Before you move
Switch Checklist
Nine steps before you move to a new cell phone plan, so you keep your number and do not pay twice.
Write down what you pay now
Take a recent bill and note the plan price, the taxes and fees, any phone payment and any bill credit, and type them into the calculator as plan 1. Comparing against the real bill beats comparing against an ad.
Good practice
Read each new plan's broadband label
Mobile broadband plans carry an FCC broadband label showing the monthly price, how long an intro price lasts and what it becomes, one-time fees, monthly provider fees (since the FCC's 2026 update, possibly as one total or an "up to" amount) and any early termination fee. In a store or online it may be a link or icon that opens the label. Those are the numbers the calculator asks for.
Source: FCC: Broadband Labels
Check what you still owe on your phone
If your phone is on an installment plan, the remaining balance is usually still yours to pay when you leave, and promotional bill credits often stop. Use the leave-early check to see both before you switch.
Good practice
Check the contract for early termination fees
The FCC guide on keeping your number warns that your contract may hold early termination fees or balances you still owe, even though they do not stop the switch.
Source: FCC consumer guide: Portability: Keeping Your Phone Number When Changing Service Providers
Ask whether your phone is unlocked
A phone locked to one carrier will not work on another. Under the wireless industry's unlocking commitments described by the FCC, carriers unlock postpaid phones once the contract or installment plan is met and the account is in good standing, and prepaid phones no later than one year after activation. Ask your carrier for its current policy.
Check the phone works on the new network
Unlocking does not make a phone compatible with every network, the FCC notes. Ask the new provider to check your phone (many have an IMEI checker) before you buy service.
Get your account number and transfer PIN
The new provider needs your 10-digit number and the details it asks for, usually your account number and a number-transfer PIN from your current carrier. Keep that PIN private: port-out fraud uses it to steal numbers.
Source: FCC consumer guide: Protect Yourself From SIM Swapping Schemes and Port-Out Fraud
Do NOT cancel your old service first
Start service with the new provider and let it move (port) your number. The FCC says not to end your current service before the new one starts; cancelling first is how numbers get lost. Your old carrier cannot refuse to port your number because you owe it money.
Source: FCC consumer guide: Portability: Keeping Your Phone Number When Changing Service Providers
Check the switch finished
A wireless-to-wireless port can take only a few hours, the FCC says. Once calls and texts work on the new service, check that the old account has closed and watch the final bill.
Source: FCC consumer guide: Portability: Keeping Your Phone Number When Changing Service Providers
Bargain Plus $1.95 a month or $19.50 a year · Free during preview · what it buys