What is your phone bill hiding?
Paste it. Get back what leaving really costs, and two notes you can copy: one to keep your discount, one to make the other carrier beat it.
A discount or credit is ending
The end date is in the offer email or under Offers in the app. Had a credit for 11 or 23 months? Assume it ends next month.
A quote from another carrier
How I pay
Where these rules come from
What you owe is due when the line goes. Verizon and AT&T put the full remaining balance of every financed phone on the final bill when a line is cancelled or moved, and neither prorates the last month. T-Mobile bills through the end of the month; one cancelled line keeps paying monthly, and only closing the whole account makes every balance due at once.
Credits stop with no payout. A monthly credit against a phone belongs to the line. Cancel it, pay the phone off early, or change to a plan the deal does not cover and the rest of the credits are gone. T-Mobile has applied this to early payoff since June 2024.
Payoff offers pay you later. T-Mobile Family Freedom: up to $800 a line on four lines at most, new accounts only since July 2026, a new phone on their plan and the trade-in of the one you were financing, paid as a prepaid card about 15 days after the trade-in clears. AT&T: up to $800 a line as a reward card 8 to 10 weeks later, your own phone is fine, 120 days and four payments with the old carrier required, clawed back on a sliding scale if you leave within 36 months. Verizon: a $15 a line monthly discount against a competitor bill, no lump sum. The old carrier's final bill always arrives first.
Autopay. Verizon's full discount needs a bank account or Verizon Visa since February 2024. AT&T pays $10 for bank, $5 for cards. T-Mobile pays $5 a line for debit or bank only.
Fees that rise on their own. Verizon Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge $3.78 a line; Regulatory Charge $0.26 from 1 November 2026. AT&T Administrative and Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee $4.99 a line since August 2026. T-Mobile Regulatory Programs and Telco Recovery Fee $5.49 a line from 12 October 2026 unless the plan says taxes and fees included.
Retention. Verizon ended standing loyalty discounts on 1 September 2025; offers now come from the Offers tab, from generating a Number Transfer PIN in the app, or from chat, usually $10 to $20 a line for 6 to 12 months. AT&T: 800-331-0500, say "cancel service". T-Mobile: 611, say you are thinking of leaving.
Checked against the carriers' own pages on 2 October 2026. Terms change; the fine print on your own offer wins.
What you get back
- The date your bill goes up and by how much. Carriers do not print the end date of a credit. The jump just appears.
- What leaving would really cost. Every phone balance comes due on the final bill, and the credits attached to the lines stop. The tool adds it up and tells you the monthly price another carrier has to beat.
- Two things to copy. A script for the call to your own carrier, and a one-paragraph brief for the other carrier that ends with the number they have to beat. No two-hour chat explaining your account.
Three things the bill is not telling you
The balance is due when the line goes, not when the phone is paid. Verizon and AT&T put the full remaining balance on your final bill when you cancel a line or move the number, and neither prorates the last month. T-Mobile bills through the end of the month, and a single cancelled line keeps paying monthly; closing the whole account makes everything due at once.
Promo credits belong to the line, not to you. A "free" phone is a full-price phone with a monthly credit against it over 24 or 36 months. Cancel the line, pay it off early, or change to a plan the deal does not cover and the remaining credits stop with no payout. T-Mobile has applied this to early payoff since June 2024.
"We'll pay off your phone" pays you after you have paid them. T-Mobile's Family Freedom covers up to $800 a line on four lines for new accounts, needs a new phone on their plan and the trade-in of the one you were financing, and arrives as a prepaid card about 15 days after the trade-in clears. AT&T's reward card comes 8 to 10 weeks after you submit the old bill and can be clawed back if you leave within 36 months. Your old carrier's final bill, with every balance on it, arrives first.
Does Verizon pay off my phone if I switch?
No. Verizon puts the balance on your final bill. The carrier you move to may reimburse part of it, weeks later, if you meet their conditions.
What happens to my credits if I cancel one line?
The credits on that line stop, and at Verizon and AT&T the phone balance is due on the next bill. At T-Mobile the installment keeps billing monthly if the account stays open.
Why did my bill go up when nothing changed?
A credit reached its end date, a fee rose on its own (Verizon's Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge, AT&T's $4.99 Administrative and Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee since August 2026, T-Mobile's $5.49 Regulatory Programs fee from 12 October 2026), or a change of autopay method cost you the discount.
Sources
Verizon - Device Payment FAQs | Verizon - Device Deals FAQs | Verizon - Auto Pay FAQs | Verizon - Surcharges | AT&T - Cancel Wireless Service | AT&T - Wireless Fee Schedule | T-Mobile - Cancel Service | T-Mobile - Promotional Credits | T-Mobile - Family Freedom | T-Mobile - What's Impacting Your Bill