[Resolved/workaround] Resizing to the new $5 plan

Is there a notice about the billing period? I had to change my Linode from monthly to hourly billing before the 1024 option was available.

Hmm.. yes, actually there is, above the selection table: "Some plans are not available for legacy 'pre-pay' accounts."

I find it strange that the plan wouldn't be available as normal monthly billing when converting, as opposed to when starting out. A quick calculation indicates that it would be slightly more expensive to use the hourly billing.

Anyone from Linode around? Is it necessary to use hourly billing in order to be able to convert, and, if so, why?

@T-A:

I find it strange that the plan wouldn't be available as normal monthly billing when converting, as opposed to when starting out. A quick calculation indicates that it would be slightly more expensive to use the hourly billing.

When using hourly billing there's a monthly cap. So the $5/month Linode will never be more than $5/month….

Ah, Ok, I'll try.. thanks.

I still don't understand the requirement to got to hourly billing when converting though, as long as there's a normal montly plan when not converting. Still hoping for some input from Linode.

In the meantime I'll try the hourly trick. [Edit: That worked. I'm up and running.]

From the blog post:

Eligibility

Legacy Xen-based Linodes are not eligible to resize into these new plans. You can easily upgrade your legacy Xen-based Linodes to our KVM platform by following the “Upgrade to KVM” link on the right side of your Linode’s dashboard.

Legacy pre-pay accounts are also not eligible for these new plans. You can easily upgrade your account to hourly billing. Find more information here.

https://blog.linode.com/2017/02/14/high … 5-linodes/">https://blog.linode.com/2017/02/14/high-memory-instances-and-5-linodes/

Ok. Well, my server isn't Xen, so that's not an issue. I see that part about 'Legacy pre-pay'.. what I find strange is the 'Legacy' term - is fixed monthly payment now considered obsolete? I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere. And it still looks like you can get a new linode for $5/month?

Now I'm on hourly for that $5 plan I converted one of my linodes to, so these questions are in a way academic. But it does look a bit strange to me.

I know that all new accounts default to hourly pay, so I guess it is legacy.

@T-A:

'Legacy' term - is fixed monthly payment
There are yearly ones as well, which include a 10% discount. I suspect they don't want to start applying discounts to the already inexpensive $5 option, and this may be why they are excluded.

Paying credit card currency conversion fees every month is not really appealing. Yearly payment, even without the discount would be nice.

I just load up my balance every now and then.

Hourly billing isn't really a departure from monthly billing at all - you're just paying for the month after it happens instead of beforehand. The cost to you doesn't change because of the monthly caps.

As Jeremy notes above, you can preload your account to avoid repeated billing, i.e. if you have a 1GB Linode and you preload your account with $60, your card wouldn't get charged again for a full year (once the balance runs out).

That's useful to know, thanks.

(although it appears that my CC company charges a percentage of the amount, not a fee per transfer - so it wouldn't make a difference. On the other hand, I could pay up when the exchange rate is favourable.. :))

Suggest you mark this thread "[SOLVED]".

I'll edit it, but I hope you won't be posting that suggestion to every thread.. that'll become tiresome very quickly.