Cancel Phone, Internet & Cable Contracts on Military Orders

Here is a benefit almost nobody claims, because almost nobody knows it has a name. When the military moves you, you can walk away from your cell phone, internet, and cable contracts without paying the early-termination fee. That fee is usually $100 to $350 per line or service. On a family plan plus home internet plus cable, killing those fees on a PCS is real money back in your pocket.

This is not a carrier courtesy. It is federal law, 50 U.S.C. § 3956, part of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The same statute most people only know for breaking an apartment lease also covers your service contracts.

What you can cancel, fee-free

Two triggers open the right: you enter active duty after signing the contract, or you receive orders to relocate for at least 90 days to a place the contract does not support. A PCS qualifies. So does a deployment of 90 days or more.

The parts that save the most

No early-termination fee, no reactivation fee. Section 3956(e) bars the provider from charging the ETF when you cancel under the statute, and bars a reactivation fee if you come back within 90 days after your relocation ends.

Prepaid money comes back. Anything you prepaid has to be refunded within 60 days of the termination date.

You keep your number. If your relocation is three years or less, the carrier must let you keep your phone number when you re-subscribe within the 90-day window after it ends. You are pausing the relationship, not losing your number.

How to cancel

Cancel a service contract on orders

1. Gather your orders (PCS or deployment of 90+ days), or note your active-duty start date.
2. Send the provider written notice of termination with a copy of the orders. Use the carrier’s military or SCRA channel if it has one. A dated letter is your proof.
3. State that you are terminating under 50 U.S.C. § 3956 and that no early-termination fee applies. The letter generator can frame the request.
4. Ask for any prepaid amounts back; the provider has 60 days.
5. If you want to keep your number, say you intend to re-subscribe within 90 days of returning, and confirm the number is held.

Do not stop at the phone bill

The contract cancellation is one piece of a bigger move. The same orders that free you from a cable contract also let you break your apartment lease and terminate a car lease without penalty under § 3955. And the same active-duty status caps your pre-service debt at 6% interest. If you did not know the cable contract was cancelable, you probably have other money on the table. The complete guide walks the whole list.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3956

Termination of certain consumer contracts: cell phone, internet, and cable service: read the statute.