Child Item

Site Totals

61514 Questions Answered 271 Categories

Will I be charged an early termination fee if I transfer my number to a new account early?

Our contract will be up at the end of next month. We want to switch our numbers to our new carrier and continue to pay the remainder of our Verizon contract without cancelling it. The number has to be active in order for the new carrier to switch it over. So we are hoping to switch it over and just leave our Verizon account dormant until our contract expires so we don't get hit with an early termination fee.

Most of our friends and family are switching off of Verizon as their contracts expire, and several of them have had horror stories about getting hit with charges. How do we do this correctly without incurring additional charges? What is the proper procedure?

Comments

rcschnoor

If you port your number out, your Verizon accounts will automatically be closed. If your contract has not yet been completed when the port takes place, you will be hit with an ETF.

Verizon does not have a method in place where you can port your numbers and keep your account "dormant" yet active.

B0h1c4

That's unfortunate.... So even if I plan to pay for the remainder of my Verizon contract without using it, I will still get an ETF? I don't understand why that would happen?

Follow up question... if I stay with Verizon beyond my contract and don't renew, can I THEN have my number ported over to a new carrier without penalty? Or will my service be cut off the day after my contract is up?

rcschnoor

Nothing will happen on the day your contract is up. You will continue on as a Verizon customer UNTIL you take action to change that. Your plan will not change, the amount you are billed will not change, nothing will change except that you will no longer be under contract.

If you initiate a port after your contract is up, whether it is 1 day, 2 weeks or 6 months, you will incur no ETF and will only be liable for the monthly billing charge for your current billing cycle AND any overages if there are any. Nothing more.

If you are near your contract end date, there is no benefit from porting out before the actual contract end date, only penalties.

Furthermore, it is unlikely your contract end date coincides with your billing date. For example, my contract end date is 12/4/2014 and my billing cycle ends on the 15th of the month. If I cancel/port my line on 12/5/2014 OR on 12/10/2014 there will be NO difference in the amount I will owe Verizon as long as I cancel/close/port my line BEFORE 12/15/2014. Keep in mind, most carriers will tell you it can take "up to 5 or so days" for a port to complete, so I would suggest accounting for those days when initiating a port. In my case, I would initiate a port by 12/9/2014 IF I were port my line to another carrier.

B0h1c4

This is very good information. Thank you. It's going to be tough to make it that far considering my phone battery only lasts 2 or 3 hours at a time, but you have to do what you have to do...

Thanks again for your input.

Child Item