Summary
If you’re heading out for a long trip, you might want to cancel your cable and internet service to save some money. However, most cable providers offer an opportunity to pause your service, which allows you to pay a small fee and avoid costly fees and equipment charges. Here’s why a pause is often your best option.
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If you’re heading off on a long trip, you might be tempted to cancel some of the services at your home. And your cable or internet bill is probably close to the top of the list. However, you may be able to save some money without the hassle of cancelling by pausing your service instead.
For Personal Tech Media, this is Two Minute Tech. I’m Jim Herman.
Instead of cancelling your service, check with your provider about pausing it instead. Pausing your service has several benefits over cancelling, and most cable providers support it.
Pausing your service allows you to avoid costly cancellation and reactivation fees, and you can often avoid a long phone call with customer service while they try to convince you to keep paying. In many cases, you can also keep your equipment in place, which allows you to reactivate your service more quickly when you’ve returned. If you have services like an email address or phone number through your provider, you can sometimes keep those active or at least reserve while your service is paused.
Also, by pausing your service, you’ll typically only have to pay a small monthly fee. In most cases, that fee is less than $10 per month. However, make sure you know the limits on pausing your service. Some carriers limit the number of times or how long you can pause your service.
Finally, if you have internet-connected devices in your home, make sure you have a plan for those devices. You may need service for connected home security cameras or video doorbells. Some providers may offer smaller internet plans just for these devices, or you might be able to find a cheaper alternate option.