Can I transfer my prepaid number to a postpay phone and it still be a prepaid account

Any phone that works on AT&T will work on any plan, prepaid or postpaid.

If you have any trouble purchasing a phone directly from AT&T at full price, don't buy from AT&T. And if you are purchasing in person at an AT&T store they will not sell you the phone at full price. Sales people in AT&T stores are there to sell postpaid service and talk you into installments.  They have to. 

The last time I was on prepaid, both AT&T and Verizon made purchasing a phone at full price difficult. But it was very easy to go into Best Buy, and purchase the phone at full price for my service provider.

to purchase a phone with ATT, you have to be on a postpaid plan. So you can probably buy a phone on plan with a number, fully pay off the phone - now you own the device - cancel the postpaid account afterwards (you might be prorated for few days) then use the device on ur prepaid account

@ShouJr

It is not worth the extra money and the amount of trouble, or even the credit check to go through opening a postpaid plan just to buy a phone from AT&T when you can get the exact same phone and avoid all the extra charges by walking into a Best Buy and just paying for the phone.

But you are correct AT&T does not like to cell phones to prepaid customers. I had the same problem with Verizon. And it's why when it comes to buying a phone outright I either order directly from the manufacturer, or I walk into Best Buy.

The people that work in corporate stores aren't interested in service anymore they're interested in the commission or the points they get for selling postpaid and for selling phones on installment. Authorized retailers flat out are told they may not sell any phone unless it is on an installment plan. It's ridiculous as long as the cash is good why aren't they selling phones?

The point with any service provider is the commitment which is why purchasing a device on an installment plan is a requirement so that you are binded to a 3 year term

@ShouJr

It's not a requirement to buy from AT&T, or on installments if one is prepaid. 

Best buy, walmart, target, and Costco will sell you the same phone at full price

I understand that, I was replying to your certain point of why ATT doesn't like selling phones at full price and does it on installment - there's a point of them doing that which again, is to bind you to a 3 year term so you can't leave.

Gotcha.  And yes. 

And sometimes they hoard their stock of phones because they get points which pads their paycheck when they upgrade someone on installments or add a new line, or bring in a new customer. Many of them say that prepaid service is nearly a loss to them so serving a prepaid customer is of no interest.

It's rather a pathetic attitude because prepaid is pure gravy for any service provider. There's no possibility of loss, there's very little if any customer service interaction.