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Extended Absence

Luddite
Oracle
Oracle

UPDATED: Oct/19 ☘️   En français ci-dessous
[Thanks to @mimmo for catching some errors]


AN ABSENCE OF MORE THAN 90 DAYS IS POSSIBLE BUT SOMEWHAT COMPLEX

Public Mobile allows reactivation of an account up to 90 days after Expiry. If reactivation is missed the account is deleted, the phone number lost, and SIM deactivated. If you have, and wish to retain, a legacy (pre Jan 27/15), grandfathered plan (fall 2016 promo plan, Freedom promo for example) this is the only option you have as you can only keep a "grandfathered" plan by reactivating your current plan within the suspension period. So, 90 days (say 85 to be safe) is the longest you can wait after expiry to reactivate.

If you are willing to reactivate on your return with any current plan, longer absences can be managed. The easiest will cost $13/30 days: leave autopay activate and select the $15 (net $13) plan to take effect as soon as your current plan expires after you have left. On your return reactivate a current plan. As it would be on autopay, you can just ignore Public Mobile until you return.

 

If $13/30 days seems to rich, then you need to be prepared to track dates carefully. The cheaper way is accomplished by activating the 30 day limited calling/texting plan (currently $15) every 85 - 89 days in order to maintain your account and phone number. This can be done from anywhere you have an internet connection by logging into your account. When you return to Canada, just activate the plan you want.

The procedure is to first deactivate autopay, then login to your account each time you need to extend your absence and make a one-time payment of $15. The first time you would select Change Plan now, on each subsequent extension the $15 payment "should" reactivate the current $15 plan. Be sure to confirm the plan is Active after each payment.
When you return to Canada login to your account and make a one-time payment equal to the plan you want, then select Change Plan now. 
__________________________________________________________________

MISE À JOUR: Oct/19 ☘️

UNE ABSENCE DE PLUS DE 90 JOURS EST POSSIBLE MAIS QUELQUE PEU COMPLEXE

Public Mobile permet la réactivation d'un compte jusqu'à 90 jours après l'expiration. Si la réactivation est manquée, le compte est supprimé, le numéro de téléphone est perdu et la carte SIM est désactivée. Si vous avez, et souhaitez conserver, un legs (avant le 27 janvier 2015), un régime d'antériorité (plan promo automne 2016, promotion Freedom par exemple), c'est la seule option que vous avez, car vous ne pouvez garder un régime de «droits acquis» réactiver votre plan actuel pendant la période de suspension. Donc, 90 jours (disons 85 pour être sûr) est le plus long que vous pouvez attendre après l'expiration pour réactiver.

 

Si vous êtes prêt à réactiver votre retour avec un plan en cours, vous pouvez gérer des absences plus longues. Le plus simple coûtera 13 $ / 30 jours: laissez l'autopay activé et sélectionnez le plan à 15 $ (13 $ nets) qui prendra effet dès que votre plan actuel expirera après votre départ. À votre retour, réactivez un plan en cours. Comme ce serait le cas pour le paiement automatique, vous pouvez simplement ignorer Public Mobile jusqu'à votre retour.

Si 13/30 $ paraissent trop riches, vous devez être prêt à suivre les dates avec soin. Le moyen le plus économique consiste à activer le plan d’appels / SMS limité à 30 jours (15 $ actuellement) tous les 85 à 89 jours afin de conserver votre compte et votre numéro de téléphone. Cela peut être fait à partir de n'importe quel endroit où vous avez une connexion Internet en vous connectant à votre compte. Lorsque vous revenez au Canada, activez simplement le plan que vous souhaitez.
La procédure consiste d'abord à désactiver le paiement automatique, puis à vous connecter à votre compte chaque fois que vous devez prolonger votre absence et effectuer un paiement unique de 15 $. La première fois que vous sélectionnez Change Plan maintenant, à chaque extension ultérieure, le paiement de 15 $ "devrait" réactiver le plan actuel de 15 $. Assurez-vous de confirmer que le plan est actif après chaque paiement.
Lorsque vous revenez au Canada, connectez-vous à votre compte et effectuez un paiement ponctuel égal au forfait souhaité, puis sélectionnez Modifier le forfait maintenant.


>>> ALERT: I am not a CSA. Je ne suis pas un Agent du soutien à la clientèle.
48 REPLIES 48


@sandhuhk wrote:

Is it 90 days from the last payment or from the last day of active period. E.g. if I make payment on Oct 15th so my last  active day would be Nov 13th (30 days). Do I need to calculate 90 days from Oct 15th or Nov 13th to keep my account active.


It is ALWAYS 90 days from when the account is suspended, whether done automatically by the system, e.g. due to insufficient funds at time of renewal, or done manually.

 

You can actually see the exact date the system will make your account inactive on the Overview (main) page of your self-serve account.

 

Always make sure you renew the account NO LATER than the date BEFORE the expiry date. Take note of any system maintenance window that could prevent you from logging into your account to perform this in time.


@sandhuhk wrote:

Is it 90 days from the last payment or from the last day of active period. E.g. if I make payment on Oct 15th so my last  active day would be Nov 13th (30 days). Do I need to calculate 90 days from Oct 15th or Nov 13th to keep my account active.


It's 120 days from last payment and 90 days from suspension, ie: when the account received no payment for that cycle.

GR
Mayor / Maire

@sandhuhk  I believe it's 90 days of inactivity so starting Nov 13.  Don't wait until the 90th day to make it back active 

sandhuhk
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Is it 90 days from the last payment or from the last day of active period. E.g. if I make payment on Oct 15th so my last  active day would be Nov 13th (30 days). Do I need to calculate 90 days from Oct 15th or Nov 13th to keep my account active.


@Colin50 wrote:

Thank you very much, what I will do then is make sure there is $50 before the 90 days runs out, so I don’t loose the promotional plan that I am super happy with.

 

cheers

colin


If you are leaving for 6 months and want to save $, if you have enough funds in you account, have your account suspended, either manually using the Lost/Stolen Phone feature in self-serve or by requesting a moderator to do it. If you do not have enough funds to cover yoru existing plan, simply turn off AutoPay and your account will automatically be suspended. Then you have 90 days to top up and reactivate your account, by reactivating it via self-serve.

 

Once your account is reactivated, leave it expire again at the end of the period (at this point at least 150 days will have passed; 30 days for your plan, 90 days for the suspended status, plus 30 days for the reactivated period, then the account will be suspended again). And again at this point you will have another 90 days to reactivate it, but you will have been back long before that and have plenty of time. And all it will cost you is $50.

 

That said, Are you on the 90 day plan or 30 day plan? If the 90 day, this changes the math and timing but the principle is the same. Then you will need to have $150 in your account when you reactivate, unless you switch to 30 day before your account is suspended. 

 

HTH.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@Colin50 wrote:

Thank you very much, what I will do then is make sure there is $50 before the 90 days runs out, so I don’t loose the promotional plan that I am super happy with.

 

cheers

colin


Right.

But watch that Available Funds balance if it's enough to cover your plan. And turn off autopay if you're using that.

Colin50
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Thank you very much, what I will do then is make sure there is $50 before the 90 days runs out, so I don’t loose the promotional plan that I am super happy with.

 

cheers

colin

Anonymous
Not applicable

@Colin50 wrote:

I am still not really clear on this, I am heading south for the winter for 6 months, my current plan is $50 a month, would I have a balance owing of $150 at the end of the 90 days, or just $50 for the current month at the end of the 90 days.

 

if so then my best option would be to switch to a $10 a month plan and just leave enough of a credit to cover the 90 days at a time so for six months just leave $60 in the account.

 

thanks in advance


 @Colin50:

Edit: No. The former. But do part of the latter. Change to the $10 plan. Let it suspend for 85 days after the term. Then renew for the $10. There's a month. Let it suspend for another 85 days and you're there.

When your term expires you don't go into any kind of arrears. When you renew you start a new term. But if you have rewards you would need to do the lost/stolen function to suspend your account to not use any of your rewards for renewing on its own. But still staying with the 85 days.

 

But if that plan is a promotional plan or a legacy plan then you won't get it back.

Colin50
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

I am still not really clear on this, I am heading south for the winter for 6 months, my current plan is $50 a month, would I have a balance owing of $150 at the end of the 90 days, or just $50 for the current month at the end of the 90 days.

 

if so then my best option would be to switch to a $10 a month plan and just leave enough of a credit to cover the 90 days at a time so for six months just leave $60 in the account.

 

thanks in advance

Acekiller
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

good to know!


@pm-smayer97 wrote:

@canada168 wrote:

Another question, while my account on suspend , will the remaining add-ons roll over ?


Good quesiton. Since add-ons do not get removed when you place account on hold and since they cannot get used up, it would make sense that they remain until account is closed. But would be good to get confirmation from a @CS_Agent.


Yes, it will roll over as long as the plan is renewed within 90 days. 

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If you need to contact PM Customer Support Agent, send a Private Message.


@canada168 wrote:

Another question, while my account on suspend , will the remaining add-ons roll over ?


Good quesiton. Since add-ons do not get removed when you place account on hold and since they cannot get used up, it would make sense that they remain until account is closed. But would be good to get confirmation from a @CS_Agent.

canada168
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Another question, while my account on suspend , will the remaining add-ons roll over ?

zahirkassam86
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Not 100% shure but more than a 2 months ?

 

If account was deleted do i have to creat a new one and can we check if we can have the same TN.

 


@zahirkassam86 wrote:

Hi I want to make a payment on an account that i did not use for a while but when i diall *611 on my phone it shows that i do not have access to a network.  How can i make that payment and when i tried to loggin to my account on self serve it does not recognize my email address. Thanks for any assistance


@zahirkassam86

How long is "for a while"?

If it's been longer than 90 days since your last day of service your account has been deleted and your phone number is lost.

zahirkassam86
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Hi I want to make a payment on an account that i did not use for a while but when i diall *611 on my phone it shows that i do not have access to a network.  How can i make that payment and when i tried to loggin to my account on self serve it does not recognize my email address. Thanks for any assistance


@mmcgreal wrote:

I was not clear: there is no legal requirement to return to Canada when collecting a pension in a foreign nation. Rather, people return to maintain their medicare coverage. The legal requirement is 6 months residency in Canada to maintain medicare coverage, as I understand it.


This makes mmore sense 😉

 

mmcgreal
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I was not clear: there is no legal requirement to return to Canada when collecting a pension in a foreign nation. Rather, people return to maintain their medicare coverage. The legal requirement is 6 months residency in Canada to maintain medicare coverage, as I understand it.

JFF
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Good to know. Thanks


@wetcoaster wrote:

@mmcgreal wrote:

I would suggest pm consider permitting an account suspension of 6 months, as this is the period retired Canadians, collecting a pension, spend outside the country, by law.


You are legally required to leave the country for 6 months if you are collecting a pension in Canada??? Learn something new every day...

(Sorry, couldn't help myself...)


Lol, pretty funny indeed. 

 

I think the OP wanted to say "... as this is the maximum period retired Canadians, collecting a pension, can spend outside the country per year in order to keep receiving their pension", or something along this 😉

For more up-to-date info on this topic, I suggest you read this post:

When and How to Suspend or Place an account on Hold (Extended absence, etc)

 

 

 


@mmcgreal wrote:

I would suggest pm consider permitting an account suspension of 6 months, as this is the period retired Canadians, collecting a pension, spend outside the country, by law.


You are legally required to leave the country for 6 months if you are collecting a pension in Canada??? Learn something new every day...

(Sorry, couldn't help myself...)

pm-smayer97
Mayor / Maire

There is one catch to all of this that people need to know. If you have sufficient credit in the account to cover your selected plan, PM will automatically renew the plan for another period according to your set-up (30 or 90 days), EVEN IF you have auto-pay turned off.

 

If this is your situation, you HAVE TO contact a moderator to place your account on hold so your funds are not used up. Then you will need to contact a moderator again when you ready to reactivate your account.

 

Or you can use Self-Serve and suspend your account yourself. Just follow these simple steps:

  1. Log on to Self-Serve
  2. Go to [Plans & Addons] tab
  3. Go to [Lost/Stolen Phone] tab
  4. Click (Suspend Service) button

Reminder: Suspending your account will cause you to lose your balance, will automatically turn off AutoPay, and any features that require that AutoPayto stay or you to keep an active account.

 

 

mmcgreal
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I would suggest pm consider permitting an account suspension of 6 months, as this is the period retired Canadians, collecting a pension, spend outside the country, by law.

brainfreze
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

That's what I figured. Most people on a no-longer-offered plan would have to put their account in delinquency to benefit from the account hold then.


wrote:

If you change your plan to a reduced rate (texting/talk only) you're essentially relinquishing your existing plan, are you not?

 

After you decide to reactivate your original plan it will no longer be there to select. 


You can always "reduce" (change) your plan to something which costs less, unless it's already at the minimum possible plan structure.

 

And you can always change your plan "back".  As long as it's still being offered.

But if your "old" plan options (or prices) have been discontinued then poof.

brainfreze
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

If you change your plan to a reduced rate (texting/talk only) you're essentially relinquishing your existing plan, are you not?

 

After you decide to reactivate your original plan it will no longer be there to select. 

LeSong
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

One more reason to have me as a loyal customer for PM all day long ..

happy holidays everyone .. 🎉🎊🎖🎁

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