Possible to voluntarily suspend account, but keep it active?

[fuGGet321]

I've done this in the past with Koodo, but I'm curious how and if this would work with the prepaid model of PM (I'm a new customer awaiting my SIM in the mail)

Let's say I'm about to go travel for 3 months. Is it possible to put my account in a suspended/disabled state such that none of my services are active, but I can keep my number attached to my name? That way I don't have to be paying for services I won't be using in that 3 month window, and don't have to give up my number.

For example, with Koodo I had a $30 a month plan, and if I wanted to do this account suspension thing, they charged my $10 a month for the 3 months I wanted to have my phone # in a sort of limited state. Curious how a similar request would be handled by PM?

[Dylan3]

You can do this by suspending your service for your plan.

But you need to pay for the plan at least one time before 3 months so you do not lose the phone number you currently have attached to the plan.

[Anonymous]

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@fuGGet321 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

 @fuGGet321 

The plan stays. I'm nursing along the old $10 plan every 4 months just in case. Been doing so maybe 3 times now.

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How about Rewards? Would those get retained? Obviously AutoPay would stop, but what about friend referral?

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The rewards will stop being added into Available Funds at renewal because the account is not renewing. Thanks Captain Obvious 🙂

If you were referred, officially, the referrer will lose your dollar while you're suspended.

As popping said, the accumulated loyalty time apparently gets paused.

You could still participate here and perhaps even still get recognition for it but again, without renewing, the reward won't convert.

But I don't know, and doubt, that they would all catch up upon reactivating. I would think they would start again from that point.

The account I'm keeping alive has no rewards on it so I can't answer that for sure.

[popping]

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@fuGGet321 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

 @fuGGet321 

The plan stays. I'm nursing along the old $10 plan every 4 months just in case. Been doing so maybe 3 times now.

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How about Rewards? Would those get retained? Obviously AutoPay would stop, but what about friend referral?

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Yes, your reward(s) will continue after your reactivate your account.  The loyalty reward will be delayed the same # of days while you are suspended.

[fuGGet321]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 @fuGGet321 

The plan stays. I'm nursing along the old $10 plan every 4 months just in case. Been doing so maybe 3 times now.

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How about Rewards? Would those get retained? Obviously AutoPay would stop, but what about friend referral?

[Pawprints1986]

interesting to learn that some carriers have that vacation feature. 

Does anyone ever see public going post paid? Just wondering. im sure it would have happened by now if they were... would post paid require more staff? even if it stayed community/online only? is post paid more maintainence to keep active?

would be neat if that ever did happen to see things like port protection on par with koodo, auto roam 1 day add ons and even maybe the worldwide roam capacity, as well as the just learned vacation mode if ever needed, ability to go over in minutes or data by a bit but not being cut off-for those who would rather it that way - but at public pricing by being online managed only still.... ahhh in a perfect world eh? 😊😊

[popping]

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@fuGGet321 wrote:

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@popping wrote:

@fuGGet321 

Koodo is charging $15/m for the vacation hold now. 

During vacation hold, you can port your Koodo number to another provider.

Maximum vacation hold is 6 months.

PM does not have vacation hold.  But you can stop payment on your next renewal date.  Your account will be suspended.  Your account will be canceled 90 days after suspension.  You can pay and reactivate your account any time before the 90 days.  There is no limits on how many time that you pay 30days service + suspended for 89days.  But your need to monitor this process yourself.  You can switch to the $15 plan before stopping payment.  Cost is $15 every 119 days if you remember to reactivate your account before 90 days after suspension.

During suspension, you cannot port your PM number to other non-Telus providers.  You can port to Telus or Koodo while your PM account is suspended.

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Interesting.. so if I needed to "deactivate" my account for however long I needed (and wanted keep my number), I could extrapolate this idea indefinitely? So long as I was organized and kept track of my dates closely, I could pay $15, and that would cover 119 days (30 active + 89 suspended)?

By extension, when the account is in a state of suspension, do I "keep" my plan? Or would I be forced to switch to a current plan in the process of reactivating my account? I'm just considering the possibility of PM's currently available plans changing somewhere within that 89 day window.

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Yes, you can keep your current plan during suspension and repeat this for every 119 days.

But if you change your current plan to the cheapest $15 plan, you can get the $15 plan back when you reactivate your account.  But you may not get your current plan back if it is no long offered at the time you want if back. 

If your current plan is no longer offered, don't switch to the cheapest plan for suspension as you are kissing your grandfathered plan good bye.

If you like your current plan, don't switch to the cheapest plan as you may not get it back when you want it.

[geopublic]

@fuGGet321  Correct you can do it indefinitely and you get to keep your plan. 🙂

[Anonymous]

 @fuGGet321 

The plan stays. I'm nursing along the old $10 plan every 4 months just in case. Been doing so maybe 3 times now.

[fuGGet321]

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@popping wrote:

@fuGGet321 

Koodo is charging $15/m for the vacation hold now. 

During vacation hold, you can port your Koodo number to another provider.

Maximum vacation hold is 6 months.

PM does not have vacation hold.  But you can stop payment on your next renewal date.  Your account will be suspended.  Your account will be canceled 90 days after suspension.  You can pay and reactivate your account any time before the 90 days.  There is no limits on how many time that you pay 30days service + suspended for 89days.  But your need to monitor this process yourself.  You can switch to the $15 plan before stopping payment.  Cost is $15 every 119 days if you remember to reactivate your account before 90 days after suspension.

During suspension, you cannot port your PM number to other non-Telus providers.  You can port to Telus or Koodo while your PM account is suspended.

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Interesting.. so if I needed to "deactivate" my account for however long I needed (and wanted keep my number), I could extrapolate this idea indefinitely? So long as I was organized and kept track of my dates closely, I could pay $15, and that would cover 119 days (30 active + 89 suspended)?

By extension, when the account is in a state of suspension, do I "keep" my plan? Or would I be forced to switch to a current plan in the process of reactivating my account? I'm just considering the possibility of PM's currently available plans changing somewhere within that 89 day window.

[popping · Accepted solution]

@fuGGet321 

Koodo is charging $15/m for the vacation hold now. 

During vacation hold, you can port your Koodo number to another provider.

Maximum vacation hold is 6 months.

PM does not have vacation hold.  But you can stop payment on your next renewal date.  Your account will be suspended.  Your account will be canceled 90 days after suspension.  You can pay and reactivate your account any time before the 90 days.  There is no limits on how many time that you pay 30days service + suspended for 89days.  But your need to monitor this process yourself.  You can switch to the $15 plan before stopping payment.  Cost is $15 every 119 days if you remember to reactivate your account before 90 days after suspension.

During suspension, you cannot port your PM number to other non-Telus providers.  You can port to Telus or Koodo while your PM account is suspended.

[geopublic]

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@fuGGet321 wrote:

I've done this in the past with Koodo, but I'm curious how and if this would work with the prepaid model of PM (I'm a new customer awaiting my SIM in the mail)

Let's say I'm about to go travel for 3 months. Is it possible to put my account in a suspended/disabled state such that none of my services are active, but I can keep my number attached to my name? That way I don't have to be paying for services I won't be using in that 3 month window, and don't have to give up my number.

For example, with Koodo I had a $30 a month plan, and if I wanted to do this account suspension thing, they charged my $10 a month for the 3 months I wanted to have my phone # in a sort of limited state. Curious how a similar request would be handled by PM?

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@fuGGet321  Public Mobile allows you to suspend your account for 90 days without losing your number.

So you have two options:

1. If you do not have an account balance. Disable Auto-Pay by removing the credit card from selfserve. The account will go into suspension on your next plan renewal and you will have 90 days to re-activate your account before it gets delete.
2. I you have funds in you account declare your phone stolen. You will have 90 days to declare your phone found again before you account gets deleted.

[Triguy]

You can setup autopay then remove to unofficially suspend it. Make sure make a payment before 90 days to keep your account active.

[Luddite]

@fuGGet321 No such service; for this issue we all use various versions of this workaround:https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Paying-for-your-service/Extended-Absence/m-p/142735#M....

Welcome aboard. 

The good ship "PM Adventure". 

[hairbag1]

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@fuGGet321 wrote:

I've done this in the past with Koodo, but I'm curious how and if this would work with the prepaid model of PM (I'm a new customer awaiting my SIM in the mail)

Let's say I'm about to go travel for 3 months. Is it possible to put my account in a suspended/disabled state such that none of my services are active, but I can keep my number attached to my name? That way I don't have to be paying for services I won't be using in that 3 month window, and don't have to give up my number.

For example, with Koodo I had a $30 a month plan, and if I wanted to do this account suspension thing, they charged my $10 a month for the 3 months I wanted to have my phone # in a sort of limited state. Curious how a similar request would be handled by PM?

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Downgrade to the cheaper $15 plan and have $$ in Available Funds for the first 30 days of travel. After that one expires, you'll have another 90 days before your account will close for good. You can keep your plan by renewing when you get home...as long as you do it before the 90 days. (Best to renew around day 80 just in case there's any unforeseen issues with the account). When you get home, you can upgrade to the plan of your choice then.

[computergeek541]

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@fuGGet321 wrote:

I've done this in the past with Koodo, but I'm curious how and if this would work with the prepaid model of PM (I'm a new customer awaiting my SIM in the mail)

Let's say I'm about to go travel for 3 months. Is it possible to put my account in a suspended/disabled state such that none of my services are active, but I can keep my number attached to my name? That way I don't have to be paying for services I won't be using in that 3 month window, and don't have to give up my number.

For example, with Koodo I had a $30 a month plan, and if I wanted to do this account suspension thing, they charged my $10 a month for the 3 months I wanted to have my phone # in a sort of limited state. Curious how a similar request would be handled by PM?

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There is no official option.

What you can do is "forget" to pay (if you don't have sufficient balance already in the Public Mobile account). Don't leave the account in suspended status for 90 day or you will lose your phone number.