Leaving the country temporarily

[saumyagxpta]

Do I need to put my Public Mobile account on hold if I am leaving the country for about 4 months?

Will I still need to pay for my plan as per usual?

How can I contact a customer service agent about this?

[darlicious]

@saumyagxpta 

To address a few points here are your options....if you have joined pm after January 24th 2022 and on the points program reward $$ amounts do not apply.

Spoiler

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. Moderator/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  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 fongo voicemail for all voicemail messages.

Most important mark on your calendar day 85 of your suspension and day 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. Happy travels!

**Note: If your "rewards" are points it's indeterminate (atm) if points being applied is affected by the lost/stolen glitch....but presumably so....monitor your rewards account and/or check when you return.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include in your private messaging only your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[JL9]

Very good point, you will lose it forever. So if you have a plan like that you would have to pay full price when gone, but it would only be for one month if you time it right.

[wetcoaster]

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@Yummy wrote:

And you can downgrade your plan to $15 Plan (if you are not on it already) so at around 88th day you will pay only $15 to renew it. You will have to pay manually since autopay should be deactivated.

And if you are old customer (before 2022.01.25) and price is no an issue, just leave autopay with $15 plan and your account will be active all the time. Of course autopay might fail then you will be back here asking how to resolve that (if you do not know already).

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However, if you are a long time customer and are on a grandfathered plan that is no longer offered, and that is appealing to you for whatever reason, be aware that you can't get that plan back once you have changed to an in-market plan like the $15 plan.

[Yummy]

And you can downgrade your plan to $15 Plan (if you are not on it already) so at around 88th day you will pay only $15 to renew it. You will have to pay manually since autopay should be deactivated.

And if you are old customer (before 2022.01.25) and price is no an issue, just leave autopay with $15 plan and your account will be active all the time. Of course autopay might fail then you will be back here asking how to resolve that (if you do not know already).

[dust2dust]

Doing this around 4 months depends on careful timing. It depends on when your current 30 days ends and when you intend to leave. Then at the far end when you intend to need services again.

1. active plan

2. leave

3. let suspend

4. up to 90 days

5. top up to reactivate

6. return

You're going to sort of waste money one end or the other or both but you keep your account alive. Just don't let it go beyond 90 days in suspension.

[popping]

@saumyagxpta 

If you do not want to keep track of the date you need to reactivate your plan 1 time during your vacation, you can switch your plan to the cheapest $15 plan.  You will be paying $13 with your autopay reward or less with other rewards such as loyalty and referral.  This is relatively inexpensive comparing other mobile providers' fee on vacation hold.

Rogers charges $20/m, Koodo charges $15/m etc.

[Dunkman]

Here is a helpful article on extend absence.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/Extended-Absence/m-p/142735#M129086

[Yummy · Accepted solution]

You can suspend your account for a maximum of 90 days without losing your number. After 90 days, your number will be gone and your account will be permanently closed.

It is simple to suspended the account: make sure your account has no more funds in the Available Fund, disable Autopay and remove credit card. In this case, PM will not be able to get the funds and your account will go to suspended state at the end of that cycle. The 90 days count start from that day.

You can reactivate your account by putting in enough funds – full plan cost and click Reactivate you account anytime after but before the 90th day. However, I suggest you to activate no later than the 85th days, just in case.

You can also click Lost/Stolen button to suspend the account right away and the 90 days will also start immediately.

[softech]

@saumyagxpta you should.

but you have to come  back to reactivate for at least once for one month to keep the number alive.  You cannot suspend your account for over 90 days or the account would got closed permanently and you loss your number