cell phone providers

[IrishNavyWife]

We are thinking of cancelling his cell phone service while in boot. I believe there is a rule/law that requires cell phone companies to termintate a contract w/o the penalty for military service personnel. Does anyone know?

[AG2Wife]

If there is not a co-signer on the contract & you can give the cell phone company a copy of his orders (to bootcamp, I guess) I think they would cancel it without penalty. I'd call & ask them first though. You never know.

[IrishNavyWife]

Originally Posted by AG2Wife If there is not a co-signer on the contract & you can give the cell phone company a copy of his orders (to bootcamp, I guess) I think they would cancel it without penalty. I'd call & ask them first though. You never know.

Ok thanks. I think that is what I remember too. Has anyone tried this before?

[AG2Wife]

DH's mom did it when he left for boot as she opened the account for him. That was 6 1/2 years ago though!

[Julianne]

DB has done this several times... He just calls up and has the company 'freeze' his service for the time he is deployed. When he came home for R&R, he has them unfreeze it for those 2 weeks, then calls when he goes back over to freeze it again. You may or may not need to fax over a copy of his orders.

[IrishNavyWife]

Originally Posted by Julianne DB has done this several times... He just calls up and has the company 'freeze' his service for the time he is deployed. When he came home for R&R, he has them unfreeze it for those 2 weeks, then calls when he goes back over to freeze it again. You may or may not need to fax over a copy of his orders.

Who do you have a service provider? we have at&t/cingular.

[Julianne]

AT&T

[Miss B Hav'n]

Another option to consider is that rather than outright cancelling you can also simply suspend the contract for the duration of his absence (boot, deployment, etc) - once that time is up the contract will resume and he will finish out the original time left.

[IrishNavyWife]

Originally Posted by Miss B Hav'n Another option to consider is that rather than outright cancelling you can also simply suspend the contract for the duration of his absence (boot, deployment, etc) - once that time is up the contract will resume and he will finish out the original time left.

Do they count the frozen time as time against his contract??? Do cell phone providers have discounts per month for service for military families?

[Miss B Hav'n]

Originally Posted by IrishNavyWife Do they count the frozen time as time against his contract??? Do cell phone providers have discounts per month for service for military families?

No the suspended time doesn't count so if you freeze it with, say, 6 months left on the contract in April and the suspension ends in August you would still have 6 months remaining.