Suspending subscription

[RV99]

My son is going to Europe for a year, and we would like to keep his cell phone number.

I know that I can suspend his plan for 90 days, but can I keep suspending it for a year. I was thinking of suspending his plan for 90 days, activate for 30 days, then suspend again for 90 days. Is this allowed?

[dabr]

@RV99    Approx. 3 payments over a year should be sufficient (keep in mind PM has 30 days renewal cycles and not monthly) to keep the account and number from being lost during suspension. 

Make sure to check the payment due date from the Payment tab in My Account although PM is a little deceptive regarding the actual renewal date (last day to reactivate the account) which is one day before the date shown under the payment tab.   However, you should be noting that date (once the account suspends) and reactivate 3 or 4 days prior to be on the safe side.

[RV99]

Thanks for your input; I will look into Fongo.

[RV99]

Thank you for the clarification. So my payment/suspension schedule will be like this. If so, I might just keep his account at PM since transferring his number to/from a different (cheaper) provider will still cost $25 each time.

Aug-Sep: pay, Sep-Oct: suspend, Oct-Nov: suspend, Nov-Dec: suspend, Dec-Jan: pay, Jan-Feb: suspend, Feb-Mar: suspend, Mar-Apr: suspend, Apr-May: pay, May-Jun: suspend, Jun-Jul: suspend, Jul-Aug: suspend

[dabr]

@RV99   Yes that's how the suspension option works (120 days from payment and 90 days from suspension - non renewal - date).  

The reason to renew a few days before end of suspension expiry is to allow for any payment or site glitches as that is a regular occurrence at PM, unfortunately.  At end of 90 days of suspension without payment the account is closed and number would be lost.

Going elsewhere to par the number is probably a good idea as it offers more of a savings compared to PM's vacation pause option since there is no longer any legacy rewards to lose, unless, that is, your son has a lot of holiday freebies (data/int. minutes) that he would like to retain, of course.  Number Barn is another option to consider for parking a number in addition to what's already been mentioned.

[eddieO]

@RV99 If you want to save money look into porting the number out to a service like Fongo for a one time $25, then when he returns from Europe he's free to sign up with any carrier offering the best value, and if he comes back to PM he could sign up for the "New activation only" plans that existing customers cannot sign up for. The only downside to this idea is that if he has a lot of friend referrals he would lose them but if he doesn't then it make it even easier.

[Meow]

No, you cannot. You have to log in every 85th day (before 90th day) renew for the next 30 days and suspend it again. Repeat process until he is back.
Or you can downgrade his plan to lowest available to his account and leave it as is renewing (paying) every 30 days.