Xbox Live renewal guide ?? Money Saving ahoy ??

[jcee]

edit: sorry if this has been covered- just trying to help out!

Many of the first Live adopters will no doubt be renewing their Live accounts in the near future ( if not already).

Microsoft, if left to their own devices will charge you ?5.99 per month on the entered credit card. Check the renewal email for details.

However there is a much better option open to resubscribers. Don't opt for the annual ?40.00 per year option. Instead get your ass down to a game shop and purchase an xbox live starter kit for ?39.99. All you need to do is enter the code in payment options and when your subsciption ends it'll automatically add another year.

This way you get another headset and set of demos for the same price.

All of the above has been verified by Microsoft Customer services in a phone call by me!

[Brats]

Good idea to post this as not everyone may know.

Alternatively though, you can buy a starter pack from Amazon for ?29.99 including delivery, like me . Get a free headset and save ?10 to boot.

[jcee]

even better then!

I know, Microsoft have been craftily silent about how they'll renew accounts and the cheaper options around.

[Adrock]

I used my staff discount to buy the PGR2 and xbox live package for ?42, thats a nice saving

[Ginza]

Good idea to post this as not everyone may know.

Alternatively though, you can buy a starter pack from Amazon for ?29.99 including delivery, like me . Get a free headset and save ?10 to boot.

That seems the best idea but can you use as many of the 3 month free trials as you want using your same gamertag? That might also be a great way if someone can confirm..

[angel_fear]

As far as I know you can only use one trial per gamertag.

[Brats]

The two month trial codes are just that.....a trial. You can't use them with an existing gamertag.

In theory, you could re-register a new gamertag every two months, but it would be a bit of a gypo way to do things.

[Hodge]

By what i read in a post from a microsoft rep the starter pack won`t work if you try and renue your sub, hence the word starter . They only work going of a 2 month trial or a new gamertag. If anyone has tried this and got different results please let me know.

[Roost]

I used a starter pack the other day, it know says i owe ?0.00 on march 14th whereas before it said ?39.99.

[Hodge]

So did it add another year on then as it usually tells you your renewal date?

[Roost]

I'm not positive but i know somebody who did it this way ages ago, said about it saying 2005.

[g-funk]

i did it with the years sub that I got with my White Xbox and it worked fine.

[Brats]

I bought another starter pack and it worked fine. If you look at the official XBox forums, it even tells you how to do it, so I think the MS rep was badly mistaken.

http://forums.xbox.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=6367485

Look at point 12 for confirmation.

[Len]

Just before I go out to get a subscription pack, they're region free aren't they?

So if I buy a Starter Pack here (UK) it'll work fine updating my US Xbox and it's original US Live acc...?

[g-funk]

Yeah, it's fine from any region. You don't need the disc, just the code and they seem to be universal.

I just used a JP one on my PAL box