# When to port a cell phone number?



## thelettuceman (Nov 23, 2010)

My cell phone contract with Verizon expires July 15, 2013. I want to sign up with republicwireless.com. When should I sign up with the new cell phone provider? When should I contact Verizon and tell them to "give up" the number?

By the way >>> www.republicwireless.com has unlimited cell phone minutes, text and internet for $20 / month. Anyone have experience with them?

Thanx for all of your help >>> Rick


----------



## THEGOLDPRO (Jun 18, 2006)

Sounds hoaky to me.


----------



## BigLou80 (Feb 25, 2008)

THEGOLDPRO;1627466 said:


> Sounds hoaky to me.


Naw, I'm sure it works great on both of their cell sites


----------



## tuney443 (Jun 25, 2006)

thelettuceman;1627459 said:


> My cell phone contract with Verizon expires July 15, 2013. I want to sign up with republicwireless.com. When should I sign up with the new cell phone provider? When should I contact Verizon and tell them to "give up" the number?
> 
> By the way >>> www.republicwireless.com has unlimited cell phone minutes, text and internet for $20 / month. Anyone have experience with them?
> 
> Thanx for all of your help >>> Rick


The number is yours so just ask Verizon the procedure.It should be painless but I'd be very wary of a complete unknown cell provider.


----------



## Grassman09 (Mar 18, 2009)

THEGOLDPRO;1627466 said:


> Sounds hoaky to me.


Yea we have some companies like that here in Canada. Promise you the moon and stars. All you get is hell and its heat. lol

We only have 3 major cell phone providers here and the other cell phone cos are either a spin off of the major 3 or one of the very few that have managed to stay alive to compete with the big 3. They have to rent the service off of one of the big 3 and are at there mercy. the big 3 have been known to intentionally drop calls and make sure you get crummy service from the small guy.

Once you go outside the City you have no service also. You guys have it great as far as cell phone providers is concerned in the USA. We get hoses. We just have great beer and maple syrup ohh and softwood lumber.


----------



## rebelplow (Jan 30, 2008)

I had a huge fight with Verizon about this exact thing about 7 months ago when I left them. Just make sure that your contract end date, and your monthly bill ending date are the same date. 

For Example: If you decide to port your number 2 days before your contract is up, and for some reason the port gets slowed down or hits a snag and the port doesn't happen until 5 minutes into your next billing cycle, you will be billed for that whole month. Even though your phone number is now in service with another carrier! And... they do NOT pro-rate. If you only use Verizon for those 5 minutes into your monthly billing cycle before your port occurs you will be responsible for that whole month. 

It gets even more tricky when you have multiple lines, and 1 of them hits a snag while the others go through and you end up in the next billing cycle. I spent 4 hours straight on the phone with Verizon, clogging up their customer service people until I finally got them to agree to send me a check for the $280 worth of service that I didn't / couldn't use because my numbers were already on another network. 

You also have another tricky situation where you want to port right when your contract ends. So the question is... do you port it 2,3,4 days before the contract ends? And if it goes through right away, then get socked with a contract breaking penalty for leaving early?


----------



## Grassman09 (Mar 18, 2009)

rebelplow;1627526 said:


> I had a huge fight with Verizon about this exact thing about 7 months ago when I left them. Just make sure that your contract end date, and your monthly bill ending date are the same date.
> 
> For Example: If you decide to port your number 2 days before your contract is up, and for some reason the port gets slowed down or hits a snag and the port doesn't happen until 5 minutes into your next billing cycle, you will be billed for that whole month. Even though your phone number is now in service with another carrier! And... they do NOT pro-rate. If you only use Verizon for those 5 minutes into your monthly billing cycle before your port occurs you will be responsible for that whole month.
> 
> ...


They have us by the short and curlies and they know it. I want to port my residential line to a VoIP service. Wish me luck.


----------



## GVL LLC (Feb 24, 2013)

Lettuceman go with straight talk wireless its unlimited everything for 45.00 a month and porting your number in is a breeze. They use AT&T network and the coverage area is awesome. I would be leery of such a new startup like republic. I like straight talk because you know exactly what your cost is every month without hidden fees that pop out of the blue. best move I ever did was leave verizon.


----------



## Burkartsplow (Nov 1, 2007)

Once your contract is up it will go month to month and when you switch carriers they will get ahold of Verizon and cancel your service that day and you will be prorated by Verizon for what you used that month so far. No opt out fees or anything. I did it a few months ago when I switched from sprint to Verizon. My wife switched from her parents family an to mine and he is with Verizon and his was prorated for that month since she switched in the middle. Verizon does prorate.


----------



## rebelplow (Jan 30, 2008)

Burkartsplow;1627652 said:


> Once your contract is up it will go month to month and when you switch carriers they will get ahold of Verizon and cancel your service that day and you will be prorated by Verizon for what you used that month so far. No opt out fees or anything. I did it a few months ago when I switched from sprint to Verizon. My wife switched from her parents family an to mine and he is with Verizon and his was prorated for that month since she switched in the middle. Verizon does prorate.


I was NOT in a contract with Verizon and was going month to month when I ported out. So it's a crapshoot. In your experience they DID prorate, but in my experience they DID NOT prorate. I guess you have a 50/50 chance!


----------



## thelettuceman (Nov 23, 2010)

Burkartsplow;1627652 said:


> Once your contract is up it will go month to month and when you switch carriers they will get ahold of Verizon and cancel your service that day and you will be prorated by Verizon for what you used that month so far. No opt out fees or anything. I did it a few months ago when I switched from sprint to Verizon. My wife switched from her parents family an to mine and he is with Verizon and his was prorated for that month since she switched in the middle. Verizon does prorate.


I will try this method out when the time comes. After that, I will post to this thread and let everyone knows what happened. Thank everyone for their advice.


----------



## rebelplow (Jan 30, 2008)

GVL LLC;1627639 said:


> Lettuceman go with straight talk wireless its unlimited everything for 45.00 a month and porting your number in is a breeze. They use AT&T network and the coverage area is awesome. I would be leery of such a new startup like republic. I like straight talk because you know exactly what your cost is every month without hidden fees that pop out of the blue. best move I ever did was leave verizon.


I agree with GVL on going with Straight Talk. I save $100 a month, with only 2 lines. I've had zero problems.

I did A LOT of research on Straight Talk before I ported away from Verizon. I live in a valley, and the only cell service that gets a powerful and reliable signal here is Verizon. I had been hearing and reading lots of false things about Straight Talk and the towers that they use. Some would say they use At&t, some would say Tmobile towers, etc...

The truth is, Straight Talk uses Tmobile, Verizon, At&t, and Sprint towers. Whatever phone you buy, dictates what towers you will use. It says on the lower left corner of the phone box, and also on the coverage map. I bought a CDMA-V phone. So it uses Verizon Towers. 
If you buy a:
GSM-A = At&t
CDMA-V = Verizon
GSM-T = Tmobile
CDMA-S = Sprint


----------



## thelettuceman (Nov 23, 2010)

rebelplow: I might go with straight talk. If you prepay for a year, they give you a month for free. In my opinion, Verizon has the best cell phone coverage. They also have a gun to my head.


----------



## salopez (Apr 11, 2004)

lettuceman. I worked at verizon corp for years. pm me. lets get some coffee. i will see if i can help. still have friends there.


----------



## thelettuceman (Nov 23, 2010)

salopez >>> PM sent


----------

