Heading overseas and want to keep my number active and accessible

[kelseyc]

Hi Team Public Mobile!

I'll be heading down to Nicaragua in August for 6 months or so and am wanting to keep my Canadian number active and accessible, if possible.

Is there a plan that I could switch to that would allow me to keep the number active and be able to check my voicemail (but reply via calls from my local Nicaraguan number?)

Text messaging would be a bonus too!

Appreciate your help so much!

[kelseyc]

Ohhh great point @Dunkman thanks for bringing that to my attention!!

[Dunkman]

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@kelseyc wrote:

@darlicious , @cellphoneuser1 and @softech thank you all so much for these solutions!

Fongo sounds like it's the way to go - either through porting out or via call forwarding! 

Appreciate your help! Wishing you all wellness and joy 🙂

Kelsey

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@kelseyc 

Glad to hear that you figured things out. 

FYI: if you do port to Fongo, you will lose whatever rewards that you have build up with PM (i.e loyalty, friends).  For some customers, losing those rewards is not worth it.  

[softech]

@kelseyc  enjoy your trip and see you back in PM after 6 months  🙂

[kelseyc]

@darlicious , @cellphoneuser1 and @softech thank you all so much for these solutions!

Fongo sounds like it's the way to go - either through porting out or via call forwarding! 

Appreciate your help! Wishing you all wellness and joy 🙂

Kelsey

[softech]

@kelseyc  an alternate way, slight more work but a bit cheaper is to port your number out to another VoIP provider such as Fongo

it's $25 to port into Fongo and if you stay with them for > 3 months, it is free to port away from Fongo after you are back.

After you port into Fongo, you download their app and use the service with the app.  People still call you and your app will ring. You can make calls back to Canada using the app

It's a bit of work to begin with and to port it back to a mobile provider when you are back.    

[darlicious · Accepted solution]

@kelseyc 

You have a couple of options to keep your account and phone number while away from Canada. You can simply suspend your account via lost/stolen before midnight eastern on the evening of your renewal. This will keep your voicemail active and you can retrieve your messages by calling your phone number and pressing * once it connects and entering your 4 digit pin#.

You then have 90 days until your account will be cancelled and deactivated. It is recommended that you pay and renew your service by day 85 so if you encounter any issues you have time to contact a moderator to help sort out any issues. After you pay and renew you again suspend your service via lost/stolen as before.

Alternatively you can schedule a change on next renewal to the $15 plan. Download the fongo app. Call forward your pm number to your fongo number. Remove your sim and leave it somewhere safe in Canada. Now all your incoming pm calls will go to your fongo number and voicemail. Fongo will work on both wifi and mobile data. So if you have a local sim it will be almost as though you have your pm phone number with you. Texts however cannot be forwarded.

[cellphoneuser1]

@kelseyc  There's no vacation plan. You have to be careful so that plan doesn't stay suspended for 90 days. The cheapest plan is 30 days.  You could check the voicemail but you have to use a different phone to call back to Canada and press * to listen.  For replying to messages, you won't get texts unless you leave your phone in Canada and get someone to tell you about the messages. Public Mobile won't work overseas.