All You Need to Know about Switching from Verizon to T-Mobile

Thinking of switching from Verizon to T-Mobile? T-Mobile makes it easy to switch over to their network, bringing along your phone and number! Here’s some quick info about the switching process:

• Get all of your account information together
• Ensure you phone is unlocked and compatible with T-Mobile’s network
• Check that your phone number is compatible with T-Mobile
• Pick a T-Mobile plan and purchase a new SIM card
• Activate your new plan
• Cancel your old plan

Just like that, you can switch from Verizon to T-Mobile while keeping your number and device! There is, however, a bit more to it, and if you are interested in learning all the ins and outs of switching from Verizon to T-Mobile, read on for our deep dive into the subject! 

Before You Switch

Before you switch from Verizon to T-Mobile you want to gather up all of your account information and keep it close at hand, as well as double-check to make sure you are up-to-date with all of your bills at your current provider. That being said, you can still switch to T-Mobile, as they have some deals that help you cover the cost of switching from another major provider if you have to break your contract. 

This section will cover all that you have to do before you can switch from Verizon to T-Mobile, including researching plans and providers, unlocking your phone, and porting your number to the new carrier. 

Research Providers — Is T-Mobile the Best Carrier for You? 

Before you switch, you should make sure that T-Mobile is the right provider for you. Different providers have different coverage across the United States, and while T-Mobile’s coverage is just about nationwide, the further you get from metropolitan areas, the spottier the coverage. Double check that you will have strong service in the areas where you spend the majority of your time. This subsection will serve as mostly just a checklist to go through prior to switching, as switching carriers, while fairly easy, is not an operation you want to undergo more than is absolutely necessary. 

This is also a great time to look at the deals for new customers at each provider. These deals, when you know your switching plans, are a great way to get a little extra value from your new provider, be it an electronic gift card, streaming services, or something else. Just be sure to watch out for “promotions” that force you to pay more than you want, get things you don’t need, or any contract that locks you into paying more money than you want. 

We do not recommend going for a company based off of any one-time deal you see with a company. Going with a company, like T-Mobile, that you know will be a good fit is better than saving on a one-time thing. Once you’ve settled on the new carrier and the plan that best suits you, on to the next question: do you want a new phone?

Do You Want to Keep Your Old Phone?

There are so many phones. Are you satisfied with the phone you have? If so, then you’re good to move on to the next section! If not, then there might be some benefits of switching phones at the same time as you switch from Verizon to T-Mobile. As before, there might be a promotion available for new customers that lets you get a phone cheap, just make sure to read the fine print. 

If you want a new phone, make sure to communicate that to your new provider. Let them know that you want to keep your number and want to activate a new phone when you switch. It is good practice to keep your new providers up to date with your plans to ensure that they don’t accidentally back you into a corner where you have to make compromises. Fortunately, switching carriers, keeping numbers, and activating new phones is a common occurrence in the world of all the networks, so they can walk you through their specific process when you get there. But it’s not bad to learn about changing your phone plan and keeping your number before you get there, right? 

Important! Do Not Cancel Your Old Plan Before Starting Your New Plan

In just a moment, we will enter the weeds surrounding how to switch from Verizon to T-Mobile.. Before we get there, it is important to note that you should not cancel your old plan before starting your new plan. If you cancel, the company can deactivate your phone number, and if that happens — you’re sunk. If you want to keep your phone number, make sure you get your new account rolling before confirming that your old account is ended.

Under most circumstances, your new provider handles just about all of the communication with your old provider to cancel your service. It is recommended, however, to give them a call to confirm after you’re up and running on your new provider. 

How to Switch from Verizon to T-Mobile

Ready to switch? This section will go over all the steps you need to follow in order to make sure that you get your number up and running on your new carrier as smoothly as possible. You can complete just about all of the switch to T-Mobile online before going to a store for the final steps. Here are all the steps to switching from Verizon to T-Mobile! 

Are You Under a Contract with Verizon?

T-Mobile might have you covered even if you are still under contract, wanting to switch but unwilling to eat those hefty early termination fees. T-Mobile offers a serious incentive to switch in that they will pay off the current balance on your phone or those aforementioned early termination fees. You can get up to $650 per line or $350 in fees reimbursed after you switch. They are also offering up to $1000 to pay off your current 5G phone. You can check here to see if your current phone qualifies for the switch! 

Check Your Phone’s Compatibility

If you are keeping your old phone, you need to grab your device’s IMEI number to make sure that it will work with T-Mobile’s network. Your phone’s IMEI is a unique code that helps wireless companies keep a tag on all the devices that are being used. It determines your device’s compatibility with other networks as well as ensuring that your phone hasn’t been stolen or associated with fraud. You can find your phone’s IMEI number in the Settings app, under “Device Information” 

T-Mobile has a handy compatibility checker where you can type in your IMEI and receive confirmation that it works on their network. Most newer smartphones are compatible on all networks, but if your phone isn’t compatible on their network and you still want to switch from Verizon to T-Mobile you can check out their store and find a new phone that suits your style!  

Pick out Your Plan

T-Mobile has a variety of plans at different price points from which you can choose and find one that suits your style. This subsection will discuss the major T-Mobile plans, their price points, and their features. 

T-Mobile’s Magenta MAX

• $85 a month
• Unlimited talk, text, and data
• Netflix subscription

T-Mobile’s Magenta MAX plan comes with all the bells and whistles they’ve got. With unlimited everything, this plan delivers unrestricted HD streaming on the network as well as a monumental 40 GB of mobile hotspot data. With mobile data they promise a true unlimited, which means there’s no deprioritization if your usage gets really high. This is a plan for people who go through data like mad. 

Alongside your unlimited data you get 40 GB of high-speed mobile hotspot data. Mobile hotspots let you turn your phone into a Wi-Fi source and connect devices anywhere you have coverage. WIth this plan, you get 40 GBs of that every month! On top of that you get a Netflix subscription! You receive Netflix basic with a one-line plan and Netflix standard with two or more lines on the plan. That’s a $10 or $15 value. 

This is a huge plan, but you pay for it. $85 a month for a one-line plan is significant, and it is likely not worth it if you aren’t planning on taking advantage of the extreme amounts of data you are receiving. If you only use a bit of data, their regular Magenta plan might be a better fit. 

T-Mobile’s Magenta

• $70 a month
• Unlimited talk, text, and data

T-Mobile’s Magenta plan delivers unlimited data with fewer bells and whistles than its counterpart. This plan comes with unlimited talk and text as well as 100 GB of high-speed data before your data gets throttled. One hundred gigabytes of data is a tremendous lump of it and it takes serious data usage to approach that level of mobile data usage. You also are only allocated 5 GB of mobile hotspot data, but the 50 GB is only nice if you are using it! 

All that being said, the Netflix subscription almost pays for all of it. This plan is only $15 a month less expensive than the other plan, and if you are a Netflix user then you’d be saving on your monthly subscription. If you are between these two, we must recommend Magenta MAX.

T-Mobile Essentials

• $60 per month
• Unlimited talk, text, and data

T-Mobile’s Essentials plan begins to bring in the savings. At $60 a month, it is $25 fewer than Magenta MAX and $10 fewer than the Magenta plan. That really adds up over time. And this plan is nothing to scoff at, either. It comes with 50 GB of high-speed data before your data is deprioritized as well as unlimited talk and text. It is an excellent deal to get access to T-Mobile’s high-speed network, as well as the perks of getting service from one of the major wireless companies. 

T-Mobile Family Plans

The multi-line savings of T-Mobile plans is not to be overlooked. If you are able to get some friends or family together who are all comfortable sharing a mobile plan then you will be able to save big on your wireless bill. T-Mobile’s Essentials plan, normally $60, goes down to $30 per line on a four line plan. 

Magenta starts at $70 a line and goes down to $32 a line for five lines with savings at every step up to that point. Magenta’s family plan shares the 100 GB of priority data, but with two or three people on the plan they are able to save big on their phone bill while still being able to use a ton of data each month. This is perfect for families where some of the members don’t use a ton of data, leaving a big portion of that pool for the others! 

T-Mobile 10 GB Prepaid Plan

• $40 a month

If you are looking for some serious savings consider T-Mobile’s limited data plans. They all come with unlimited talk and text, and this one in particular has 10 GB of high-speed data all for $40 a month. Especially for single-line plans, this allows users who don’t chew through data to get a plan that perfectly suits their needs and save a lot of money while they do it! This is an additional $20 of savings each month compared to their Essentials plan, which is nothing to scoff at. 

Transfer Your Phone 

If you are planning on keeping your cell phone number when you switch over to T-Mobile then you must follow the prompts provided while you are checking out or they will assign you a new number automatically. Want to know more? You can check out our article about changing carriers and keeping your number to learn all about it! Here’s how to transfer your phone number to T-Mobile

The process to transfer your phone number to T-Mobile with your new plan should be pretty simple. T-Mobile has transfer agreements with Verizon, so you should not run into any trouble when you are switching from Verizon to T-Mobile. After you confirm your eligibility, the rest of the process should look something like this:

• Gather your account information
• Ensure your phone is unlocked and ready for transfer
• Purchase a T-Mobile Sim card
• Pick out your preferred T-Mobile plan, and follow the instructions given by the website or the representative
• Hang out while the people at T-Mobile contact your old carrier and complete the switch! 

Some of T-Mobile’s best deals are for people who are switching carriers. As we mentioned before, however, make sure that you’re not getting sucked in by the shiny discounts. Some of their biggest savings come by giving you a load of stuff that you don’t need, resulting in you spending more money anyway due to the higher base price. 

During this process, your phone won’t be active! Make sure you don’t need it for a few hours while your number is transferred to your new account. You can always go into the store to get their professional help (and speed up the process) while you port your phone number to your new account.  

Activate Your T-Mobile Plan

Once your T-Mobile SIM card arrives, you can plug it into your phone and you should get to the “welcome” screen and begin the activation process! T-Mobile offers a video with which you can follow along about how to swap your SIM card and activate your phone. 

Switching from Verizon to T-Mobile

This is all you need to know about switching from Verizon to T-Mobile! We hope that you are ready to get into it with no hesitation after picking out the perfect plan. Since you’ve made it this far, why not treat yourself to an episode of your favorite show or a walk in the park? Researching your new plan is important, but so are breaks! After that you can get back into the process of switching from Verizon to T-Mobile and all the excitement that comes along with it. There’s a lot of great things about T-Mobile. 

There are a lot of wireless companies out there. If you find yourself wanting to know more about the differences between MVNOs and major carriers, other wireless companies, mobile hotspots, or something else, swing by our blog! We have a ton of content about phones and phone companies that is sure to catch your eye.