Boost Mobile Military: 990-Day Deployment Hold at No Charge

Boost Mobile gives deployed troops something most prepaid brands do not: a written program that parks the whole account, at no charge, for up to 990 days. It gives no discount, and the program has one cost Boost spells out in its own words: the plan price you come back to may not be the one you left. Every Boost fact below was read on boostmobile.com and help.boostmobile.com on October 10, 2026.

Boost’s military program beside § 3956

Boost’s published rules, checked October 10, 2026:

Two numbers decide which column you use. Boost’s program tops out at 990 days, about 32 months. The statute’s number rule reaches relocations of up to three years, about 1,095 days. Boost also defines its program around members “deployed overseas,” while § 3956(a)(1)(A) turns on orders that relocate you for 90 days or more to a location that does not support the contract, which can include a long stateside move. Boost’s Global Roaming terms help on that point: roaming is “not for customers who move, permanently reside or intend extended stays abroad.” The phone and internet cancellation guide covers the statute line by line.

A year deployed on the $25 plan, three ways

Boost’s Unlimited plan is $25 a month with AutoPay, $30 without, taxes extra. Take a 12-month deployment.

• Keep paying: 12 × $25 = $300 for a line nobody uses. You keep the number and the $25 rate.
• Let it lapse: Boost’s terms give a suspended prepaid account 120 days to pay what it owes. After that, the account is cancelled and “any remaining funds in your account and your phone number will be lost.” A 12-month deployment runs past day 120.
• Deployed Military Program: $0 for up to 990 days, number held, credits and bonuses kept. The cost is the rate. Boost’s plans FAQ says the $25 price holds “as long as you never pause or cancel your service,” and the program page says your plan “may be different” on return.

Here is what that price risk is worth. Every $5 a month added to your bill after you return costs $60 a year. If Boost’s cheapest comparable plan is $5 higher when you come back and you stay three more years, the program’s “free” year cost you $180, still less than the $300 you skipped. That is an illustration, not a Boost figure: Boost publishes no price for the day you return. Ask the enrolling agent whether your rate carries over, and get the answer in the confirmation email.

Going past 990 days, or getting out

The program is a hold, not an exit. If your orders run past 990 days, or you want the line closed instead of parked, the statute is the tool. It applies only to a contract “entered into by a servicemember before receiving the military orders,” § 3956(b)(2), so a plan opened after relocation orders arrive is outside it. The one exception is § 3956(a)(1)(B): a plan opened after PCS orders, followed by a stop-movement order of 30 days or more, or indefinite, that keeps you from using it. You end it by sending written or electronic notice, a copy of the orders, and the date service should stop, § 3956(a)(3).

Section 3956(e)(1) bars an early termination charge but keeps “any tax or any other obligation” that is already due. At Boost, that matters for a financed phone. Its financing page says that if you cancel before a phone financed directly with Boost is paid off, the remaining balance is charged in full to your payment method on file. An Affirm loan is billed separately by Affirm and keeps its own schedule. Section 3956(e)(2) bars a reinstatement charge if you re-subscribe within the 90-day period that begins on the last day of your relocation.

Prepaid months are where money comes back. Boost’s multi-month offers let you pay several months up front for a device deal, then apply each prepaid month as a credit on your monthly payment. Boost does not publish how many months an offer requires, and its terms say “payments are not refunded if you cancel.” Say you prepaid six months on the $25 plan, $150, and terminate during month two. Section 3956(f) requires a refund within 60 days of amounts paid “for a period extending until after” the termination, except “the remainder of the monthly or similar billing period.” Months three through six, 4 × $25 = $100, is the claim. That figure illustrates a claim you can make; Boost has not agreed to pay it. It treats each month as the billing period, which the statute does not define. Boost’s best counter is that the prepayment bought a device discount, and its offer page says you must “stay on an eligible plan” until you qualify for an upgrade. Boost’s own month-by-month credit is your evidence that the billing period is a month.

Unlock the phone before the suspension starts

Boost’s Unlocking Policy unlocks a prepaid phone one year after activation, and only if any device balance is paid off and the account is not in “suspended” status at the one-year mark. A Deployed Military Program suspension can therefore push your normal unlock back. The policy’s military clause is the way around it: if you or a family member on the account is an active member of the U.S. military with overseas deployment papers, Boost will do an international SIM unlock when it is technically able to. An unlocked phone takes a local SIM at your duty station, and that matters because Boost’s $10 Global Roaming add-on is not meant for long stays abroad.

Hold or end a Boost line on orders

1. Find your 4-digit Boost PIN and store it somewhere you can reach from overseas. Boost asks for it when you call to restore service.
2. Call 833-502-6678 and ask for the military international SIM unlock first, with your deployment papers ready.
3. On the same call, enroll in the Deployed Military Program. Give stateside contacts, and ask whether your current plan price will apply when you restore.
4. Put the program end date from the confirmation email into the deadline checker, with a reminder 30 days earlier. Restore or extend before that date.
5. To end the line instead, send notice with your orders and termination date to Boost SubscriberCo L.L.C., 5701 S. Santa Fe Drive, Littleton, Colorado 80120, Attn: General Counsel, the address Boost’s terms require for notices, sent with tracking. The letter generator drafts it.
6. Budget for any balance on a phone financed directly with Boost, which is charged in full when you cancel. Keep paying any Affirm loan, and calendar day 60 after termination for any prepaid-month refund.

The eligibility rules and the Guard and Reserve guide cover who the statute reaches. The deployment checklist handles the rest of the paperwork, the Cricket page shows another prepaid deployment hold for comparison, and the full statute text is on the § 3956 page.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3956

Termination of certain consumer contracts: mobile, landline, internet, TV, gym, and home security: read the statute , or read § 3956 in plain English, with its enforcement record .