I upgraded to an iPhone 12 Pro. I purchased it outright and kept my old iPhone as I have a buyer for it. All I did was select my carrier for a new sim chip. I did not want to take a chance the old one would not access 5G. They never asked me for my phone number. I picked it up at the local Apple store (the one with intense covid screening and you don't get to go in! "Wait in the tent please!" )
My carrier is Sprint (which will one day be fully converted to T-Mobile). I had none of the problems you had. I did the whole automated setup and it went very smoothly. I did not turn off my wifi. And when it was done I called my cell number from another phone to see what would happen. Both phones rang! Weird but interesting. I did not try answering either one.
Next, I logged into my Sprint account and went through their menus to transfer my number to a new phone. I had to put in the IMEI number of the new SIM and that was it. I had no problems. 15 minutes later the only phone that showed a call coming in was the new one. Easy peasy!
The whole setup took about an hour and most of that was waiting on my stuff to transfer.
Sorry you had such an experience Jake! This is not the first story I have heard about Verizon and setting up a device. I guess there have been tons of issues for people setting up watches. For what they charge you would think they would offer better setup services.
BTW: I don't watch those kinds of shows! And I control the remote! (Most of the time.
)
Lisa