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Different Area Codes in Family Plan

I

iHosehead

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 8, 2009
7
0
Does anyone have two or more numbers with different area codes in their family plan. I'm trying to see if my wife and I can port our numbers to AT&T and then combine our new separate plans...into one family plan.

I'm getting the run around between AT&T and Apple. AT&T says that it is not possible to have two different area codes in one family plan...which must be BS because I have that with Tmobile right now. The apple store rep told me that there is a backwards way to make it work and the AT&T store rep said there is no way it would ever happen.

If someone could verify that they have two area codes in one family plan and how that came about...that would be awesome.
 
iHosehead said:
Does anyone have two or more numbers with different area codes in their family plan. I'm trying to see if my wife and I can port our numbers to AT&T and then combine our new separate plans...into one family plan.

I'm getting the run around between AT&T and Apple. AT&T says that it is not possible to have two different area codes in one family plan...which must be BS because I have that with Tmobile right now. The apple store rep told me that there is a backwards way to make it work and the AT&T store rep said there is no way it would ever happen.

If someone could verify that they have two area codes in one family plan and how that came about...that would be awesome.
Click to expand...

hehe, my then girlfriend (now wife) had her # on her family plan with her family. then we got married, so i wanted to move her phone number to my plan. she had a different area code and wanted to keep the #.

long story short, it's ATT's issue and they can do it. you just need to either call Customer Service over and over until you get someone who is smart or ask for a supervisor because it is possible. one warning though, they will try and force your wife to sign a year contract even though she might already have a phone in her name. good luck. its ATT and it was at least an hour conversation when i got it done.
 
I don't know for sure on ATT, everyone on our plan has the same one. Verizon allowed us to pick whatever area code we wanted. My Aunt/Uncle/Dad all had 412 and I had a 724 number.

I don't see any reason why you couldn't...
 
had a HUGE issue with AT&T regarding my family plan. When we switched last year from Sprint, we went to the Apple store and purchased our phones and one of the family plan packages as thats what we had with Sprint. Turns out the AT&T family plans are decided by "regions" AT&T would not allow my Mom to port her two numbers from Idaho onto my Utah number that I set the account up with because they were in different "regions" I thought how ridiculous, have they not heard of family members moving cross country to school before?? after 3 days of FIGHTING with them, I finally got ahold of someone at customer service that put my 3 phones on a corporate account that uses the same family plan packages.
and to test this further, I just moved back to my summer home in MN and went to my local AT&T store to pre-order the 3GS under a new line on my plan, and when I inquired the Manager about getting a MN number on this new iPhone he told me at first that it would have to be a UT area code but looked at his screen and said, my bad, yes, you can get a MN number on this new phone.

just be nice but FIRM on the issue like I was and hopefully they can do the same for you. Best of luck and let us know!
 
You can choose your area code. We have a Family plan with 4 people and My mom and I have a 602 area code, and everyone else has a 623.
 
Yeah I was wondering about this too. Right now I've got an iPhone while the rest of my family is on verizon. I live in Florida, 863 area code, and they live in virginia, 757 area code. They're switching over to AT&T once the iphone is released so I'll be joining a family plan with them.

So I guess I'll just have to be firm in order to make sure I can keep my number? My brother was under the impression that I would have to switch to a 757 area code
 
I've heard mixed things about this. My roommate at college had a local # (college area code), and she was the only family member on AT&T (iPhone). When her parents bought a family plan, they forced her to get a number with the same area code as her parents. The codes belonged to two different states though, so maybe that's why?
 
iTzChasE said:
You can choose your area code. We have a Family plan with 4 people and My mom and I have a 602 area code, and everyone else has a 623.
Click to expand...

That only works if both of those area codes are located in the same "region" I could have selected from all three of Utahs area codes plus any from Colorado, New Mexico & AZ with no issues, but Idaho was serviced by the northwest region where Utah is serviced by the southwest region.
at least this is what all the reps told me when I went thru that nightmare.... I wish I had kept the reps number and department that I ultimately delt with to correct my situation, I even had to go down to an AT&T store two times to get new sim cards, luckily, she took care of getting that squared away with my local store.
It just blows me away that AT&T has to be so obtuse when it comes to their family plans.
 
AT&T allows more than one area code in their family plans. I'm doing just that right now. 4 phones. 3 with one area code, and mine with another. I jumped onto my GF's family plan. We didn't get hassled when adding my phone to that plan. Plus now it's only $10 for the line and $30 for my data. They were already paying $30 for family unlimited texts. Before I paid $40 for 450min, $30 data and $20 unlimited texts. They just transferred over my existing service over to her plan. It was seamless. I didn't even have to reboot the phone.

I cut my bill in half thanks to her :). She is even kind enough to give me her upgrade in august so I can get the 32gb 3GS for $299.
 
natasha69 said:
hehe, my then girlfriend (now wife) had her # on her family plan with her family. then we got married, so i wanted to move her phone number to my plan. she had a different area code and wanted to keep the #.

long story short, it's ATT's issue and they can do it. you just need to either call Customer Service over and over until you get someone who is smart or ask for a supervisor because it is possible. one warning though, they will try and force your wife to sign a year contract even though she might already have a phone in her name. good luck. its ATT and it was at least an hour conversation when i got it done.
Click to expand...

I have a 347 and two 646 area codes in my family plan. One 646 was ported over the others are new numbers.
 
Yes you can.

But they have to be in the same coverage area.


I have a 302 Delaware number and my GF has a 443 Maryland number.

But they allowed it because were both in the Philadelphia metro coverage area.
 
Yeah, you can. My dad has a different one than the rest of us because he works in that area code so his colleagues can contact him cheaper.
 
Yes it is possible. It might require a fair bit of work to get it all done.

ATT has 2 number data bases. Regional and a national number. Billing wise there is no difference between the 2 of them. A single family plan can not have numbers from both data bases so trick is they just move all then numbers to a national number.

Worse thing that happens is glitches in the process of transferring the number to a national number. It is kind of messy but it does work. Worse case is it might take another phone call when the bill comes and they will sort it out very quickly.
 
iHosehead said:
Does anyone have two or more numbers with different area codes in their family plan. I'm trying to see if my wife and I can port our numbers to AT&T and then combine our new separate plans...into one family plan.

I'm getting the run around between AT&T and Apple. AT&T says that it is not possible to have two different area codes in one family plan...which must be BS because I have that with Tmobile right now. The apple store rep told me that there is a backwards way to make it work and the AT&T store rep said there is no way it would ever happen.

If someone could verify that they have two area codes in one family plan and how that came about...that would be awesome.
Click to expand...

my wife has a 720 number I have 303 and our son has 720 area codes and we're on a family plan. AT&T might not be cooperating cause they'll lose money if they consolidate your plans together. they'll let you split off of a family plan no problem, but combining makes your bill go down. I imagine they don't like that. it'd be nice if they just told you that instead of the b.s. although if it's from two different states or regions that might be another story
 
moved from so cal last year to phoenix. added my gf to my plan last week. had to change my 310 number to 480 (to switch from the LA to the Phoenix market) then they added her 623 number to my new 480 number.
 
surf2snow1 said:
moved from so cal last year to phoenix. added my gf to my plan last week. had to change my 310 number to 480 (to switch from the LA to the Phoenix market) then they added her 623 number to my new 480 number.
Click to expand...

so yeah it must be a market area code thing. maybe for legal regulatory reasons, or maybe cause if you're in their "family" you should be living with them? and there for should have a local number or something
 
We had a big issue with this. For us, the guy at the AT&T store could not combine a Maryland number with an upstate NY number. They told me it was not possible. Anyways, we all kept our NY phone numbers in the end, so no harm done. So, it seem it depends on who you talk to and how long you badger them. Wow, what a great business model.
 
Hope this helps

I just did this today. I have 2 phones with a Wisconsin Area Code (414), and I wanted to add my sister to my family plan (she lives in Colorado, and has a 303 area code.)

Steps:
1. My sister Called 1-800-331-0500 (AT&T customer service)
2. She Initiated a Transfer of Billing Responsibility to Me. (To get the lines all under one name)
3. I called National Business Office (AT&T NBO) at 888-444-4410 option 2, 5.
4. I asked to add my sister's number to my account.
5. In order to keep the numbers the same, she had to create a new account and add all three lines to a new account number as a 'Small business account'

There was an 18$ transfer fee, and the contract on the 3rd line was extended to 11 months. Now, all three phones have the numbers they started with, and all on the 'family plan' which is saving us $45 a month.





iHosehead said:
Does anyone have two or more numbers with different area codes in their family plan. I'm trying to see if my wife and I can port our numbers to AT&T and then combine our new separate plans...into one family plan.

I'm getting the run around between AT&T and Apple. AT&T says that it is not possible to have two different area codes in one family plan...which must be BS because I have that with Tmobile right now. The apple store rep told me that there is a backwards way to make it work and the AT&T store rep said there is no way it would ever happen.

If someone could verify that they have two area codes in one family plan and how that came about...that would be awesome.
Click to expand...
 
Advanced Family Plan!!

now the thing i just did was activate the A-list on our plan. it is a new feature for ATT for the iphone (it has been active for a while for other plans). it only appears when you have the 1400 plan or higher.

we were averaging 1600 min/month. by using the A-list - i removed my teleconference #, my mother in laws phone number, and 8 more numbers. in theory, if my spreadsheet is correct, we should drop to using only 400 minutes this month!!!!!
 
Pre-existing discounts?

Does anyone know if transferring all the numbers into a small business account retains or voids pre-existing corporate discounts? I work for a corporation that has a decent discount available, and it would suck to have give it up.
 
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