Cell Phone Blues

Fellow travellers, some information I learned today about what to do about my cell phone while I’m in Australia.

BlackBerry Z10 – by Enrique Dans (flickr creative commons): https://flic.kr/p/dQSSkc

I wanted to find a way to keep my cell phone number so that it wouldn’t change when I got back. I thought that I would be able to suspend my account for the year and the pick up where I left off. Turns out this is only partially true. I’ve just spoken with Rogers (not sure about other providers) and here’s the deal:

You can only suspend your account for up to four months in any calendar year for a fee of $7/month. This means you also can’t suspend for four months, have one month on and then suspend for another four months. After your four months are up, you can either reinstate your account or cancel it. Cancelling it can incur penalty charges apply if you are still under contract.

At this point in our conversation, I found it interesting that the person I was speaking to (who was just fine to deal with) in the “Loyalty” department could only quote me this information. They needed to transfer me to “Customer Service” to proceed with other options. I guess it’s important to know which department you’re talking to.

After a brief wait, I was connected with someone in Customer Service (who was equally lovely). What they can do is lower your plan to what they call an “emergency plan,” which basically removes all of your services but still leaves your plan open and active. Then they can suspend the account for the first four months you are away to lower it even further for those four months. I will have to see if, since it’s a “calendar year,” I can do it again for four months in January.

So, for us, this was the best option and ensured that I could keep my cell phone number. If not I would have had to change my cell phone number on all of my various accounts (bills, banking, subscriptions, etc.) when I got back.

A few other tips for travellers:

• If you can, get your cell phone unlocked by your provider. There is a grace period for doing this if you have a new phone but it is a feature that all providers are required to offer. Here’s a great website to help you understand your rights with regard to your cell phone: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/info_sht/t15.htm
• If you want to avoid roaming charges but still use your phone with a wifi connection, ensure that your phone’s antenna is turned off. Know the difference between the antenna icon and the wifi icon.
• Don’t forget to pack your charging cord, wall socket, and an adapter in your carry on for charging while you’re on long trips. Be sure that your adapter will work in all of the countries you’ll be visiting. Here’s a good site with an explanation for travellers to Australia: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g255055-c120179/Australia:Power.And.Appliances.html

Happy travels!