The countdown is the 120 day countdown that shows how many days service you have left before you honored the commitment.
If you activate the same day and buy the phone, the system does not know you are an existing customer and wont honor promo, and chargeback
I did what you did for an S22 (purchased at end of model year so right before the s23 came out) and the 120 day countdown timer never started. I had to contact chat numerous times to get it straightened out and you have to ask for your case to be escalated to a specialist team because first level chat is useless.
But maybe you will get lucky. Maybe their systems changed in the past two years but I think people may have had issues in the s24 thread but for that I activated a few days early so my s24 promo went through fine
So bottom line, monitor the Fi Savings tab when you activate the phone and make sure the 120 days is counting down correctly. If it does not start within 24-48 hours of activating , contact chat and ask to escalate to the specialist team.
The terms say they can chargeback your Google Pay account. Blocking it will cause you headaches so if countdown doesnt start you want to straighten it out
*** I put a lot of info in the thread wiki copying helpful info from last year's thread by hpham_53
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