Pausing &/or changing plans

[Ybradbury]

I  am considering switching my Bell acount to Public Mobile and have some questions.  My situation is that i live in canada about 6 months a year and the rest of the year in the USA. I  already have a cell phone company in the US. 

If I  switch to PM in Canada, I  would like to pause my PM account (keeping my number) for the 5 to 6 months I  am out of the country.  My US carrier allows me to pause for the other 6 months for a small fee. Is it possible to do this with PM?  If so, how to I  do this?  

My other question is how long does it normally take if I  switch from Bell to PM to have my number ported over?

Thanks. 

[Ybradbury]

Thank you.  The link you gave was just perfect and explained it all.  It seems that the cheapest and most convenient way for me, if I  switch to PM, is to put my account into suspension for 80 to 90 days ( with a BIG alarm to remind me, lol), and then re-activate with the least expensive plan available for the next 2 or 3 months.  That would give me my 5 to 6 months out of country, only one "to do" to remember and would only cost $20 to $30.00.

Cant ask for better than that! 

Thank you to everyone who helped. 

[Dogbert]

When you say for 6 months out of the year.

Do you mean 6 months in a row, or does your away from Canada never exceed 90 days?

Depending on your situation; you've got a number of different options.

If you never exceed 90 days, it's simple; you could just not renewal your service for the time you're away.  Important: If you do go over 90 days, you're account will be suspended and you will lose your number.

If it's 6 months (~180 days away) in a row, then I would recommend coverting to PM's $10/month plan and prepay for 4 months (~120 days) [pre-load your account with $40] of service.  Once your come back, you could switch over to a plan that suites your needs and continue your service with PM.

You maybe better off with one of their parent company's US Canada (North American) plans and avoid the hassle all together.  However for this convience, it's not the most economical option.

[wetcoaster]

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@sunflowershine wrote:

@YbradburyYou can get the $10 plan before the first 90 days arrived. Then you have 30 days period in between. You can get back your regular plan when you come back from the States.

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@sunflowershine 

If you are changing plans you can not switch back to a (grandfathered) plan that is no longer offered when you resume your service after returning.

Something to consider if you are on a promo plan / special offer that you want to keep.

[Dunkman]

@Ybradbury 

Luddite's summary of extended absence is a good starting point for pausing account (as stated above).  Different ways to do it.... depends on how involved you want to be to keep track of dates and cost savings...  

As for porting to Public Mobile, the time frame usually within a few hours up to one day maximum for porting from other mobile companies.  If landline or VOIP, can take up to one week.  

[sunflowershine]

@YbradburyYou can get the $10 plan before the first 90 days arrived. Then you have 30 days period in between. You can get back your regular plan when you come back from the States.

[wetcoaster]

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Paying-for-your-service/Extended-Absence/m-p/142735#M...

As for number porting, from a cell phone usually in the range of 2 - 4 hours, landlines and VoIP can take up a week or so.

Note: Bell has reportedly put a hold on port requests in the past. Once they got a chance to talk to the customer and tried to persuade them to stay, the port would go through very fast.

[will13am · Accepted solution]

Public Mobile doesn't have an official way to pause accounts for a fee. Customers simply don't pay the renewal and let the account go into suspension.  Suspension beyond 90 days will result in amount deactivation.  So you would need to restore the account to active status once in a 6 month period. I guess this can be referred to as payment to pause the account.