help with opening new AT&T account (re: FAN, porting)

[vega07]

hello. just got back to the states and went to the apple store today to check out the iphone. i love both the white and the black. I'm going to have a hard time deciding which to buy tomorrow morning. the south coast plaza apple store in costa mesa had around 20-25 people waiting in line...

well anyways, I am transferring from t-mo to at&t and have a couple of questions. my sister will be opening the account for me because I have no credit. is it possible to use my FAN discount with the account under her name? if yes, what is the process?

secondly, what is the porting number process from t-mo to at&t? I searched the forums but all the posts were regarding verizon to at&t.

thanks for you help!

 

[shinenjk]

is it possible to use my FAN discount with the account under her name? if yes, what is the process?

FAN discount comes with a corporate premier account. If your sister's in college or works for some big company, there's a very good chance you can upgrade your account to a premier account using your sister's email address. As soon as you upgrade it (which can be done all via online - sorry I don't have the link, you can forum search it or somebody nice might post it here for you in this thread) you get the FAN discount applied. So yes, you can do it with the account under your sister's name as long as SHE qualifies for it.

secondly, what is the porting number process from t-mo to at&t? I searched the forums but all the posts were regarding verizon to at&t.

When you are at the Apple Store purchasing your iPhone, they will ask you if you want to port your number. They will simply input your T-mobile number along with the last 4 social security digits in your T-mobile account (have the account holder's name & account # handy also). If that goes through, your number will be automatically ported and your account will get canceled with T-mobile. If the porting doesn't work, you can just take the random # they assign you and head over to the AT&T store to fix the problem. This happened to me because my number is an out-of-state number so they couldn't port it to me at the Apple Store.

And once you get the # ported, call T-mobile to pay your last bill and you are done w/ them. Also, there is a way to cancel with T-mobile right now w/ out incurring the early termination fee but it's too long to talk about it here so do a forum search and it should show up. Good luck.

 

[vega07]

thanks for the response.

so I think you're saying that I cannot use my student FAN discount under my sister's account? she works for western digital but she doesn't have an email account with them...

I am currently in a family plan with t-mo and I am the only one switching to at&t. the porting process you told me still applies, yes?

 

[shinenjk]

thanks for the response.

so I think you're saying that I cannot use my student FAN discount under my sister's account? she works for western digital but she doesn't have an email account with them...

I am currently in a family plan with t-mo and I am the only one switching to at&t. the porting process you told me still applies, yes?

Even if you use YOUR email, it should work. Because the whole process of qualifying & registering is done online (again find the link), they don't really check to see who owns the email address. Only thing you have to do is to input your email, hit register (if your school qualifies) and they will send you a confirmation email and you click on the link to finish. You can check to see if it worked by logging into your AT&T wireless account - you should see a FAN# at the top right.

As far as your number being a part of the family plan goes - I'm pretty sure it's the same. Even though your # is in the family plan, it's still considered a separate line. You will still have to pay the ETF fee though unless you get that waived by wiggling out of it (forum search).

EDIT: I suggest you get the number ported first, then setup your AT&T wireless account online, and then try to get that FAN discount added.

 

[vega07]

what?

they're gonna charge me an etf? no way. there are four lines in my family plan...

 

[shinenjk]

what?

they're gonna charge me an etf? no way. there are four lines in my family plan...

I don't think it matters, it's considered a separate line. If your entire family canceled, it'd be $200 x 4 (your sis, mom, dad and you).

 

[vega07]

so do I cancel the contract first? and then buy the iphone? or can I just get the iphone now...cancel, and then port later?

 

[vega07]

so I have been researching the get out of contract without etf plan and i still have one more question.

I hear the last day to cancel without etf is August 7...am I screwed?