switching to Verizon

[jfrebel]

I'm planning to switch to Verizon upon the release of the iphone 5. (or whatever its called)

AT&T doesn't have LTE where I live and barely has it up anywhere.

now the thing is I want to keep my number.

I also want to know what kind of deal AT&T may offer me to stay.

If I get Verizon first, I keep my number. If I cancel first I can find out what kind of deal AT&T may offer to win me back. Who knows, they may offer me a deal to good to pass up. on top of which Verizon may demand some kind of deposit, AND I have to pay a cancelation fee with AT&T if I quit.

I never owned a cell phone until about 8 years ago. I got Cingular which changed its name to AT&T.

so I have no experience with swapping cell phone companies.

any advice and tips would be appreciated.

 

[GingerSnapsBack]

Switch to Verizon. Port your number. If you hate it, port back. It's your number so you can take it wherever you want to go.

I have Verizon. The ex has AT&T. My iPhone blows his out of the water as far as coverage goes. He has a lot of dead spots in the Corn Patch and I have yet to find one.

By the way, Verizon offers a wonderful referral program. If you want me to refer you, we each get a prepaid Visa card for I think $25. PM me if you want me to refer you.

 

[DaPhoneking]

Switch to Verizon. Port your number. If you hate it, port back. It's your number so you can take it wherever you want to go.

I have Verizon. The ex has AT&T. My iPhone blows his out of the water as far as coverage goes. He has a lot of dead spots in the Corn Patch and I have yet to find one.

By the way, Verizon offers a wonderful referral program. If you want me to refer you, we each get a prepaid Visa card for I think $25. PM me if you want me to refer you.

Why didn't you tell me this? I definitely would've used you as a referral.

 

[jfrebel]

thanks for the tips! As to the referral, I already have one from my father.

my main thought about switching is this.

Verizon may want a huge deposit, and may also refuse to offer me the iphone at a discount. I don't know how strict they are on credit for new customers. I have fair credit, but not perfect.

on top if this I'll have a cancelation fee from AT&T

Also AT&T may flat out give me an iphone 5 to keep me from leaving them. I know when you try to cancel with a company they transfer you to their cancelation department, where the reps have extra powers to hook you up with good deals to keep you from leaving. deals you won't get otherwise.

on the other hand AT&T may not do squat to keep me, only offering some tiny thing like 5 bucks a month off my bill or something. and will insist I pay full price for the iphone 5 because I'm only 11 months into my contract.

and Verizon may let me get with them for the discounted rate for the iphone 5, and have no deposit.

So depending on where the chips fall, switching to Verizon could be the best deal ever or the worst.

I'd like to know how to find all this out before I take any actions.

I already know what my monthly bill will be now and if I switch. I'd like to know what will the upfront costs be if I switch.

how can I find this out?

has anybody here experienced switching from aT&T? what happened?

 

[Eileen89]

has anybody here experienced switching from aT&T? what happened?

I switched from AT&T to Verizon for 2 weeks last winter. Porting my number out from AT&T to Verizon was quick and easy. Due to poor data speeds as well as coverage I ended up going right back to AT&T.... If you are in a contract with AT&T don't expect them to offer much if anything to keep you or get you back if you decide to go to Verizon and come back again. You would have more leverage if you are out of a contract right now with AT&T instead of being in one.... Just my 2?.

 

[DaPhoneking]

thanks for the tips! As to the referral, I already have one from my father.

my main thought about switching is this.

Verizon may want a huge deposit, and may also refuse to offer me the iphone at a discount. I don't know how strict they are on credit for new customers. I have fair credit, but not perfect.

on top if this I'll have a cancelation fee from AT&T

Also AT&T may flat out give me an iphone 5 to keep me from leaving them. I know when you try to cancel with a company they transfer you to their cancelation department, where the reps have extra powers to hook you up with good deals to keep you from leaving. deals you won't get otherwise.

on the other hand AT&T may not do squat to keep me, only offering some tiny thing like 5 bucks a month off my bill or something. and will insist I pay full price for the iphone 5 because I'm only 11 months into my contract.

and Verizon may let me get with them for the discounted rate for the iphone 5, and have no deposit.

So depending on where the chips fall, switching to Verizon could be the best deal ever or the worst.

I'd like to know how to find all this out before I take any actions.

I already know what my monthly bill will be now and if I switch. I'd like to know what will the upfront costs be if I switch.

how can I find this out?

has anybody here experienced switching from aT&T? what happened?

They *may* do something to keep you, but I guarantee they wont give you a new iPhone flat out. I had T-Mobile before and switched to Verizon for the iP4 and unlimited data, before they gotten rid of it. If you upgraded recently your termination fee may be pretty low since AT&T prorates it. You might want to check on that.

 

[fmflex]

Safe bet AT&T won't do anything other then remind you of how much your cancellation fee will be. Call Verizon customer service (instead of walking into a store, phone customer service has more power) have them pull credit and you'll know if you will have a deposit. Then tell them that you want to switch from AT&T but you have a cancelation fee that you would like them to cover. If the rep plays dumb ask for a supervisor. Tell them that you know they cover fees. They will put you on hold for a few minutes then come back and tell you that's fine. They just covered 3 cancellation fees for my parents. It's not advertised, not even to their reps, but their internal policy ok's this for supervisors. If you get some shmuck, hang up, call back and talk to someone else. Don't expect any price breaks on iPhones. Won't happen. Best they can do is the new account sign up cost.


Sent from my iPhone -Tapatalk

 

[GingerSnapsBack]

Safe bet AT&T won't do anything other then remind you of how much your cancellation fee will be. Call Verizon customer service (instead of walking into a store, phone customer service has more power) have them pull credit and you'll know if you will have a deposit.

This. Call them first. Explain that you're thinking on leaving AT&T and find out what the deposit will be and how much the iPhone will be with Verizon.

There will be a $30 connection fee I think for all new lines, so no sweet talking your way around that.

AT&T may have a customer relations department who may be able to give you a discount if you stay. I don't know. When I complained to Sprint about my endless string of crappy BlackBerry phones, they did everything in their power to make me stay with the sole exception of a new phone. So I left.

 

[jfrebel]

Wow! the pay my cancelation fee thing is a great tip. I'll be 11 months in, when I make the switch.

assuming I do. Does anybody know if Verizon reps are high pressure sales raps on commission?

I hate dealing with high pressure sales people. I feel for them though. for 3 hellish years of my life I was one.

 

[GingerSnapsBack]

Wow! the pay my cancelation fee thing is a great tip. I'll be 11 months in, when I make the switch.

assuming I do. Does anybody know if Verizon reps are high pressure sales raps on commission?

I hate dealing with high pressure sales people. I feel for them though. for 3 hellish years of my life I was one.

The ones I've dealt with actually listened to me and gave me what I want rather than what's written on a marker board in a back room. I wasn't pressured in any way when I signed up for Verizon nor when I went to a brick and mortar store to dump my Storm2 for an iPhone. They listened to my situation and offered help based on what I wanted, not what they were told to sell by a district manager.

Even the times I've called the Vzw 800 #, it's always been pleasant.

Of course, every phone CSR and store is different.

 

[DaPhoneking]

Safe bet AT&T won't do anything other then remind you of how much your cancellation fee will be. Call Verizon customer service (instead of walking into a store, phone customer service has more power) have them pull credit and you'll know if you will have a deposit. Then tell them that you want to switch from AT&T but you have a cancelation fee that you would like them to cover. If the rep plays dumb ask for a supervisor. Tell them that you know they cover fees. They will put you on hold for a few minutes then come back and tell you that's fine. They just covered 3 cancellation fees for my parents. It's not advertised, not even to their reps, but their internal policy ok's this for supervisors. If you get some shmuck, hang up, call back and talk to someone else. Don't expect any price breaks on iPhones. Won't happen. Best they can do is the new account sign up cost.


Sent from my iPhone -Tapatalk

Seriously? I didn't know Verizon could've done that.

 

[kch50428]

Seriously? I didn't know Verizon could've done that.

It's extremely discretionary.

 

[fmflex]

They did it for my wife (about 4 years ago), for me (about 3 years ago) & for 3 lines for my parents (a couple of months ago). The phone rep may say no or that they don't do it, insist that you know that they do and have them either check with management or let you talk to the supervisor. They will put you on hold, then come back and do it. You will have to fax in your last bill that shows the cancellation charges and they will give that back to you in form of account credits. Make sure you know how much it will be before you call.


Sent from my iPhone -Tapatalk

 

[cardfan]

They did it for my wife (about 4 years ago), for me (about 3 years ago) & for 3 lines for my parents (a couple of months ago). The phone rep may say no or that they don't do it, insist that you know that they do and have them either check with management or let you talk to the supervisor. They will put you on hold, then come back and do it. You will have to fax in your last bill that shows the cancellation charges and they will give that back to you in form of account credits. Make sure you know how much it will be before you call.


Sent from my iPhone -Tapatalk

Are you talking about after purchasing a new phone and line? Beforehand, you won't have an account to get credited if you're coming from AT&T.

 

[DoubleM]

Sorry to thread jack, but my question was along the same lines as the OP. I wanna switch as well, but how does it all work with pre-ordering? Do I just pre-order a Verizon iPhone 5 from Apple's site, and then when I activate it, will I have an option to swap my AT&T number to it?

Thanks!

 

[DaPhoneking]

Sorry to thread jack, but my question was along the same lines as the OP. I wanna switch as well, but how does it all work with pre-ordering? Do I just pre-order a Verizon iPhone 5 from Apple's site, and then when I activate it, will I have an option to swap my AT&T number to it?

Thanks!

That might work. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't since you can activate new service on Apple's system itself.

 

[GingerSnapsBack]

Sorry to thread jack, but my question was along the same lines as the OP. I wanna switch as well, but how does it all work with pre-ordering? Do I just pre-order a Verizon iPhone 5 from Apple's site, and then when I activate it, will I have an option to swap my AT&T number to it?

Thanks!

Or you can preorder through Verizon and select the option that you want to port your number over from AT&T.

 

[DoubleM]

Or you can preorder through Verizon and select the option that you want to port your number over from AT&T.

Ok thanks, I'm glad they have that option. So when activating the phone through iTunes I wouldn't have that same option?

 

[mab4285]

Ok thanks, I'm glad they have that option. So when activating the phone through iTunes I wouldn't have that same option?

Since you don't actually activate the phone on the cell network with iTunes anymore like you did with the original iPhone, no.

 

[GingerSnapsBack]

Ok thanks, I'm glad they have that option. So when activating the phone through iTunes I wouldn't have that same option?

I'm not sure but I wouldn't think so. I think in iTunes, you have the option to set up the iPhone as a new one or as an iPhone you've had before. The first option would be if you've never had an iPhone and the second being if you've previously had an iPhone and would like all your apps and settings transferred over to the new one.

I called Verizon when I ported my number over. Took all of ten minutes. You will need your AT&T account number when you call. I ported over from Sprint and had to give the Verizon rep my Sprint account # before the transfer would go through.

Oh, and if you want me to refer you, let me know. Verizon has a referral program and we'd both make money. You'd need to PM me your phone number after you sign up and before any discounts were applied.