Going on my own with an iPhone...what's the process I should follow?

[hansvon]

Right now I am a student in college under my family's share plan with Verizon. It is upgrade time for my phone, and my family's requested that I start paying for a plan on my own. So what is the process that I should follow? Do I cancel my service with Verizon and then buy an iPhone or vice versa? Should I do it from an Apple Store, ATT store, or online Apple.com? I would like to keep my old number as well.

Thanks!

 

[Consultant]

To transfer a number it's probably the easiest to do it at AT&T store.

Go to a corporate AT&T store (not a kiosk), they are better trained.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I am going to assume that you are on your parents family plan which means the account is in their name.

Go to an AT&T store and they will take care of canceling your verizon account and porting the number over to AT&T. Just you will need to have the account number and the primary account holder needs to be available to be called to give permission for your number to leave their account and go under your name. It honestly would be easiest if the primary account hold went with you to the store.

 

[angemon89]

Do not cancel your verizon service first. You need to go into an AT&T (Corporate store like the above poster said) and have your number ported. The number port will automatically cancel the verizon service for you. Remember, if your number is still under contract with verizon then you will be charged an ETF.

 

[hansvon]

Do not cancel your verizon service first. You need to go into an AT&T (Corporate store like the above poster said) and have your number ported. The number port will automatically cancel the verizon service for you. Remember, if your number is still under contract with verizon then you will be charged an ETF.

The family share plan expires within the next month of so. My sister (the primary account holder) is essentially letting me and my mom off the plan because of financial complications and going to an account on her own (or, I presume, to something where she can share with her new husband). Does the ETF still apply?

So here's where it gets complicated. My old verizon phone broke several weeks ago, so I finally got around yesterday to getting to the Verizon store to buy me a new one. And, what luck, it's been two years since the last contract upgrade or whatever, so I was eligible for a new phone at upgrade price. I bought myself an EnV Touch without much discussion from my sister, only to discover afterwards that by buying the Touch I essentially and unkowingly renewed her contract for another two years. It was at this point that she informed me of her request that I either keep the phone and get on my own plan, or return the phone and do what I want (switch to AT&T, whatever). I have 30 days to return the phone and get a refund and, apparently, negate the "contract re-initiation" that I did, so I need to know if I have to do all that first, or if I should just go straight to the ATT store?

Yes, it's a tangled web I've woven. But it's all worth it if I can get the iPhone I've waited for so long to get at the end.

 

[farmermac]

Yup go to AT&T and sign up for your own plan. Return the phone afterwards. If you don't care about your number, return phone first and make sure you are off the hook before signing new plan

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I am not sure how verizon contracts work as it has been years since I dealt with them. I know how AT&T work and am going to assume it is similar.

My parents have a family plan with 5 lines. Now each of the lines on the family plan are under different time tables for when they can be canceled with no ETF and under completely different upgrade cycles because of when the lines were added and upgraded over the years. AT&T has no problem splitting a number out of a family plan on to its own completely separated contract and under someone else name. Nor do they have a problem taking an individual account and rolling it into another family plan.

It is a fun mess to deal with. As for you leaving Verizon and going to AT&T you need to ask yourself a lot of important question.
First how is the coverage in your area with AT&T vs Verizon?
2. What are your friends and family on because those unlimited M2M minutes are great. For me personally I am on AT&T and the M2M will keep me on it as I have 1600-2000 minutes a month on the Unlimited M2m. My girl friend is even higher. Joys of long distance relationships. Either way most of my friends and family are all on AT&T

 

[2056]

i would give verizon a call while your sister is available and do an assumption of liability. this basically just gives you your own plan/under your own name/doesnt change your contract. that way you can decide what you want to do within those 30 days and you're not constantly bugging your sister. it just takes a few minutes.
when i ported my number i had to call so many times to at&t and it was kind of a mess, i cant imagine doing this while not being the primary.

at&t service ended up being horrible in my area despite what the coverage maps displayed. so i had to port my number again..back to big red.

 

[hansvon]

Yup go to AT&T and sign up for your own plan. Return the phone afterwards. If you don't care about your number, return phone first and make sure you are off the hook before signing new plan

OK, so if I were to go to ATT store first, and they go through the motions of canceling my Verizon subscription, won't I be charged an ETF since I'm essentially at the beginning of a 2-year cycle having just bought a new phone?