Every year, major wireless carriers roll out strong promotions to win new customers. For example, the recently ended T-Mobile/Sprint port-in offer with a $250 gift card after 2 months, and the ongoing Visible port-in offer with a $100 virtual gift card after 2 months. These promotions are often profitable to do. For a more comprehensive primer on number porting, see this article: How to Port a Phone Number in the US and Earn Big Rewards (with an Example). Here, we will mainly introduce AT&T’s port-in promotion.
Overview of the AT&T Port-In Promotion
AT&T port-in offer: $250 Visa gift card after 45 days. This promotion requires you to bring your own device (BYOD) and port your number from another carrier to an AT&T postpaid wireless plan. After maintaining service for 45 days, you can claim a $250 Visa gift card.
Requirements
Bring a smartphone compatible with AT&T’s network (GSM network standard) to AT&T and keep it on a postpaid plan for at least 45 days. This offer is online only and is not available in stores. You must place the order online and activate an AT&T SIM card through a port-in. New customers must port in from another carrier, while existing AT&T customers may add a new line to their account. Important notes:
- AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM networks. If you want to bring your own phone, make sure your device is compatible with the network. Most carrier websites offer an IMEI check so users can verify compatibility.
- BYOD is limited to smartphones only; tablets with SIM card slots do not qualify.
- For orders placed after May 14, users can port in up to two numbers and receive up to two $250 Visa gift cards.
- The AT&T account used for the port-in must remain active for more than 45 days.
- The qualifying plan must be a postpaid plan. There is usually an activation fee in the first month, but this promotion has no activation fee. AT&T will check your credit, and a hard pull (HP) will appear on your credit report.
- The number being ported must not be an AT&T number. Existing AT&T numbers are not eligible, and neither are MVNOs that run on the AT&T network, including Consumer Cellular, Cricket, FreedomPop, H2O Wireless, Red Pocket, Straight Talk, TracFone, and others.
Guide to the AT&T Port-In Promotion
Go to the promotion page and check whether your phone is compatible.
Enter your device’s IMEI or ICCID to check network compatibility. In general, GSM devices or fully unlocked multi-band phones should work, and an unlocked phone is best. Then prepare the information for the number you want to port in. There are many ways to get a number for port-in. eBay has plenty of listings selling phone numbers; if your old number is about to expire and you want to port it out, that works too. You can also port in a Google Voice number. Another option is to use numbers from other carriers. For example, during Black Friday, Best Buy often sells very cheap SIM cards, so you can stock up on a few for future use. US Mobile also offers free SIM cards if you apply with an .edu email address, and its cheapest plan is under $5 per month. You can also buy a $5 Boost Mobile plan on Fleabay. Of course, the cheapest option is still the China Telecom Americas $1 fall phone card. For details, see the earlier post Recommended Deal — China Telecom Americas $1 Fall Phone Card. After activation, you can contact customer service to obtain the account number and PIN needed for the port-out.
Because most port-in promotions work similarly, we will use AT&T as an example to show how to port a number in the US and how to maximize this AT&T port-in deal. In this example, the number being ported out is a Google Voice number. The steps are as follows:
- Get the account information for your current carrier
- Use a cashback portal to access the new carrier’s port-in promotion page (optional)
- Select a plan
- Enter the porting information and pay (you may be able to trigger an offer with a specific credit card)
- Wait for the port to complete
- Meet the requirements for the reward (optional; can be stacked with carrier discounts)
Get the Account Information for Your Current Carrier
For Google Voice, a locked Google Voice number cannot be ported out. You must first unlock it, and the unlock fee is $3.00. If you are using another carrier that does not require unlocking, you can skip this step.
After unlocking the virtual number, you need to set a PIN, which will be required later for the port. If you are using another carrier, you can call customer service to get the relevant information.
When porting, you need to provide the new carrier with information from your current carrier. In most cases, you will need:
- Phone Number: your phone number
- Carrier: your current carrier; if the carrier is small and not listed, select others
- Account Number: for major carriers, you can usually find it by logging into your account or on your bill. If you use a smaller carrier or are a member on someone else’s family plan, it is best to call customer service and confirm before starting the port.
- voice pin: usually a 4-digit number; if you have never set one, call customer service to confirm it
- zip: your billing zip or the zip code of the primary account holder on the family plan
- Name: your own name; if you are on a family plan, it is best to call and confirm
Use a Cashback Portal to Access the New Carrier’s Port-In Promotion Page
Common cashback sites include Rakuten (formerly Ebates) , TopCashback (TCB) , BeFrugal (BF) , Swagbucks (SB) , and others. Before using a cashback site, read the terms carefully. For example, Rakuten’s Exclusions specifically state that the $250 gift card promotion is excluded. TCB is recommended here. If you do not yet have a TCB account, you can sign up using this TopCashback referral link. Recently, TCB has been offering double cashback, and AT&T pays $150 cashback for porting in one number.
After you get to the cashback site homepage, search for AT&T, then click Get Cashback Now or Shop Now to enter the promotion page through the cashback link.
The screenshot above shows one user receiving cashback for porting in two numbers. Today should be the last day for the double cashback, so if you are interested, do not miss the chance to earn a big profit.
Select a Plan
Go to the promotion page and choose a postpaid plan.
- First, add the free SIM card to your cart (Add to cart) . The SIM card is shipped free by AT&T.
- Postpaid plans usually have an activation fee in the first month, but the first month’s activation fee is waived here.
The next step is to choose a postpaid plan. There are two options: unlimited data (unlimited your way) and 4GB of data (4GB plan) . The benefits included with each plan are different, so choose based on your own needs. For this current AT&T deal, one person is allowed to open multiple lines, and multi-line plans are relatively cheaper. The current terms state that each person can receive 2 gift cards, so you may want to consider porting over 2 numbers.
- Enter the account number and PIN for the number you want to port in to complete the transfer.
- On the check out page, you can see the $250 gift card in the cart. Before checking out, you need to enter the credit card information for payment. Since this is a postpaid plan, you must also enter your Social Security number (SSN) . AT&T will pull your credit report and generate an HP (Hard Inquiry) .
Fill In the Port-In Information and Pay
On the Checkout page, first enter your bill info (billing address information) . Then fill in the port-in number information, choose keep my number, and enter the details for the number you want to transfer.
Make sure the Account number and PIN for the number being ported are correct, otherwise the port-in cannot be completed smoothly.
One thing to note: if it is a Google Voice number, the Account number is the Google Voice number itself. For other carriers, you need to ask customer service for it, since it is usually different from the phone number. If you do not know the account owner's Social Security number (SSN) , you can enter 000-00-0000. The next step is the credit check, where you need to enter your date of birth and SSN.
Next comes payment information. It is best to use a credit card with a strong cashback return, and it is even better if you have an AT&T Offer from Chase or BoA. Credit cards from Chase, Bank of America (BoA) , and others occasionally have AT&T offers. These offers often require making two purchases of over $15 at AT&T to receive varying amounts of cashback such as $40/$35. One thing to note is that AT&T allows overpay, so you can prepay your bill to trigger the credit card cashback. This method only works for postpaid plans; prepaid plans cannot trigger the offer.
Activate the SIM Card and Wait for the Port-In to Complete
After successfully submitting the order (submit order) , wait for the SIM card from AT&T, activate it, and register your AT&T account. Once you log in to your AT&T account homepage, you can view your plan and billing information.
Complete the Required Reward Requirements
After activation, keep the number active for 45 days. After registration, you can enroll in AT&T’s FAN Discount. The FAN discount is a special AT&T discount for active-duty or retired military members and their families, government employees, and college faculty, staff, and students. For example, a $50.00 monthly plan may be reduced by $5.10 for college affiliates. Note that AARP members can also receive the FAN discount. Some cashback sites such as Swagbucks occasionally run AARP membership cashback deals (spend $12 and get 1400SB back, for a $2 profit) , making it possible to save money or even come out ahead on the membership. Once you are close to 45 days of usage (in practice, you can contact customer service when you are close to one month) , contact customer service promptly to request the $250 gift card. After the gift card arrives, you can cancel the account. So in principle, this AT&T port-in only requires about two months of service. Canceling the account does not affect cashback from cashback sites. The screenshot below shows my cashback record on TCB for porting one number into AT&T.
By porting a number into an AT&T postpaid plan and keeping it for 45 days, you can get a $250 gift card, plus $150 cashback from TCB, while the plan costs about $100. If you also have an AT&T Offer from Chase/BoA (two purchases over $15 for $35 / $50 / $75 / $100 back) , the cost can be even lower. You can also stack the FAN discount. Therefore, porting 1 number can conservatively net about $300 in profit, and since each user can port two numbers, that could mean about $600 in profit.
In summary, porting a number is not difficult. First, confirm the plan you want to port into: prepaid does not require a credit check, while postpaid results in an HP. Second, prepare a number that meets the port-in requirements and carefully review the official terms. Before porting, you need to obtain the account number and PIN for the number you want to transfer, usually by contacting your previous carrier’s customer service. Then make sure to use the link provided by the cashback site to complete the port-in promotion, and make good use of carrier discounts and credit card offers (Chase, BoA, etc.) . Finally, after meeting the port-in conditions required by the site, contact customer service to request the gift card, and then you can decide whether to keep or close the account.