Move Question
MikeT
Contributor - Level 1

Hi All,

I hope that this is the correct forum to post this message/question in.  I currently have the FIOS triple freedom package (TV, internet, and phone).  In the next few weeks for up to five months I will be living in two different extended stay motels.  I am wondering that when I disconnect my FIOS TV and internet service, if I could keep my current telephone number and do a #72 to transfer calls to my cell phone.  Will this work until I get into my permanent home?  When I do finally get into my permanent home, FIOS is available but it is in a different area code so I do not know if it would be possible to keep my current home number.  I am not too concerned about that but just want to keep my number until I do the last move five months from now.  Dealing with the Post Office will be another challenge!

Thank you,

Mike T.

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Re: Move Question
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

Think you're going to need to talk to the customer service folks to see what's possible and part of that might be dependent on if you're currently under contract or not.  

If you're not under contract, you could certainly cancel your TV and Internet without any ETF and then set the phone number up to ring to another out of area number of your choice (paying verizon for the number but with a permanent forward on it -- businesses do this all the time to get a "local" number in a location where they don't have a physical location).  You'd need to move the phone number to a non-FiOS service type in the process which, of course, would be something the customer service folks would need to figure out. 

Other option on the phone thing -- although Verzion certainly wouldn't offer it -- would be to port the number to a VoIP provider (like Vonage or PhonePower, etc.) and then you can have the number ring where ever you like and cancel the Verizon service altogether until you complete the move.

You can then transfer the number back or keep it where's it's at and get only double-play from Verizon for the TV/Internet at your new location.  Bonus ... if it's 6 months or so until you get service again, Verizon might see you as a "new customer" again and you might be able to get them to give you one of their new customer package rates.   Always worth a shot.

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Re: Move Question
MikeT
Contributor - Level 1

Thank you Lasagna for your reply and suggestions.  I am not currently under any contract.  I made sure that I did not make any changes to my account during the past two years to not be locked into anything.  I will see if the customer service folks can forward the number to my cell phone until I get my moves straightened out.  Also, thanks for the six month new customer thing.  It will most likely be five months at the most for my move. 

Where I am moving, the neighborhood offers both Cox and Verizon FIOS.  I did have Cox before FIOS and really liked that Cox was about one mile from my house to exchange boxes, plus I never had any issues with them.  I went with FIOS at the time because of the low new customer rate, but that has passed.

Mike T.

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Re: Move Question
questioning_old
Contributor - Level 2

MikeT, what's wrong with changing phone numbers?  I think you can only keep your current land line number if you move within the same town but if it's a different area code, I don't think you can do anything about that.  If you have Verizon Fios, you can access your voice mail from any phone and if you have a cell phone, you can use that in the meantime.

If you're going to notify the post office to forward your mail, that's the easy part.  You just have to submit a form at your local branch and any mail sent to your old address will get forwarded to your new address for up to a year.  You would be surprised how many people don't do that.  The previous tenants of my apartment didn't bother and meant getting all of their mail and putting it back out to return to sender and my previous upstairs neighbors didn't bother either.  I don't understand that.  I guess they don't care.  Make sure you update your address with all of the other vendors that you do business with like the electric company and your insurance companies and your employer.  It takes some time but it's really not a big deal.

Moving is a lot of work.  I've done it but if you want my advice, keep it simple.

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Re: Move Question
MikeT
Contributor - Level 1

Thanks for the advice.  Since I will be making three moves in the next five months, I switched my telephone number over to Vonage.  This way I can have that number redirected to my cell phone until I make my final move and get a new land line number.

I did not know that the Post Office would forward your mail for up to a year.  I assume that I would have to go to my local Post Office three times (two temp moves and one final move) to finally get the mail delivered to my final home.

Thanks again,

Mike T.

Re: Move Question
questioning_old
Contributor - Level 2

When I last moved, I was only moving to the other side of town but it's just a form you need to fill out.  I remember I had to do it twice only because I was given the wrong address of my present apartment but even that was straightforward to correct.  So to make the correction, I just had to go to the main town branch of my post office which processes all the mail and fill out a separate form to correct it.  If you're making a couple of temp moves then yes, I guess you would have to go to your post office at least a couple of times but even then, you would just have to fill out either a new form or a correction form.  I think that's the easy part in the context of moving.

Or if you want, you can have the post office hold your mail for a certain number of days and then resume delivery after that but I normally do that if I'm on a vacation.

I have my Verizon Wireless cell phone as a back up that I can always fall back on if need be.

Good luck!