I’m originally from down the street in San Antonio and have had a 210 mobile phone number for eight years now. I’ve been with the same carrier through three different branding switches: Southwestern Bell, Cingular and now AT&T. When I came to college in Austin and stayed here post-UT, there was never really a need to change to a 512 number, what with the prevalence of mobile phones. Plus, your area code was always an indicator of your roots when meeting new people on campus.

I never really ran into problems using a 210 in the 512 market except when I wanted to upgrade handsets. Because of a lack of portability in AT&Ts internal data across markets, hardware upgrades need to happen in the same market that you originally opened your account. With the iPhone Classic, this wasn’t a problem because of the revolutionary iTunes activation (wow, is it already dubbed “Classic” status, just a year in?). With the iPhone 3G however, this activation experience is reverting to a more traditional in-store upgrade experience. The saving grace, however, is that it can happen at an AT&T store or an Apple Store—you can most likely guess which route I am going to be taking.

This morning I called AT&T to ask some questions and indeed confirmed that I will have to drive to San Antonio to upgrade at the La Cantera Apple Store in San Antonio if I want to keep my 210 number. If I want to upgrade in Austin, though, here’s what I have to do:
• Visit an AT&T store and tell them I want to transfer my 210 to a 512;
• The process is free and I will get a brand new SIM card for my iPhone Classic;
• All my current terms will stay consistent (this porting should not affect contract length, features, pricing, etc.);
• Come this weekend, I can go into my friendly neighborhood Apple Store and go forward as planned like any good fanboy.

If you’re worried about the AT&T store and the reps messing up your contract, the tier-2 rep at customer support assured me that everything had to go through their department and that they are trained to not change the terms when someone changes their area code. The area code switch will not affect your eligibility for the transfer from iPhone Classic to 3G.

Now I just have to decide how changing my eight year old number will affect my life. I think it’s time to fully commit to Austin as the place I live. :)