Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we get a small commission if you make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you. For more information, please visit our Disclaimer Page.
Phones get suspended for several reasons, such as failing to pay for certain services at the due date. Depending on your cellular service carrier, you may still be able to receive calls and texts if your phone is suspended. But this is only possible if it’s not fully suspended.
Table of Contents
What Does a Suspended Phone Mean?
As mentioned above, phones often get suspended because of different circumstances. For instance, if you lose your phone, you can always contact your cellular service carrier to deactivate your line for some time.
Your phone can also be suspended if you fail to make certain payments, even after the due dates.
If your smartphone gets suspended by your carrier for whatever reason, here’s what that means below:
- A suspended phone means your line has been deactivated and won’t work with your mobile network service.
- Of course, you need to keep in mind that a suspended phone doesn’t mean your smartphone has stopped working.
- You’ll still have access to your phone apps but won’t have any mobile network to get them working. Here, you can still connect to a reliable Wi-Fi connection to access the applications on your phone.
- Since your line has been deactivated and the phone no longer has a mobile network, there’s no way you’ll be able to make direct calls and text via your line. You’ll need to look for other means of getting your friends and lovers to reach you via calls and messages.
Here are some reasons phones get suspended
Stolen or lost phones
As previously stated, your phone might get suspended if you lose your phone. Of course, this won’t directly come from your carrier.
Instead, you’ll be the one to call your cellular service provider, letting them know about the stolen phone and why you want your line deactivated.
By deactivating your phone, you can always prevent the thief and other people from calling, using your line. That’s not all; this move will prevent people from using your mobile data or text g with your line.
Nonpayment suspensions
Missing a payment is another reason most phones get suspended. If this happens, you’ll most likely be unable to make calls, receive calls, and send texts. Besides that, you won’t be able to use your mobile data to access your application.
However, you need to understand that some carriers are lenient with their penalties in this case. Of course, they’ll suspend your line, but the suspension is usually not full. With a partial suspension, these carriers will still allow you to receive texts and calls on your phone for a certain period.
Optional suspension
An optional suspension means you’re the one responsible for suspending your phone. This could be because you’re traveling to another country, where your line will be useless.
You can also go for a voluntary suspension if you feel no need to use your line for a certain period.
One thing you need to understand is that most, if not all, cellular service carriers have limits as to how long you can voluntarily suspend your line. Some of them, such as Verizon Wireless, will only allow the suspension for 90 days.
Suspension because of violation of service
I’m sure you know that every cellular service provider has terms of service agreement. For you to use their services, you need to first agree with their terms of service.
Violating your carrier’s terms of service could surely get your phone suspended, depending on the weight of the offense.
For instance, if you use too much data while roaming on other networks, this could trigger some carriers to suspend your phone, temporarily.
If this happens, you might be denied the chance to make calls, receive calls, send texts, or use your mobile data.
Can You Port Your Cell Phone Number if Your Account Is Suspended?
Unfortunately, you cannot port your cell phone number when your account is suspended. Most carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, and T mobile require an active service to port your number.
To elaborate more on this, when you request to port your number from one phone carrier to another, the process involves transferring your phone number and account information from the old service provider to the new one.
This generally requires your account to be active and good standing for the porting process to be successfully completed.
When your account is suspended, it indicates that your mobile phone provider has temporarily deactivated it for some of the reasons above, most commonly unpaid bills.
If you are unsure about whether or not you can port your number while your account is suspended, it’s best to contact your mobile service provider directly to understand their specific policies.
The company may have a policy where you can port your number within certain days, such as 30 or 60.
Can I Receive Calls if My Phone Is Suspended?
As previously explained, having a suspended phone means your line has been deactivated temporarily or permanently. That means your smartphone will no longer connect to your cellular service carrier’s network.
That’s not all; you won’t also be chanced to make any calls, receive calls, or send texts.
However, some carriers are still lenient with their suspension penalties. According to a community manager, a manager on the T-Mobile forum, if your phone is only partially suspended, you can still receive incoming calls.
The bottom line is that most carriers will prevent you from making any calls, sending texts, or using your mobile data, if your phone is suspended.
However, if you’re lucky and your phone is only partially suspended, some carriers might allow you to receive incoming calls and messages.
Can you still text when your phone service is suspended?
As you already know, your phone can get suspended for many reasons. Depending on the suspension type, some carriers will still allow you to receive texts from your friends and family.
For instance, if the phone isn’t fully suspended, T-Mobile or AT&T will still allow you to get incoming messages if you have wifi.
You can’t send or recieve text when your phone is fully suspended. If you want to solve the suspension, contacting your phone service providers helpline will be ideal.
Below I have listed a a couple options where you can still make voice or video calls on your phone.
The bottom line is that partial phone suspension could still allow you to receive texts, depending on your carrier. As for full suspension, it’s impossible to send text, make calls, or use your mobile data.
2 ways to receive calls on suspended phones
Does your cellular service carrier fully suspend your phone? If yes, I’m sure you know you won’t be able to text, make calls, or use mobile data on your smartphone.
But do you know that there are a couple of ways that you can use to turn things around for yourself?
Yes, just because your phone is suspended doesn’t mean that you can use the phone for other things. First, you can still connect your device to reliable Wi-Fi. After that, you can consider the following tricks to start making calls on your suspended phones:
Try using Apps that let you voice or video call
Remember that for these apps, you need to be connected to Wi-Fi. Currently, WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging platforms worldwide, so it’s a good option to choose if you want to send texts and make calls around the world.
Like WhatsApp, you can also text or call your friends via Facebook messenger. All you need is to connect to a reliable Wi-Fi and connect to the app. Other apps that let you call are Discord, Google Voice, Slack, JusTalk. You can find other options in this post.
Some video call options are Google Duo, Facetime (iPhone only), Zoom, Google Duo, Viber, Skype, Facebook messenger.
Try another carrier
Being suspended by a carrier from using your phone for texts and calls isn’t the end of the world. You can consider switching to another carrier if there’s a need for it. With that, you’ll get a new line and be able to reach out to your contacts.
Bottom line: there are a couple of ways to receive calls with your suspended phone. One of them is to connect to a reliable Wi-Fi and connect with your friends, family, and business associates, via WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, and many more.
