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For someone trading in the phone to apple, new line is cheaper. For someone actually wanting Cricket service or to eventually get the Cricket phone unlocked,the port in is probably better.
Just received my phone. Plan to take it to Apple Store for a gift card - do I need to even activate the phone? First time doing this, so I'd appreciate any guidance.
Just received my phone. Plan to take it to Apple Store for a gift card - do I need to even activate the phone? First time doing this, so I'd appreciate any guidance.
I have always activated it first just to be sure. When you set it up, do the basic set up, don't sign in with an Apple account, don't set up face ID or any of that - just do the bare basic set up.
I have always activated it first just to be sure. When you set it up, do the basic set up, don't sign in with an Apple account, don't set up face ID or any of that - just do the bare basic set up.
Thanks. I clicked through a whole bunch of "Set up later" options and didn't use Apple account to sign in. Didn't activate eSim either. No screen lock. Will take it to Apple store in the next couple of days. Thanks again.
So here is what I did:
I purchased the 16e for $50 plus the 2 months at $60 each ($120)
I received the phone and had to activate it. Once I did that, I went to the cricket app and there I went to PLANS and there was a list of plans.
I clicked on the $35 plan and added it to my cart and checked out.
PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS. IT APPEARS THAT THEY JUST CHANGED THE POLICY AND DO NOT ALLOW YOU TO DOWNGRADE.
I also just bought the iPhone 16e promotion but it's not letting me downgrade. It only shows the current plan in the cricket app and doesn't give me any option to switch. The cricket rep in the chat is giving me the run-around and says I signed up for their $60 plan and cannot downgrade until the first 2 months is up and that I should go into a cricket store to "chase" a refund. I asked if I could just do a return through the website, and he said yes but he recommends going through the store and abruptly ended the chat.
This is insane. I had previously done the same thing that you did with another phone a while back, but I'm not paying for another 2 months of service because they no longer allow you to immediately downgrade. Thankfully, there's a cricket store nearby, so I'm going there now and will follow up. 😡
Update: the 🍆 sucker who sent me to the cricket store was full of 💩. They said online orders are completely separate from anything that they sell in store.
I called their customer service and they said this is a new policy and that they don't allow you to downgrade anymore, so I'm not sure if this is something that's happened in the last week since purple one above was able to do it. This went from a pretty good deal to now a 💩 deal. None of them seem to be willing to help me get a full refund, so I guess I'm just going to file a complaint with my credit card company.
Last edited by RichC8284 February 25, 2026 at 05:44 PM.
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I have a few Tracfone (Verizon Value Brand, Prepaid) numbers from the Black Friday 16e promo which I'll let go for $2 AGC.
You'll receive random TX phone number, Account number, PIN, Zip Code. Lower rep, newer accounts send code first.
Because of the low value I won't be able to provide much "customer service". The pins expire a few days after requesting them, plan to use it before the end of this week. I'll be pasting information directly from the device, so no chance of errors. In case of the Cricket ordering issues, I can't help with those.
I was researching this on ChatGPT (ok flame me) and I came across this post https://www.reddit.com/r/CricketW...lan_trick/
Which inspired me to also dig around in the code of the website which led me to find the full code regarding upsellit and pictures of redeem $25 off
I searched "25" in some of the code I found and put it into ChatGPT (flame me) it returned with this crucial info
Incognito mode
Cookies allowed
Wait a little while, for me less than a minute
Cart>$150
No Cricket Protect Insurance
"your browser must pass the Upsellit eligibility checks (including cookies and the ~90% A/B test group)"
I tried it and it worked and if it doesn't work try incognito on edge on chrome /
my chats if any1 is interested https://chatgpt.com/share/6996bb2...9c5a4e90a0
Wait in which page? Checkout? should I fill out my info?
Last edited by BeautifulSwing4349 March 1, 2026 at 08:54 AM.
no, just enter your zip code in the cart page no need to enter info or go to checkout
Thanks, tested with several browsers but still don't see anything. I even tried adding an iphone 15 to have a cart with $700 but nothing. Which file did you upload to chatgpt? want to check to see if they changed the requirements
So I had to order it twice to get a 2 phone deal for $80 deal with $25 coupon because when I add the line the price for the other line shows up as $120 or something. I used the paypal both times. so these would be 2 seperate orders. Not sure if I will be able to activate the lines under same profile or I will need to create 2 profiles when the phone shows up.
Will this phone work with ATT besides Cricket during the lock period? Can this be sold on ebay without activation? or first activation has to be done by the user who bought this.
Last edited by Roy167 March 1, 2026 at 10:51 AM.
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I'll take the code
So here is what I did:
I purchased the 16e for $50 plus the 2 months at $60 each ($120)
I received the phone and had to activate it. Once I did that, I went to the cricket app and there I went to PLANS and there was a list of plans.
I clicked on the $35 plan and added it to my cart and checked out.
I also just bought the iPhone 16e promotion but it's not letting me downgrade. It only shows the current plan in the cricket app and doesn't give me any option to switch. The cricket rep in the chat is giving me the run-around and says I signed up for their $60 plan and cannot downgrade until the first 2 months is up and that I should go into a cricket store to "chase" a refund. I asked if I could just do a return through the website, and he said yes but he recommends going through the store and abruptly ended the chat.
This is insane. I had previously done the same thing that you did with another phone a while back, but I'm not paying for another 2 months of service because they no longer allow you to immediately downgrade. Thankfully, there's a cricket store nearby, so I'm going there now and will follow up. 😡
Update: the 🍆 sucker who sent me to the cricket store was full of 💩. They said online orders are completely separate from anything that they sell in store.
I called their customer service and they said this is a new policy and that they don't allow you to downgrade anymore, so I'm not sure if this is something that's happened in the last week since purple one above was able to do it. This went from a pretty good deal to now a 💩 deal. None of them seem to be willing to help me get a full refund, so I guess I'm just going to file a complaint with my credit card company.
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You'll receive random TX phone number, Account number, PIN, Zip Code. Lower rep, newer accounts send code first.
Because of the low value I won't be able to provide much "customer service". The pins expire a few days after requesting them, plan to use it before the end of this week. I'll be pasting information directly from the device, so no chance of errors. In case of the Cricket ordering issues, I can't help with those.
Which inspired me to also dig around in the code of the website which led me to find the full code regarding upsellit and pictures of redeem $25 off
I searched "25" in some of the code I found and put it into ChatGPT (flame me) it returned with this crucial info
Incognito mode
Cookies allowed
Wait a little while, for me less than a minute
Cart>$150
No Cricket Protect Insurance
"your browser must pass the Upsellit eligibility checks (including cookies and the ~90% A/B test group)"
I tried it and it worked and if it doesn't work try incognito on edge on chrome /
my chats if any1 is interested https://chatgpt.com/share/6996bb2...9c5a4
Will this phone work with ATT besides Cricket during the lock period? Can this be sold on ebay without activation? or first activation has to be done by the user who bought this.
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