Account Pausing Possible?

[swp1008]

To Whom It May Concern,

Due to business reasons, I had to move to outside of Canada. I will comeback to Canada around October 2024. My account currently is suspended and will be deactivated after 3 months.

However, I still have $6 funds in my account along with 300 mins of international phone call with many minutes remaining. 

I still want to keep my phone number.

Considering the reasons above, is it possible to PAUSE my account and have it reactivated upon my return on October 2024?

Thank you.

[darlicious]

@dust2dust 

Note the OP wanted to keep their Add on....and I am sure their rewards account over a points account.

@Chrissyrioux12 

This service does not exist but if it did $3.75×24 months=$90+tax.

The suggested method that costs $51+tax÷24=$2.12+tax.

[statusquo]

That kind of service might be available from the main carriers but I don't think prepaid service would offer that but maybe I'm wrong about this.  I do appreciate that we can do holiday pauses for our plans without too much cost and 90 days is decent I think.

[Chrissyrioux12]

Maybe message and ask a csa if their is an emergency  way to keep your number at a 3 dollars or so fee 

with Telus they let me do that with my fil and every 'ot h would be 3.75 with 911 fee and they took it from a lump sum we had in the pay as you go 

just explain and see if they have an alternative 

it allowed 5 minutes of calling in an emergency 

[dust2dust]

I keep forgetting to mention Numberbarn on these kinds of questions from folks. Not $25 to port in to. $5US. Then they have a minimum $2US service. It keeps a log of caller id's calling in. It can answer with a short greeting from you. It can receive and send texts through the site or their app. I think I recall it sending an email notification of the reception of a text. But not the text and not text forwarding.

Adding - I checked, it does have the option of emailing you the text and/or a notification.

[darlicious]

@softech 

Whoopsie....thx!

@swp1008 

So your total cost for approximately 2 years will be depending on when your loyalty increases to $5 due to suspension but likely the first year will be $27 and the second year $24 ($45 - $21{$2 autopay+$5 loyalty}=$7×3=$21)=$51

If you can time your reactivation for 30 days to occur anytime in the month of December you will be eligible for the "more is merrier" campaign's holiday gifts of a bonus 2gb data add on and 500 international minutes calling add on. But you will need to contact customer support to have them added to your account as you will not recieve the text to reply to to have them added automatically. Come to the community in December to find out about the 2023 "more is merrier" campaign.

[softech]

@darlicious OP is leaving till October 2024, not 2023, that is 21 months 

[darlicious]

@softech 

Where do you get the $75 figure? The cost will likely be $27 without the hassle of porting in/out and loss of add ons and rewards?

[softech]

@dabr yes, that is the "side effect ".  But it is likely $75 cost to keep the number alive with PM vs $25 with Fongo + $10 sim cost  Also, lots of babysitting to make sure account is alive 

@swp1008 please be aware you will be on new rewards system if you decide to go with the Fongo suggestion amd come back to PM ,  But again, when you come back, you don't necessarily have to choose PM.  Pick the one that give you the best offer at that point

[darlicious]

@softech 

The OP is likely on $$ rewards!!

[darlicious · Accepted solution]

@swp1008 

Yes. You should also contact customer support if you had active service in any part of December and ask for your holiday gifts to be added to your account.

As mentioned you should change your plan to the $15 plan (unless you have the $10 50/50 plan now $13) to lessen your overall cost to hold your phone number, account and $$ rewards account for the least amount of money. By suspending and reactivating for 30 days approximately every 90 days your yearly (350 to 360 days) cost will be $45 (3×$15) - $18? (3×$2 autopay+$4 loyalty?)=$27+tax. Here are your options for your account....

1. You can turn off autopay and allow the account to suspend at the of your current 30 day cycle but this is your least advantageous option. Pay and reactivate by day 85 or so.
2. If you have an account balance that exceeds your plan amount then you need to suspend via the lost/stolen feature in your account before midnight eastern on the evening of your renewal. Then on day 85 or so resume your service to pay and reactivate.
3. Suspending via lost/stolen before midnight eastern will keep your voicemail active allowing you retrieve voicemail and any verification sent by phone calls. However your rewards will not be applied to your account. CSA contact after paying and reactivating is necessary to have the rewards applied manually.
4. Voicemail can be accessed by calling your pm number from a different phone by calling your phone # and pressing * once connected and entering your 4 digit voicemail pin #.
5. If you don't have an account balance or enough balance to cover your plan amount you can suspend via lost/stolen after midnight but before 2 am eastern on the day of your renewal. Once your rewards have been applied (usually by 12:15 am et) then suspend your account. Voicemail access will be lost.
6. Switching to the $15 plan with rewards helping to cover a partial or full amount of your plan allows you to call forward your pm number to your voip number (textnow or fongo)  before you leave Canada.. Now any incoming calling to your pm number will ring thru to your voip number while on wifi or mobile data (w/a local or global sim card) You can access your voip #'s voicemail for all voicemail messages.

Most important mark on your calendar day 85 of your suspension and day 89/90. Do not forget when you must unsuspend your account via lost/stolen and/or pay and reactivate your service so you don't lose your phone number and account. Do not leave reactivation to the last day leave yourself at least 2 days of leeway and plan to reactivate at the latest by day 87!!  Happy travels and Stay--Safe!

Edit in bold.

[Yummy]

There is no way to suspend account and keep number for that long. The only option is:

- Downgrade your Plan to cheapest $15 Plan.

- Make sure your account has no more funds in the Available Funds

- Disable Autopay. Your account will be suspended on next renewal due to no pay.

- Log in around 88th day and pay for the next 30 days. Remember to log in as after 90 days of no pay account will be deleted.

[dabr]

@softech   Going by OP's profile they are on the old rewards and are probably receiving $4 loyalty + $2 autopay, so I'd suggest that they suspend (pause) and reactivate before 90th day of suspension, especially if they plan on coming back for short term visits and need their number before their official return in late 2024. 

[softech]

@swp1008 

you are leaving for long time, it does not worth the effort to reactivate every 90 days to keep alive,  I think 

Consider to port out the number to Fongo for a one time fee of $25, then free after.  During the time with Fongo, yiu cam still use the phone number using Fongo app.

  When you are back in Canada,  then pick a mobile provider to port the number out of Fongo

[HALIMACS]

@swp1008 

Your best option if you want to keep the number is to pay on the $15 plan and when the cycle expires your account will go into a suspended state for up to 90 days.

On day 85 - 88, reactivate on the $15 plan.

Rinse and repeat this until you return and want the service again.

[computergeek541]

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@swp1008 wrote:

Due to business reasons, I had to move to outside of Canada. I will comeback to Canada around October 2024. My account currently is suspended and will be deactivated after 3 months.

However, I still have $6 funds in my account along with 300 mins of international phone call with many minutes remaining. 

I still want to keep my phone number.

Considering the reasons above, is it possible to PAUSE my account and have it reactivated upon my return on October 2024?

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All accounts that have been suspended for 90 days automatically get closed permanently. The only way around this is to make sure that doesn't happen by renewing your plan before that happens.