Port # to Pay As You Go phone plan prior to iPhone?

[MBHockey]

My brother has a contract with Verizon that ends June 22nd. He wants to get an iPhone but knows he only has 30 days to get his number ported to AT&T before he loses it. He's probably going to go a few weeks after iPhone 3G is released to get it so there's little hassle getting in and out of the store.

My question is, can you port a Verizon number to an AT&T pay as you go plan? And if so, how do they work? Anyone have experience with them? How do you pre-pay for SMS or MMS, for example? How cheap are the pay as you go phones?

Can he then easily migrate to the iPhone 3G with a normal 2 year contract from AT&T at the $199 price tag?

Is this the best idea or is there a better route to go?

 

[cyclingplatypus]

He'd be better off going in and porting his number to an account that comes with a free phone and that way he'll be able to get everything ported over and good to go before 3G and if he has to extend the contract for some reason by upgrading to the 3G it would only be a few days. He'll be able to buy the 3G at the same price. I'd suggest staying away from trying to port it to a goPhone account and then porting that to a regular account, path of least resistance (i.e. least amount of time with CSR's) is the best.

 

[crazzyeddie]

Why can't he just stay with Verizon for that extra month outside of his contract?

 

[MBHockey]

I'll have him look into these possibilities. I just know we're both tired of dealing with phone companies

 

[crazzyeddie]

I would be careful about having him sign up for a new plan right before he plans to get an iPhone...

AT&T says that only "qualified" customers will be able to upgrade to the iPhone for the $199/$299 price, and one of the qualifiers might be how recently you got another subsidized phone...

This worked fine for the first iPhone because you were paying full price for the phone, but now that AT&T is subsidizing the price it might be different.

 

[MBHockey]

Once more details emerge about the iPhone plan I'll just call up AT&T and ask them what the easiest route is.

Thanks