Question about upgrading to Vision Plan?

[Mastermind]

I am currently a Sprint PCS customer, but am not under contract. I joined with a plan that charges me from month to month, but doesn't commit me for a specified period of time. I just tried ordering a Samsung A500 over the web and indicated that I wanted a Vision plan. When the order confirmation screen came, it posted a message saying I would be sent an e-mail giving me important info, including my new PCS phone number. I then called a Sprint rep because obviously I want to keep my current number. She said that it is her understanding that when you buy a new phone and Vision plan that I would need a new phone #. I canceled the order because I don't want a new number.

Has anyone who purchased a new 3G phone w/ Vision plans been told the same thing? Should I just buy it in a store and see if they can maintain my number? Any feedback/suggestions based on your experiences would be welcomed. Thanks.

[Mastermind]

Please disregard the previous post. I just got called back by another rep and was told to buy an unprogrammed phone. Once I receive the phone I could then call to activate it and do an ESN swap. At that time, they would program my new phone using my current #. Than I could ask to switch plans and I would then use Vision with my current #.

I think Sprint should have trained their customer reps on the new plans/phones/policies.

[chenyichung]

Hi,

Yea, I'm going to buy a A500 at best buy. I just called sprint to see if the A500 would work on the plan I'm on right now, the rep. told me that it would, but because it's a 3G voice/data phone, I would need to purchase the minimum 3G plan, well, not really plan, but just like the minimum 3G service so that my A500 can use the min. on my old plan. She said that right now they're offering this service FREE of charge for 3 months for customers like you and I so that we can use the A500 on our old plans so that we won't have to change our phone numbers. But after the 3 months, we MAYBE charged $10 for this service (allowing our A500 to work on our old plans). But she said MAYBE because sprint is considering on making this "service" FREE forever, I think they are doing this because they are seeing a lot of customers wanting to stay with their old plans and just want new phones, and they feel bad for charging everyone $10 a month. So as of right now, this "service" is going to be $10 after the first 3 months we get for FREE, but maybe a coupla weeks down the line, they'll just change this $10 charge to "FREE SERVICE" for as long as we're with them. Hope that helps

-Yi Chen