Is there a way to suspend an account for an extended time period?

[mrgisa]

Hi All,

My wife and I relatively new customers (2 months) at Public Mobile and we've enjoyed using it here.  We saw no need to pay premium prices for old phones we had paid off and our only regret is that we did not do it sooner.

That said, my phone has seriously outlived it's usefulness and reliability and I will need to get a new one soon.  In chatting casually with a phone provider at a grocery store, I have been given a very good immediate, but time-sensitive offer to switch over to another provider.  I don't want to leave PM but we can't afford to buy a phone outright.  My wife and I also have $75 in referral credits/funds which would effectively be wasted if we switch over to another carrier since this good deal that I have will only be around for a week or two at most.

In trying to find a solution, I wanted to ask if there is a way to suspend our accounts?  If I were to buy a new phone, I would happily come back to PM after it was paid off (or more affordable to pay it off in a a year and a bit) but I don't want to lose the $75 in credits we have now.  If our accounts were suspended, and then we could reactivate them later with the credits there, then that would solve everything (and encourage us to come back, as if we needed that!).

Thanks for any constructive ideas and suggestions.

Sincerely,

Mr. Gisa

[torontokris]

@mrgisa There are $100 phones out there that work just as well. Motorola E4 quad core snapdragon 16GB etc. Most people do not need $1000 phones yet the phone companies are making us believe we do. 

[mrgisa]

Just wanted to say "thank you" to everyone who quickly replied to give me advice.  I was not expecting this kind of response. You guys rock!

I am happy to share the deal details with you guys. That said, I think I will hold off until Black Friday, since our phones still function and the one's we want (kind of near the sweet spot, as in not the best and newest model, but something that should still be okay as time goes on) should come down a little bit in price (more below). That's the best solution so that I don't lose the credits we've earned. Time is a strange thing, but with technology (and if one has the patience) it can be quite powerful.

Okay, back to the deal.

I trade in my Moto x 2nd gen (I know it's a dinosaur, lol don't laugh) and my wife trades in her Samsung Galaxy Note S4. We switch over to Fido.

My wife would get a new Samsung A8. She gets 180,000 PC points (so $180) plus her trade in value of $70 for Note S4 ($250 total). Her plan is 4 GB, unlimited canada calling, $10 off her monthly bill for ther first year (so $50 for the first year, with the option to change plans if we wanted after the discount drops).

I would get a new Samsung Galaxy S8 for free (the $250 is used towards the down payment on the S8). I get 4 GB, 500 mins a month (I rarely call and could use my wife's phone to call family out of province if need be), $10 off the first year.

Pay $55, but this would be added as a second line, with a 10% off promotion, so I'd be paying $50 for the first year. Can change plans after a year.

Edit: also get unlimited SMS messaging (my wife and I message each other a lot). We pay a $60 activation fee, but that's refunded a few months in as a credit on our bills.

In my mind, this is a really really good deal to get two good phones for not much more than what we're paying now ($47 and $47 monthly) and literally nothing down.  Most plans I saw started much higher.

Still, I think it's worth holding out until Black Friday because I don't want to lose the credits and I think the A8/S8 could come down slightly. We don't need new phones now and I can make mine last until then.

Thoughts? Am I right to think that I should pass on this or is this that good of a deal that I should swallow the $75 hit and go with it before it's gone?

Mr. Gisa

[GreatCanadian]

@will13am,

It's funny that you should mention that phone. I referred a friend to PM and activated her Redmi Note 5 yesterday. I played around with the phone for 10 or 15 minutes, and I have to agree with your opinion. It's a great phone, and a spectacular phone for the price!! 

GC

[ottawa]

---

@mrgisa wrote:

 In chatting casually with a phone provider at a grocery store, I have been given a very good immediate, but time-sensitive offer to switch over to another provider.  I don't want to leave PM but we can't afford to buy a phone outright. 

---

As others said, you can leave your PM account unpaid (but if you have a $75 credit with PM you also need to suspend the account by pressing "lost/stolen" so they don't take money from the $75). 

Could you live with new phone numbers? If the new provider doesn't require porting your existing number, you could use their new numbers for now. To keep your PM account alive, after 85 days of inactivity, turn it on, let it bill you for 1 month, then suspend for another 85 days. If that's an option, you could switch it to the $10 plan right before letting it go dead the first time.

Also consider how generous the up-front bribe is from the grocery store. Is it more than the cost of the handset? For example, $350 in GC or supermarket points vs $240 being financed for a new (but not brand new, not flagship) handset? You're talking about cancelling after a year and coming back to PM, but how did you come up with that number?

I assume you're thinking of Koodo, The Mobile Shop (inside Loblaws, RCSS, etc.), PCOptimum, but could you share the details of the offer? 

And finally, if you've got $75 each in credits, remember right now the offers are Back-To-School and that Black Friday (Nov 26) is now only 3 months away. The offers for BF are (almost) certain to be at least as good, if not better, then than they are today, and in 3 months you'll have burned through your PM credit and it will be easier to break away (if you can live with your handset for 3 more months).

=aw

[will13am]

@mrgisa, generally I am not a fan of buying phones from carriers because they are most often over priced and come wrapped with a phone plan that may not be suitable.  I am not sure what the budget is.  This is a phone that I think is one of the screaming buys of the year.  It is full featured, comes with a huge battery that should yield years of service even when the battery weakens with time.  I posted two variants, the 32GB and 64GB models.  There is slight variations in price with color selection.  The cheapest option is just over $200, shipped to the door without tax or duty. 

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Global-Version-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-5-3GB-32GB-Snapdragon-636-...

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Global-Version-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-5-4GB-64GB-5-99-Full-Screen-Dual-Ca...

[Dunkman]

@mrgisa

If your "deal" is with Koodo, some people have been able to transfer their public mobile credit over to Koodo.  YMMV.  No guarantee though....  Since Public Mobile and Koodo are both owned by Telus.  

Otherwise, what you ask is difficult to do....  The longest you can suspend your account is 90 days.  As stated above, if you port your number out to another mobile company, your Public Mobile account/credits are gone....

[Anonymous]

Or Canadian Amazon for like $75 unlocked. New. Cheap.

[NDesai · Accepted solution]

@mrgisa Yes, there is a way as PM allows your account to sit on Expired/Suspended status for maximum of 90 days by just turning off AutoPay. But this is not possible if you are going to port out your number to another provider as your existing account will close due to number transfer. 

There are a lot of phones available for cheap price specially right now during back to school season. Here are the current phone offers going on: 

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/london-drug-lg-g7-0-koodo-medium-tab-2219073/

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/koodo-wow-koodo-back-school-promos-2215952/