5 is also on 4G, may make a difference. 
Speaking of iPhone 5, I've called Verizon a couple of times to try to move up my renewal eligibility date from Dec 28th. Every rep says different things; I've heard that maybe they could move it up a week, maybe 30 days, and maybe call back at the end of this month when Verizon customers that ordered an iPhone 5 get theirs (Oct 26th). I know Sprint is different, but is it standard to get this many different answers from customer service? (clams?)
most definitely common- and there are 2 reasons.
the first reason is that there is no hard & fast upgrade rule. the answer varies according to each customer's value to verizon which verizon has already calculated. they'll bend over backwards to keep high value customers happy.
the second reason is that the rep you're talking to is poorly trained and most likely doesn't know how to handle the situation- since because of what i explained as the first reason, every situation is handled differently.
i would bet that if you went in on Dec 1st and asked to upgrade, there's a 95% chance they would do it without hesitation. if that's what you want to do. sprint allows you to buy back months of your upgrade eligibility- meaning if you're not due until January, you can upgrade - but with less of a credit applied to the cost of the new handset, so instead of getting $600-$400 credit and paying $200, you might only get a $350 credit and pay $250 for the handset.
