How to keep phone number while living abroad for short time?

[Mindylau2]

Hello just a general question… if you are moving away from canada for a year or so..what happens to your number stored with PM while you are gone? does it get passed to someone else? I want to keep my number so when i return i can use it again.

Thanks

[barrascuk]

Absolutely....no rocket science. Its all there ready to be used and abused. I have 2 accounts set ups on my iPhone....one has caller id of land line and the other has caller id of my cell phone. Tested and works. 

[softech]

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@barrascuk   so, Zoiper is perfect for Caller ID Spoofing??

@darlicious , no worry  .. give ma bravo to make it up . LoL

[barrascuk]

Consider porting to VOIP.MS. Will cost you a couple of bucks a month. Or a bit more if you used an App called Zoiper that allows you to use your number anywhere where you have wifi and you can put in "any" number for caller ID to match what you are using abroad. 

I use if for my land line. 

Porting may be free as well. https://voip.ms

Of course you will lose rewards with your PM account. 

[darlicious]

@Luddite 

As per usual I am curious to your choice of solution? Is it solely based on it possibly being the cheapest solution? ( Since we don't know what a short time is?) Having access to the phone number on WiFi or mobile data? Hassle? Easier to maintain over the long run with fongo but a hassle to port out and a bigger one to port out as it can take up to week or more for the port to complete? It doesn't appear that the OP has been a customer a long time but if they are (since we don't know either way)should that not be a consideration? Anyways.....?

Edit: Oops OP does say a year or so....

@softech 

Not to take away from your solution....a perfectly viable option it would have bee nice to see what the OP would have chosen?

[dabr]

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@Mindylau2 wrote:

Hello just a general question… if you are moving away from canada for a year or so..what happens to your number stored with PM while you are gone? does it get passed to someone else? I want to keep my number so when i return i can use it again.

Thanks

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@Mindylau2   To add to what's already been mentioned by everyone, just a reminder that if you do decide to change plans (that is drop down to $15 plan) and you are on a grandfathered plan that you like, you will not be able to get back to that plan and will have to select from the current in market plans available if the $15 plan is not suitable for you once you return.

[Anonymous]

@Mindylau2 

Reactivate A Suspended Plan

Missed a payment? After your plan expires, all you need to do is top-up your balance to keep the current plan going. You have up to 90 days to make a payment and, after doing so, your payment cycle will restart and your service will resume.After 90 days of non-payment, your account will be permanently deactivated, which means you will:

• Lose access to your phone number, and won’t be able to transfer it to a new provider in the future.
• Need a new Public Mobile SIM card if you decide to activate a new Public Mobile account.

[darlicious]

@Mindylau2 

You can suspend your service for up to 90 days before having to reactivate your service for at least 30 days at which time you can then suspend for up to another 90 days. However it is recommended to reactivate around day 85 in case you run into any issues....you will then have a few extra days to sort out any problems so you don't lose your account and phone number. Here are your options:

1. You can turn off autopay and allow the account to suspend at the end 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 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 fongo number. Remove your sim card from your phone after call forwarding your pm phone # and put it somewhere safe before you leave Canada.** Now any incoming calling to your pm number will ring thru to your fongo number while on wifi or mobile data (w/a local or global sim card) You can access your fongo voicemail for all voicemail messages.

By switching to the $15 plan and keeping autopay intact and using lost/stolen to suspend your account it will cost about $39 ($45 - $6(autopay) =$39) for approximately 350 to 360 days depending on the day you pay and reactivate on each time(88/89?)

Edit: **This is not necessary as long as you call forward before leaving Canada.

Happy travels!

[softech · Accepted solution]

@Mindylau2 if all your care is the phone number, I suggest you port your number onto Fongo.  It is a VoIP provider.  It is free.  Only thing is that you have to pay $25 for porting.  

When you are back in Canada, you can port your number out to any other provider, porting out is free if you have stayed with Fongo for over 3 months.

[Triguy]

If you have autopay setup then you could remove it but after 90 days your account is closed and most likely will lose your phone number.  You could change your plan to $15 plan and make a payment before 90 days to keep your account.