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switching carriers

hello, i am on my parents phone plan through a different carrier but am paying them every month for my phone. When my phone is paid off, can i switch to another carrier and keep my phone even though I am not an account holder for my phone/plan? I pay for the phone but it is not in my name, do i need to have my parents give consent for me to do this? like a signature? or can i go into a verizon store by. myself and do it without them

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Verizon_Support

Thanks for your question. You can bring your phone number from your parents plan to a new cell phone company like Verizon. You will need your current carrier's full account number and a number transfer pin that comes from your carrier. That information is given to your new cell phone company. The account owner of your phone number will be notified that your phone number is leaving your parents account. Once your new phone service begins, your old cell phone line will stop billing. This is a port request. If you have more questions, let us know or see the links below. -Ross

https://www.verizon.com/onesearch/searchq=porting%20to%20verizon&source=support&ES=support

https://www.verizon.com/digital/nsa/nos/ui/ngd/contactus

SynthpopAddict

Hi, if you do not have any management rights on your parents' phone account, then I would think you have to get authorization from whomever is listed as the account owner in order to port your number out. As the Vz rep mentioned, you would need the current account number which the line is under, along with a transfer PIN in order to switch carriers. Typically, these things won't be given to members of a group account who do not have management rights.

Another thing to consider is what your current carrier's policy is for unlocking devices. If your phone is locked to another company, that company has to unlock the phone before it will work with some other carrier. Some carriers automatically unlock phones after a set period of usage on their network. Others require you to pay the phone off completely and/or have usage requirements on top of that.

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