If you don't pay your cell bill, how long will it still work? (contract, ATT)

[robertpasa]

If you forget to pay a few weeks, how long will it continue to work?

(This is hypothetical and not really happening to me.)

[Peregrine]

Impossible to answer. There is no set time. But I guarantee you: it's not very long.

[Mr. Lee]

It will depend on your carrier and your past payment relationship with them. Normally they try to contact you via email, text message and possibly even a snail mail letter before shutting you off but if a person should already have a bad past payment history with them, then they may shut them off without warning. Be advised that once shut off, that there will probably be late fees and a reconnect fee on top of that.

[d4g4m]

^^^^
Not only a late fee or a re-connect fee but according to how late your 'no pay' time, you might not get your number back.

[Kees]

... and on the flip side, if you are like me and have a perfect payment history dating back to 1998 they'll let you charge your entire $575 equipment purchase to your account... LOL

[elnina]

I agree, its hard to predict.
However, you should keep in mind that:
In addition to shutting off your service, your cell phone company will likely report your missing payments to the credit bureaus, and may turn your debt over to a collections agency (usually after 60 days) – both of which will harm your credit score. And a delinquent account that’s made it to collections can linger on your credit report for up to 7 years.
There will be also problems to get contract on new phone, and some vendors would ask you for deposit upfront. They do run a credit check on new customers.
However, paying it always on time is not going to impact your credit score, except you paying it with a credit card

[dontaskwhy]

From my experience, customers with excellent payment history service won't be suspended until about 60 days. Moderate to good history, about 30 days. Poor history, about 2 weeks. There is no definitive formula with all carriers and YMMV.

[ipaper]

For people with prepaid, it will be off the next day if not paid on time. My son phone is always off seem like.

[Hightower72]

Originally Posted by dontaskwhy

From my experience, customers with excellent payment history service won't be suspended until about 60 days. Moderate to good history, about 30 days. Poor history, about 2 weeks. There is no definitive formula with all carriers and YMMV.

Agreed. And possibly credit rating could be a factor, though I'm speculating.

[robertpasa]

I didn't pay ATT for seven weeks, because my bill didn't arrive or it got lost.
After the seven weeks they robocalled me and also texted me and emailed me, saying they need to talk with me.
I got scared and went directly to the ATT store (and waited in line for 30 minutes because it was Saturday) and paid there. I'm OK now.