AT&T -> Verizon

[Southernboyj]

I have a question to anyone who has switched carriers at the release of a new iPhone. I know if you aren't quick to buy an iPhone at the release you are going to have to wait awhile. Heres my question: I currently am under a contract with AT&T, when the new iPhone is released.. I plan to pay the ETF and switch to Verizon. How would be the best way to go about doing this?

I'll be signing up for a Share Everything plan, the other person who is going to be on the plan isn't interested in an iPhone. I'd like to transfer my phone number as well.

Thanks for any help.

 

[cableguy619]

I have a question to anyone who has switched carriers at the release of a new iPhone. I know if you aren't quick to buy an iPhone at the release you are going to have to wait awhile. Heres my question: I currently am under a contract with AT&T, when the new iPhone is released.. I plan to pay the ETF and switch to Verizon. How would be the best way to go about doing this?

I'll be signing up for a Share Everything plan, the other person who is going to be on the plan isn't interested in an iPhone. I'd like to transfer my phone number as well.

Thanks for any help.

just goto to verizon.com on order day and pick new customer and eventually u will get an option to transfer your existing number. Basically this will start the process of Verizon canceling your service. ATT will bill you for your ETF fee. You can also go into the store so you have a few options, but if you dont want to wait in lines you can accompish everything over the net. The porting/transfer of your number will probably take full affect in 2-3 days. So your ATT phone may still ring for a day or 2 until the port is complete.

 

[iRetired]

It's even faster going to a corporate store. I did the opposite, went from Verizon to AT&T. While I was waited on, the salesgirl called Verizon, gave the headset to me to tell Verizon my PIN and handed the phone back. The actual number port process took maybe three minutes max. I know this because my wife called me while the salesgirl was finishing the startup and it rang through on the new iPhone 4S, not the Droid X in my pocket.

 

[trouble747]

Does porting the number automatically trigger the ETF? Say you wanted to transfer your remaining contract to the phone purchaser--would this need to be done before the number is ported?

 

[Want300]

Does porting the number automatically trigger the ETF? Say you wanted to transfer your remaining contract to the phone purchaser--would this need to be done before the number is ported?

Not sure how this works... I would talk to your provider about this.

 

[Southernboyj]

I'm just curious how difficult this process will be doing it the day the iPhone launches/becomes available for preorder.

 

[brianbunge]

Does porting the number automatically trigger the ETF? Say you wanted to transfer your remaining contract to the phone purchaser--would this need to be done before the number is ported?

Yes, the port will trigger the ETF. The contract is attached to the phone number, not the phone.

 

[ixodes]

I use both Verizon and AT&T. Since you want to keep your number I'd contact Verizon and AT&T in advance. That way you'll get the info straight from them and minimize any risk of delays once the new phones become available.

 

[Tnnrx7]

When you port your number, the new service provider (Verizon) will contact AT&T for you to start the porting process.

AT&T will have you verify the last 4 of your SSN (or passcode if you set one up)

The number is ported to Verizon, automatically cancelling your AT&T account and generating your ETF which will show on your final statement.

 

[Pirate515]

Does porting the number automatically trigger the ETF? Say you wanted to transfer your remaining contract to the phone purchaser; would this need to be done before the number is ported?

Porting the number opens an account with new carrier and automatically closes it with the old one. So if you are still under contract old carrier, they will hit you with ETF.

Now, doing what you are asking is convoluted, but probably possible. IMO, here are the steps that you would need to take. Note that you may need to spend some extra $$$, so depending on how far along you are on your contract, this may or may not be worth it.

• Get the cheapest possible GSM dumb phone (or if you can borrow one from someone, even better). Then add another line to your AT&T account, assigning a new number to that dumb phone. AT&T may hit you with activation fee for adding a new line.
• Give it a few days, then call AT&T to switch phones around. In other words, your old iPhone will now have the new number and the dumb phone will have your old iPhone number. The remaining contract term will be transferred to a new line that now has iPhone on it. Again, AT&T may hit you with activation or upgrade fees for these moves.
• Give it a few more days, then call AT&T again and ask them to separate these lines into different accounts.
• Now that iPhone is under a different account, call AT&T again and ask them to do a Change of Responsibility on the iPhone line. They will run credit check on the person whom the line is getting transferred to, so make sure they don't have any credit problems/issues. Once complete, that person will be responsible for the remainder of the contract.
• When new iPhone comes out, port the dumb phone line with the original number to new carrier. You should not incur ETF for that.

 

[haddman]

Yes when you port the number it will trigger a cancellation and EFT with AT&T. I switched to VZW when they first launched the IP4, and just sold my AT&T iPhone 4 on ebay which more than covered the EFT. remember the EFT gets prorated the longer you are into your contract by about $10 a month. So you could sell your iPhone for $3-$400 and maybe your EFT is only $275.

Here is another interesting tidbit, when I first signed up with verizon, I didn't port my AT&T numbers over initially, I then cancelled the verizon within the return period, of course I get a call from customer service asking what they can do to keep my service, and I tell them, I was thinking of switching my 2 lines over, but will just wait for now. They then proceed to offer me about $350 in credits if I bring the 2 lines over ($150 credit each line). So bottom line is, verizon gave me $350 credit, and I didn't have to pay a phone bill from verizon for a few months due to the credit. Bottom line was I paid $299 ea for 2 new Verizon IP4's, plus a $175 termination fee per AT&T line, so roughly $950, but then I sold my phones for about $850, and got a VZW credit of $350.

 

[mattopotamus]

I'm just curious how difficult this process will be doing it the day the iPhone launches/becomes available for preorder.

I'm sure it will be a nightmare honestly b.c of the call volume