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Frequent Contributor
Posts: 119
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Daughter-in-law has stopped payment on her cell phone plan which included my grandsons phone. Contract was not up. We are going to get him a new plan on our own. Can he use his old number from old phone that is now in past due/cancel status? We are also getting him a new phone.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,537
Registered: ‎03-15-2010

Re: Cell phone plan question

No, not until the contract is up and paid in full OR she pays what is due and pays to cancel the contract. Until then the number is tied to that account.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,210
Registered: ‎03-23-2010

Re: Cell phone plan question

Have you called your provider? Companies have different policies, so by calling them you'll be able to confirm.
Frequent Contributor
Posts: 119
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Cell phone plan question

We have not called her provider. At this point we are just very angry and want to move on. We have the same carrier as she did, with the exception we pay our bills. I wasn't sure if we should even bring up the past due account with AT&T so it doesn't reflect on us. Would it be better to go in as a new account, not mention his old phone and the problem or tell them?

Frequent Contributor
Posts: 119
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Cell phone plan question

On 1/12/2014 Abrowneyegirl said:

No, not until the contract is up and paid in full OR she pays what is due and pays to cancel the contract. Until then the number is tied to that account.


This is what I thought but wasn't sure. With an IPhone will his contacts be in a master account through them for easy transfer? ICloud account?

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,784
Registered: ‎03-14-2010

Re: Cell phone plan question

You do know you will owe some for canceling the contract before it was up? This can be big amounts if you still have quite a while left on the contract time.

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Posts: 3,537
Registered: ‎03-15-2010

Re: Cell phone plan question

On 1/12/2014 stts said:
On 1/12/2014 Abrowneyegirl said:

No, not until the contract is up and paid in full OR she pays what is due and pays to cancel the contract. Until then the number is tied to that account.


This is what I thought but wasn't sure. With an IPhone will his contacts be in a master account through them for easy transfer? ICloud account?

This is an interesting dilemma!?!! The concern is is the account tied to the phone? The issue is security, this can not be easy; as a way to prevent hacking and theft you would not want 'random people' accessing your ICloud account and transferring your data to their phone and essentially this new account is a 'random person'. To access the as him also triggers the fact that he is trying to steal from someone he owes money to.

If you change accounts, lose a phone etc. This is easy and the carry will help you. The fact you are trying to get by on not paying a bill is going to complicate the matter greatly. You are going to have to explain how and why you should have access to something you are not paying that was agreed to by a contract that is now breached.

If this works it will be interesting, it will prove that there is no point in paying a cell phone bill, just keep changing carriers.

Keep us posted.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,537
Registered: ‎03-15-2010

Re: Cell phone plan question

On 1/12/2014 mima said:

You do know you will owe some for canceling the contract before it was up? This can be big amounts if you still have quite a while left on the contract time.

Yes, the carries make sure they are not going to lose money on the deal. The only time it pays to cancel a contract is if someone on the contact (like an ex boyfriend) is running up HUGE overages monthly. Then it saves money to avoid paying the overages + the monthly contract fees.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,179
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Cell phone plan question

On 1/12/2014 Abrowneyegirl said:
On 1/12/2014 mima said:

You do know you will owe some for canceling the contract before it was up? This can be big amounts if you still have quite a while left on the contract time.

Yes, the carries make sure they are not going to lose money on the deal. The only time it pays to cancel a contract is if someone on the contact (like an ex boyfriend) is running up HUGE overages monthly. Then it saves money to avoid paying the overages + the monthly contract fees.

Verizon was like 300, if I can remember. The op will need to get a new phone # for her GS. There's no way they will, unless her DIL pays the bill/contract cancellation fee. Then many would keep going to different providers. Has op considered a prepaid plan?
Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,476
Registered: ‎06-27-2010

Re: Cell phone plan question

On 1/12/2014 stts said:
On 1/12/2014 Abrowneyegirl said:

No, not until the contract is up and paid in full OR she pays what is due and pays to cancel the contract. Until then the number is tied to that account.


This is what I thought but wasn't sure. With an IPhone will his contacts be in a master account through them for easy transfer? ICloud account?

Contact information on an Apple device would be associated with a specific Apple ID rather than your phone service provider, whether it's resident in iCloud or on one of your devices.

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