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different area codes on family plan?

marcre

marcre

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 15, 2008
230
0
East coast
Hello all, I was wondering if anyone could help me out…

I want to add my parents to my plan as they want iPhones, and this will make it cheaper for us.

The issue is, we live in different states. Can you have different area codes on a family plan? Some have told me yes, others have told me no. Even AT&T has given me conflicting info.

Thanks for the help.

Marc
 
The answer is Yes you can.

I have my own plan, but my mom has added my grandma to her Family Plan and their have been no issues up to this point, my Mom and Grandma live 90+ miles apart from each other.
 
It shouldn't be an issue. You would just have them added to your family plan and the phones shipped to them.
 
AT&T wouldn't let me do it.

As a result I lived in California with an Illinois area code for a couple years so my father-in-law could keep his local number back home.
 
AT&T wouldn't let me do it several years ago when my son was going to college in another state. Sprint doesn't seem to have a problem with it according to some of my friends.
 
See, that's crazy. I wonder why it can't be done.

I get a different answer ever time I call AT&T.

Maybe I'll switch my number, but I'd rather not.
 
I just got my first iPhone when the 4S was released. We dropped Sprint and joined AT&T. Here are the people on the plan:

My mom: in Illinois
My brother: in Iowa
Me: in Iowa

My brother and I attend college at the University of Iowa while my mom is back at home in IL. We WERE NOT able to get different area codes. We were told that where ever the account is opened (in my case my mom opened it in IL) that is where all the area codes will be associated with. The guy at AT&T said there is a "complicated" way to get your own area code but you would need to open the account as a "business" account.

I was very curious about this situation as well and talked to a handful of different people in the AT&T store and on the phone. All of them but one said no while the other said I would need to have a business account.

This is just my experience with AT&T and area codes
 
On Sprint, I have 2 different area codes on my plan, because my son loves in MD and I live in WA.
 
Thanks for all the great info people.

Looks like I switch my area code, or my parents get their own plan.
 
It can be done. Almost a year ago, my best friend who lives in Chicago left Sprint to get the iPhone on AT&T and we were able to easily migrate his number (312 area code, Chicago) with my account, which is Orlando-based. The whole thing was handled in about 15 minutes over the phone.
 
Caliber26 said:
It can be done. Almost a year ago, my best friend who lives in Chicago left Sprint to get the iPhone on AT&T and we were able to easily migrate his number (312 area code, Chicago) with my account, which is Orlando-based. The whole thing was handled in about 15 minutes over the phone.
Click to expand...

See, that's crazy. Because so many people say you can't and some say you can. I had an AT&T rep say no earlier, while last week another said yes.
 
My wife and I have 2 different area codes. Mine's a 727 and her's is a 407 so her mother can call her for free from home. Both t-mobile, and now Verizon, had no issues with it.
 
Not sure which network you are on but on Verizon I have 3 different area codes within the same family plan, never was told I couldn't do that. Had 2 different area codes on T-Mobile family plan as well.
 
marcre said:
Even AT&T has given me conflicting info.
Click to expand...

Obscurelight said:
Not sure which network you are on but ...
Click to expand...

It was mentioned in the OP.

Jordan921 said:
Nowadays does it matter what the area code is? Most plans offer free long distance don't they?
Click to expand...

Its not about calling long distance, its about being on the same account.

The OP wants to add his parents to his plan, making it a family plan with shared minutes, but AT&T won't allow it because his parents are located in a different zip code.
 
marcre said:
Hello all, I was wondering if anyone could help me out…

I want to add my parents to my plan as they want iPhones, and this will make it cheaper for us.

The issue is, we live in different states. Can you have different area codes on a family plan? Some have told me yes, others have told me no. Even AT&T has given me conflicting info.

Thanks for the help.

Marc
Click to expand...

as an AT&T employee let me shed some light on this!

AT&T has the United States broken down into "markets" for example kentucky/tennessee is one market (where I live and work)...there are some markets for a broad area IE "Gulf States" which covers al, ms, la, and parts of florida...then certain states IE Texas are so large they have more than one market "Dallas and Austin"...you can not cross market on AT&T...so as long as you fall under the same "market" you can have different area codes...like a Nashville, TN number and Lexington, KY number can be on the same account...but if they are not in the same market...like a Florida number and a Nashville number this does not work!

hope this helps

(I have no idea why AT&T decided to do this BTW)
 
shelbymayer said:
as an AT&T employee let me shed some light on this!

AT&T has the United States broken down into "markets" for example kentucky/tennessee is one market (where I live and work)...there are some markets for a broad area IE "Gulf States" which covers al, ms, la, and parts of florida...then certain states IE Texas are so large they have more than one market "Dallas and Austin"...you can not cross market on AT&T...so as long as you fall under the same "market" you can have different area codes...like a Nashville, TN number and Lexington, KY number can be on the same account...but if they are not in the same market...like a Florida number and a Nashville number this does not work!

hope this helps

(I have no idea why AT&T decided to do this BTW)
Click to expand...

If you port over your number you can do it from any market, i just did it this week (At&t). I have a NY number, AZ, and CO all on the same plan. I think the number must be ported over though. i should say its possible, might depend on who you get to help you on the At&t customer service end.
 
NicoleRichie said:
If you port over your number you can do it from any market, i just did it this week (At&t). I have a NY number, AZ, and CO all on the same plan. I think the number must be ported over though. i should say its possible, might depend on who you get to help you on the At&t customer service end.
Click to expand...

Is your account a business account by chance? That is the only way to "Cross Market" on AT&T...again why i'm not sure!

If not you are the first person (Porting or not) I've ever heard of doing this...and i've worked here for almost 2 years :)
 
Jordan921 said:
Nowadays does it matter what the area code is? Most plans offer free long distance don't they?
Click to expand...

My parents don't want to lose their 716 area code. They don't want to have all of their friends having to dial it. Wouldn't long distance apply to land lines?

I could switch to the 716 area code, but I really don't want to do that either. No real reason.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

AT&T has told me no on numerous occasions. One Florida number two Ohio numbers. Switched to sprint with no problems.
 
shelbymayer said:
Is your account a business account by chance? That is the only way to "Cross Market" on AT&T...again why i'm not sure!

If not you are the first person (Porting or not) I've ever heard of doing this...and i've worked here for almost 2 years :)
Click to expand...

Funny you mention the business account. It was not a business account, but they said they wanted to change my account to a business account because I would save $, they also said that it would allow me some ridiculous amount of lines on the account as well. At the time porting of the numbers we had five lines on the family plan. I am sure this had something to do with it now that you mention it.
 
Have your parents open up a cell phone account with any other carrier. Find the cheapest no-contract plan, maybe even a prepaid phone. Then add them to your AT&T family plan and have the cell number transferred from the old account, which you will then cancel.
 
Yeah, AT&T is the only carrier of the big four where this seems to uneccesarily complicated/impossible.

I grew tired of even caring.
 
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