Complex Cell Phone Number Port Question...

[Breadfan]

Hoping we have some cell phone experts on here who can answer a complex number port scenario I'm having...

I currently have Sprint - a family plan that I am the head of the account. On that plan I have 3 others including me (4 total) - my grandmother, mom, and little sister. With promotions Sprint had, it made sense at the time to add them, plus I got a discounted monthly rate from my company. Been this way a few years.

I have no outstanding contractual obligations with Sprint as of May 2009.

My dad went out on his own, and got Verizon a few years back.

We had talked about consolidating all onto Verizon, b/c I needed better service where I was. That however has changed.

Now, my grandmother, mom and sister would like to go to Verizon onto a new family plan with my dad - to consolidate them onto Verizon.

Me? I am getting an iphone so I have to go to AT&T (individual plan).

So - my Sprint plan - 3 of us want to port to Verizon, one to AT&T.

If I port the 3 off to Verizon, it will just be me left on the account - meaning I won't have the required "2" lines for a family plan. That has me worried - what if Sprint places me on an individual plan and I end up with a new 1 or 2 year committment - then when I port, I'd be charged an early term fee.

Can what I envision be done without me getting screwed? What if we planned this so we ordered the phones online and activated all on the same day?

I'd call sprint, but honestly, I don't want to deal with them and all their reasons why I should stay. It's not in their interest to help me, and even though I've been with them for 8 years I somehow doubt they'll simply go "Well Yes Sir! We will help on this one!"

So, can I port numbers off this family plan to two different carriers without odd things happening or an ETF? Remember- my contractual committments with Sprint are met - I'm free to go with no ETF (early term fee).

I've been racking my brain on this, even google searched and no one appears to have attempted this one... :)

One thought I had was to take one person with me to AT&T which would keep my family plan active on sprint until we then port those 2. However, my mom and grandmother need Verizon due to signal issues - and they really do need those working in the house for emergency use, though presumably they could roam on AT&T with a basic phone...

Hopefully I'm overthinking this and I just do it, and it all works. I'm jsut too pessimistic to think that way!

[MM_BKK]

How much longer are you plan on staying with Sprint?

If your contractual commitment are met, why not just switch right away?

Have you verified that you'll have good coverage at your home and work with at&t ? It would suck to find out after you got the phone.
Every carriers always have a hole somewhere.

[babbage]

1. switch to a single basic plan on all phones
2. Then: port 3 other phones to verizon (granny, mom and sis - do a pull not a push)
3. port your number to AT&T (pull not push)
4. you are done - goodbye sprint

Since you are under no contractual obligation & you are done with the "family" plan. There is nothing to worry about.

[magindat]

Babbage, option 1 will get him roped into a contract.

Walk into an AT&T store. Port the number. It happens within 24 hours. Done.

Do the same with the other 3 at Verizon the same day.

In both cases FIND CORPORATE STORES - NOT RESELLERS!!!!!

Sprint WILL send you cancellation letters and charge fees even if you;re not obligated, Make sure your paperwork is in order.

Sprint tried time and time again to rob me. It took about 4 months to make them stop. Be prepared.

Good luck.
Rich

[Breadfan]

Thanks Rich.

I'm about as prepared as I can be - lol...I'm not looking forward to dealing with them. I doubt they'll let me go easy, 8 year customer and all, and 4 lines!

[dpotter]

Rich nailed it. You need to go to company owned retail stores for sure. Sprint should do what they can not to piss you off so maybe you will come back to them at some point.

[Breadfan]

Hopefully so. I can't really fault them for anything, except their service in my area is not superior to others and their phone selection not the greatest, but that's not entirely their fault since there's so many phone company / carrier deals going on...

I'll probably got to AT&T store and talk to them first, go from there. If they waive activation fees, I may just keep the family plan as is - that was in their house my dad would still have Verizon and they'd have AT&T so they'd be covered on signal if needed. I know for a fact though that Verizon has stronger signal in their house than AT&T, actually for that matter I've had all carriers in that house - ATT, Verizon, Sprint and TMobile... :) Sprint is the worst and also charges for roaming.