Temporarily pausing a plan when on vacation

[Aldehyde]

Hi, I will be out of Canada for a few months and was wondering about the specific of pausing subscription. I read that you can pause the subscription for upto 90 days and retain your account and phone number. If you do subscribe abain within this 90 days limit, will you be able to get back your plan even if it is no longer sold? Or will you have to purchase one of the plans available then?

Also, I will be out of the country for longer than 90 days so I was wondering if it will be possible to resubscribe without inserting my sim and connecting it to network.

Also, are there any charges associated with pausing the subscription? Bell, Fido etc charge a fee of 30 CAD per month to maintain the account so wanted to confirm.

[maurelle]

We have one plan that we put in and take out of suspension often (and now that this will be always paid at full price, we'll be planning inactive times even more carefully!).

- We have a reminder set for day 85 of suspension, to allow for system maintenance or any other glitches that need more time to be sorted. The account will be deactivated on day 90. So it has to be active by the end of day EST of day 89.

- If you have a great plan that suits your needs well, we recommend that you hold onto it and not change to the lowest cost plan. With the pace things are happening around here there might never another on just perfectly like it (and if there's an even better one you can always change to that as it pops up). It's 1x plan cost to keep your account active for a half a year (85 + 30 + 85 = 200 days)

- Make sure that you are able to log into your account while away. In our experience, EverSafe can be unpredictable, even with that "trusted device" function. It will occasionally, out of the blue with no discernable reason, want to do the whole 2FA thing again. Your phone will not work at all outside of Canada or the US, so you can't receive the text abroad. We have not tried the call option with forwarding to Fongo etc, so I'm not sure if that even works in suspended status. Leaves you with e-mail. Make sure that you have (easy) access to the e-mail connected to the account. You will also go through the extra hoop of "didn't get password" for the e-mail to show up. 

- Oh, and no, no extra cost to be paid to PM. And lets not give them any ideas of changing the system as it is.

[Dunkman]

@Aldehyde 

Yes, you can unsubscribe to your subscription.  That will turn off pre-authorized payments.  Then at next payment date, your account will be suspended.  If suspended more than 90 days, then you will lose your phone number and account.

When you resubscribe, you will be charged your plan fee and plan will be reactivated.  You do not need to change plans.  No need to reconnect to network. Just need to pay for your plan.  No charges with pausing your account.  

I would recommend resubscribe at least a few days before than 90 days.  Just in case there are any issues.  

[softech · Accepted solution]

@Aldehyde 

This is what you need to do to keep alive the account:

PM only allows the account to be suspended for 90 days or your account will be permanently closed, and you will loss the number.

So, your option is temporarily suspending the account and reactivate for 30 days before the 90 days deadline.

Here is what you can do (assuming your Available fund = $0)

1.  First, change plan to $15 plan (to reduce the cost to keep your number)
   (While this plan change saves you money, but please be aware that you might not be able to get back your current plan if that plan is no longer available when you are back.  If you are worried, or your current plan is already not available, skip this plan change step but you can still follow this pause subscription steps with higher cost)
2.  Then disable "Subscribed" from Payment page (Payment page, Managed Subscription, toggle off the "Subscribed" there
3.  On the next renewal date, since pre-authorized payment is disabled, it won't be renewed.   
         Make note of that day 1 of the suspension date
4. !!!!VERY IMPORTANT!!!   Come back at around 85th days after the first date of the suspension to make a manual payment to renew the account for 30 days.  You can simply click "Pay Now and Resume Services" button and follow the step to make a manual payment.
   If you have changed to $15 plan in Step 1, it will just cost you $15 for that 30-days cycle. 
   After you make the payment, make sure you see clearly that the account status is changed to ACTIVE.  If not, you will either have to open ticket with PM support or come and seek help here in the Community.
   (Don't wait till the 89th or 90th days as My Account could be down for maintenance or payment could be an issue, you want to give yourself enough time to sort it out)
5.  Make note of that date, again, the account will be active for 30 days only and will be suspended again after the 30 days.  Make note of the date it got suspended again.
6.  As the Autopay toggle "Subscribed" is already toggled off, it won't renew after that-30 days cycle.
   
   I hope you will be back by then. You just need to change the plan back to the one you want and then reactivate and remember to enable Autopay again (toggle on "Subscribed")
   If you still not back to Canada by the end of that 90 days, then come back NO LATER than 85th date and repeat from step 4 again.