Keep your China Mobile number active while abroad

China handles this differently from India, and the difference is the first thing to understand. Where the Indian rules protect an unused number by stopping its deactivation, China works through a service called 停机保号, suspend-and-hold: you apply for it, you pay a monthly fee, and the number waits for you.

The product, and what it costs

China Mobile's Fujian branch describes it as a service for "客户因某种原因，需暂停使用移动电话号码，保留号码使用权" (a customer who for some reason needs to stop using a mobile number while keeping the right to it). The same page sets the price: "停机保号费5元/号/月：（该资费标准自2007年7月1日开始执行）" (5 yuan per number per month, a rate in force since 1 July 2007).

Billing is apportioned rather than blunt. The same page sets out all three cases: "停机保号当月：自停机之日起分摊到日收取，即报停费*12/365" (in the month you suspend, charged pro rata by day), "整个自然月都处于停机保号状态：按月收取" (a full calendar month in suspend-and-hold is charged as a month), and "停机保号后复机当月：停机期间按日收取停机保号费，从复机日起按日收取月租费，不再收取停机保号费" (in the month you resume, the suspended days are charged at the hold rate and the days after resumption at the normal monthly rate, never both).

Twelve months in suspend-and-hold therefore comes to 60 yuan on the published rate. That is arithmetic from the carrier's own figure, not a plan price.

How long you can hold it

You may have met a twenty-four-month maximum in English write-ups of this service. Fujian Mobile's page addresses the question directly: "停机保号若未进入'报停又欠费'状态（即客户未达到全停信用度，仍处于停机保号或报停又单停的状态）均没有报停最长时间限制，系统不会进行预销户处理" (if the line has not entered the suspended-and-in-arrears state, there is no maximum suspension period and the system will not pre-cancel it).

The clock starts only when arrears join the suspension: "若达到全停信用度进入'报停又欠费'状态，从'报停又欠费'开始30天内未缴清费用的，系统将进行预销户处理" (if it reaches the full-stop credit threshold and enters the suspended-and-in-arrears state, the system will pre-cancel it if the charges are not settled within 30 days).

One more rule that surprises people resuming a line years later: "在停机保号期间办理复机后，再次办理停机保号，停机保号时限重新计算" (after resuming and suspending again, the clock restarts). The hold period is not cumulative.

What the service contract adds

China Mobile's Beijing service contract covers the arrears route that sits under the product. It distinguishes how you pay: a prepaid customer "应在账户预存金额" (keeps money on the account) while a postpaid customer "应在每月5日至次月4日缴纳上月通信费用" (pays the previous month between the 5th and the 4th). Both then meet the same clause, which is the one to plan around: "因余额不足或欠费被限制或暂停通信服务满60日，甲方仍未充值或缴清欠费和违约金的，乙方有权终止通信服务" (if service has been suspended for insufficient balance or arrears for a full 60 days and the account is still not settled, the carrier may terminate service).

After termination the number does not come straight back to the market. The same contract provides that "乙方对终止通信服务的电话号码应至少冻结 90 日后，方可重新投入使用" (a number whose service has been terminated must stay frozen for at least 90 days before it can be put back into use).

Both pages are provincial. China administers telecom by province, so a Fujian product page and a Beijing contract are not necessarily identical to what your own province does, and the honest answer is to check your province's own page for the two figures that matter: the hold fee and whether a maximum hold period exists.

Before you fly

• Suspend-and-hold is an application, not a default. Ask for it before you leave, not after.
• Keep the account clear of arrears. The 30-day pre-cancellation clock only starts once the line is both suspended and behind on payment.
• Leave enough balance to cover the monthly fee for the length of your stay: 60 yuan covers a year at the published rate.
• The country page separates the fixed-line standard from the two mobile contracts we could read: keep your Chinese number active.
• Comparing networks before you commit: China Telecom publishes its ninety-day freeze, and China Unicom answered none of our clients.