How to Cancel AT&T Service: Fees, Returns, and Final Bill

To cancel AT&T service, you almost always need to call: 800-331-0500 for wireless, 800-288-2020 for internet or U-verse TV, and 844-310-4086 for DIRECTV satellite. Have your account number and four-digit PIN ready, get a confirmation number before you hang up, and time the call near the end of your billing cycle because AT&T does not prorate your final month. If you have a phone on an installment plan or are receiving promotional bill credits, canceling the line makes the remaining device balance due immediately and stops the credits, which is where cancellation gets expensive.

Port Your Number Before You Cancel

If you’re switching wireless carriers and want to keep your phone number, set up service with the new carrier first and let them handle the transfer. Your AT&T line closes automatically once the port completes. Cancel first and the number is gone. AT&T’s transfer page states the number has to be active for another carrier to pull it over.

This only matters for wireless numbers you want to keep. For internet, TV, or a number you’re happy to lose, go straight to the cancellation call.

What to Have Ready Before You Call

Only the account owner can cancel AT&T home internet or U-verse TV service. On wireless accounts, only authorized users can make changes. Sign in at att.com/myatt or pull up a recent bill to find your account number, and have the four-digit PIN you set when you opened the account.¹

If you’ll be returning equipment, note the serial numbers on the back or bottom of each router, modem, or receiver. You don’t strictly need them for the call, but they help if anything goes wrong later.

How to Cancel by Service Type

Wireless

Call 800-331-0500 or use AT&T’s online chat when it’s available. The automated menu will push self-service options; picking prompts about canceling or disconnecting routes you to a live agent. Expect a retention offer before the request goes through. Online wireless cancellation is limited to customers in Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York who originally ordered online.²

Internet and U-verse TV

Call 800-288-2020. For most customers this is the only way to cancel.³ AT&T Internet Air customers in Illinois and Massachusetts who ordered online can cancel through the myAT&T portal.

DIRECTV

DIRECTV satellite customers should call 844-310-4086. If your DIRECTV runs over the internet with no dish, you can sign in at directv.com and choose “Cancel service,” or use the chat option there.⁴

Get a Confirmation Number

However you cancel, ask for a confirmation number during the call or watch for a confirmation email if you canceled online. Write it down. If the account stays active past your disconnection date, that number is your proof. Your service will run through the end of the current billing cycle, so you can keep using it until then.

Device Installments and Promotional Credits

This is the biggest cost trap on wireless. If you’re still paying off a phone through an installment plan, the entire remaining balance hits your next bill the moment you cancel the line attached to that device.²

The damage gets worse with promotional credits. Many AT&T phone deals spread bill credits over 36 months to offset the device price, and those credits only continue while the line stays active. Cancel early and you lose every remaining credit while still owing the full installment balance. Trade in a phone for an $800 promo spread over 36 months, cancel at month 12, and you forfeit 24 months of credits and owe the unpaid device balance in full.⁵

Before you cancel, sign in and check the remaining balance on any installment plans. If it’s high and promo credits are covering most of it, waiting out the remaining months may save real money. You can also pay off the device balance before canceling, though the promotional credits still stop the moment the line disconnects.

Return Leased Equipment Within 21 Days

Leased routers, modems, and TV receivers must be returned within 21 days of your disconnection date or AT&T charges a non-return fee.⁶ The fee runs from $150 to $200 depending on the equipment.⁷

Take the equipment unpacked, along with your account number, to a company-owned FedEx Office or The UPS Store. Don’t box anything up first. A store employee scans each item, packs it, and ships it at no charge. Get a tracking receipt before you leave.⁶ Do not use a FedEx or UPS drop box.

Hold onto that receipt. If AT&T later says the equipment never arrived, the tracking receipt with the drop-off date and serial numbers is your defense against the charge.

Your Final Bill

AT&T does not prorate the final month on wireless, internet, DIRECTV, or U-verse TV. Cancel mid-cycle and you pay for the whole period.²⁸ Since service stays on through the end of the cycle anyway, aim to cancel near the end of a billing period rather than right after a new one begins.

Your last bill will include remaining monthly charges, any usage-based fees from before disconnection, and any applicable early termination fees or device installment balances.

Early Termination Fees

ETFs apply only if you cancel before a contract term ends. Wireless ETFs run from $58 to $325 and decrease as you complete more of the contract.⁹ Internet ETFs are prorated by the number of months you’ve had service and show up on your bill within three billing periods after disconnection.¹ DIRECTV ETFs are based on months remaining on the contract.⁴ Most current AT&T wireless plans no longer involve term contracts, so for wireless the bigger risk is usually device balances and lost credits rather than an ETF.

Internet’s 14-Day Grace Period

AT&T internet customers can cancel within 14 days of activation with no ETF. You still owe any charges from those 14 days and still have to return leased equipment, but the ETF itself is waived.¹ If you just signed up and the service isn’t working, act inside that window.

Military Cancellation Rights

Active-duty service members can cancel wireless, internet, and TV contracts with no ETF under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The right kicks in after you receive orders to relocate for 90 days or more to a location where the service isn’t available, and the contract must have been entered into before those orders.¹⁰

You provide written or electronic notice along with a copy of your deployment orders. AT&T handles military cancellations through a dedicated portal for uploading orders, and you can submit the request up to 30 days before your desired cancellation date. AT&T can’t charge an ETF but can collect balances owed before the termination date, and it must refund any prepaid amounts within 60 days, minus the remainder of the billing period in which you canceled. If you’d rather keep the number active during deployment, AT&T can place wireless lines on hold for up to 39 months.¹¹

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AT&T. AT&T Internet Cancellation
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AT&T. Cancel Wireless Service or Remove a Line
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AT&T. Cancel Your Internet or U-verse TV Service
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DIRECTV. How to Cancel DIRECTV, Pause Service, or Get a Better Deal
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AT&T. Stay Eligible for Your Promotion
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AT&T. Return Your AT&T Internet Equipment
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AT&T. AT&T Internet Consumer Fee Schedule
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AT&T. Prorated Credits for Service Cancellation Are Ending
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AT&T. AT&T Mobility Fee Schedule
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 50 – 3956 Termination of Certain Consumer Contracts
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AT&T. Cancel or Restore Service – US Military