Break T-Mobile contract, port #, avoid ETF?

Question

My T-Mobile contarct does not expire for 6 months but I would like to get an iPhone now. If I cancel I will have to pay a $200 ETF. However, I own a business and a condo in Panama City, Panama. I told T-Mobile that I am going to move there and will need to cancel my service since they do not service Central America. They said that is fine and that I would not have to pay the fee as long as I send them proof of my address which is fine. While I do travel to Panama quite a bit I'm not going to move there. Instead, I'd like to get the iPhone, port my # to AT&T, and cancel the T-Mobile contract.

Of course my concern is that when T-Mobile sees me trying to port to AT&T who also does not serve CA my guess is that they are going to say "WTF"? and charge me the fee. Anyone have a suggestion here?

Thanks!

Michael

Answer 1

Well, your account can cancel for only one reason. To have the ETF waived, you need it to be canceled manually after sending in the proof of address. But to keep your number and bring it to AT&T, you need the account to stay active until the port completes, but the account will cancel automatically once the number ports. Sort of complicated.

What I would suggest you do is call AT&T to port out your number now, then call T-Mobile to reactivate with a new number once the T-Mobile account is closed (which is as soon as the number is active with AT&T.) This part is pretty common, people cancel and then change their minds but don't want the number they had before, for whatever reason. Then, you can send in the proof of "new address" to cancel for moving away. It's likely that reps will be able to look at what's gone on and guess what you're doing, but each step is perfectly okay to do, so it's not likely anyone will care. (because you won't be asking anyone to break policy and get in trouble.)

If you feel like it, or if they're asking you, you could always say you're giving your current number to a friend or family member who uses AT&T because your other associates all know the number and can use them to get in touch with you. (T-Mobile doesn't have access to know whose account you moved it to.)

eta: the SMS price hike thing only works if you have some 15 cent SMS charges recently, and if you're still within the 30 days after receiving your bill with the notice about it, which a lot of people no longer are now. The new ETF thing is only applicable to contracts that started after June 28, 2008.

Answer 2

Hi Michael,

You may be able to get out of your T-Mobile ETF by claiming a material breech of contract by T-Mobile for their recent hike in SMS text messaging charges.  That will be an uphill battle though.

An easier route is to do a "transfer of liability" on your T-Mobile phone from your personal account to a large business account with an ETF allowance.  Then you can port the number from T-Mobile after the number is a part of the business account.

However you may be interested to know that you are no longer responsible for paying that full $200 ETF.  T-Mobile pro-rates the ETF based on what percentage of your contract that you have fulfilled.  This is a recent change to their policy made just 2 months ago.  If you have less than 6-months left in your contract, then your ETF will now be $100.  When you have less than 3-months left, your ETF will then be $50.

Answer 3

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