Sources

The Switch Checklist paraphrases these public FCC consumer pages. Bargain Cellular is not the FCC and is not endorsed by it. Steps without a source are marked "good practice": they are common sense, not a rule.

• FCC consumer guide: Portability: Keeping Your Phone Number When Changing Service Providers
• FCC consumer guide (PDF): Porting: Keeping Your Phone Number When You Change Providers
• FCC consumer guide (PDF): Cell Phone Unlocking
• FCC consumer guide: Protect Yourself From SIM Swapping Schemes and Port-Out Fraud
• FCC: Broadband Labels
• FCC: Broadband Label glossary (blank sample label)

Notes: the unlocking commitments are the wireless industry's voluntary standards adopted in 2014 and described in the FCC's guide; carriers publish their own current unlocking policies, so ask yours. The broadband label rules took effect for most providers in April 2024. The FCC updated them in 2026: a store or website may now show a link or icon that opens the label instead of the label itself, and fees that vary by location may be shown as one total or an "up to" amount instead of one by one. The FCC's pages give the current requirements.

The calculator uses no outside data. Its arithmetic: each month's bill = the plan price (or the intro price while it lasts) minus the autopay discount, plus taxes and fees, plus that month's phone installment, minus that month's bill credit, and never below $0. One-time fees and a phone paid upfront are added once. Installments and credits are spread evenly over their months.

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