Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

End contract but maintain phone number?

Tronic

Tronic

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2009
353
60
My AT&T contract says that I am eligible for an upgrade the middle of May, I will be upgrading to the 4G when it comes out. My question is whether or not that means I can cancel my contract then? The reason I ask is that I will be living in Central America from late May to July and would prefer to be down there and not have to pay for the month or worry about roaming charges. Either way, I'll just pull the Sim and leave it here and pick up one there. If I can cancel my account in May and resign in July will I be able to keep my number or will I be issued a new one?
 
No.
If you can upgrade your phone in May then it probably means you can cancell and be out of contract in November.
They allow you to update your phone and resign a new contract 18 months into your 24month contract. But be 100% sure and give AT&T a call to find out the exact date your contract ends.
And yes, once you cancell your line your phone number is gone.
 
I think the only way to maintain your number is to continue with AT&T or port your number to another carrier. If you just up and cancel your contract, not only would you be hit with an ETF, but you lose your number. You could just stick your SIM card into a regular phone and drop all the features to the bare minimum you can have for said phone, that will save you a bunch over what it would cost to keep your iPhone plan for the month.

Also, unless your phone is jailbroken, I don't think it will work anywhere except the US. Sticking in a local SIM from wherever you're going won't work.
 
Well if you contract is truly up you might be able to freeze the account. That means you pay like at small monthly fee and it holds your number but it can not be used for anything.
 
If you end your business relationship with AT&T you'll lose your number. If your contract ends, you can continue, paying the same amount per month and then renew or transfer to a new carrier and bring your number.

Also as the other poster mentioned, you can also freeze your account. The only time you lose your number is when you leave ATT and not transfer the number to a new carrier beforehand.
 
Ok well I'll see if i'm eligible for a freeze, if not I'll just drop my plan down to a bare minimum and pick up a Sim in guatemala.
 
Tronic said:
Ok well I'll see if i'm eligible for a freeze, if not I'll just drop my plan down to a bare minimum and pick up a Sim in guatemala.
Click to expand...

Make sure you throw your SIM into a regular phone, or else they wont let you remove the data plan.

I'm all but 100% sure that you can't get a local SIM to work unless your phone is unlocked, as its locked to AT&T in the US.*
 
Can't you port your number over to a Pay As You Go plan from At&t and then just let it sit with some numbers on it. Then port it back?
 
Applejuiced said:
Yes, when his contract is up.
Click to expand...

Well he should be able to port it if he cancels too. He would just have to pay an ETF, which may not be too much anymore. If he can't ride out the rest of the contract and handle this over seas it may be cheaper to just pay the ETF and get on a PAYG phone so you don't have to pay any monthly fees.
 
Yeah I can unlock my phone at any time, just haven't had a reason to until now. Something else I will need to consider is the fact that I will be living in Europe from October to January so I'd hate to throw away $300 or whatever while I'm gone. I know I should just wait until I get back then to resign but I'm ready for the 4G now.

I need to ask at a store, but I imagine I'll probably swap my sim into an old phone at the end of May and have AT&T switch me down to the bare minimum, then come back in July and resign my contract with a 4G and then swap sims again in October to my old phone and do the bare minimum until coming back in January.
 
Call AT&T a week or so before you leave, tell them you'll be out of the country and ask for a reduced rate suspension. They may try to get you to activate roaming or whatever, just persist until they give you the reduced rate suspend. They can set it up to go into effect when you leave the country, it will suspend all service to your phone and while the suspension is active that line will only be charged a flat $9.99 per month. When you get back, call and have it reactivated.

Edit: Having read the last post now, I'd save the RRST for the euro trip this fall. You can only use it once within a 12 month period.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back