Verizon SCRA Benefits: Military Suspension & Cancellation

Verizon publishes its military rules in two places: a military and veterans FAQ and a Voluntary Suspension Policy (both read August 15, 2026). Together they describe two suspensions and one cancellation route. The suspensions are Verizon’s way of honoring the number-hold and no-fee rules in 50 U.S.C. § 3956 without closing the account. The cancellation route is the statute itself.

What Verizon’s pages state

Both suspensions apply only to voice-capable devices. Verizon says it does not hold numbers for hotspots or tablets. Device protection is paused on a suspended line, but recurring subscriptions billed to the account (Verizon names Disney+ and Home Device Protect) keep billing unless you cancel them, and multi-device protection keeps billing unless every line is suspended.

The federal floor under all of this is short: 50 U.S.C. § 3956 lets you terminate a mobile, landline, internet, or TV contract you signed before receiving orders to relocate for 90 days or more to a place that does not support it, with no early termination charge, a refund of prepaid amounts within 60 days, and your number held if you re-subscribe within 90 days of returning from a relocation of three years or less. The generic guide covers the statute in full.

How to file with Verizon

Suspend or cancel Verizon service on orders

1. Decide which track fits: 90-day-plus orders outside coverage (standard hold), 89 days or less (short-term hold), or a clean cancellation.
2. For either hold, sign in to the My Verizon app or website and use Suspend / Reconnect Device on the line. Short-term holds let you pick a reconnect date on the spot.
3. If the online path fails, send a copy of your orders to Verizon, Attn: Correspondence Team, P.O. Box 291089, Columbia, SC 29229, fax 800-261-6872, or the email printed on Verizon’s page (militaryorders@verizonwirelss.com, as spelled there). Use the subject line Military Order and include the account name, account and mobile numbers, and the requested suspension date. Verizon says it can take up to 24 hours.
4. To disconnect a line or cancel a device payment agreement under the SCRA, Verizon’s page routes you to Contact Us (chat or “we call you”) or a Verizon Company Store. Bring or attach the orders. Put § 3956 in writing; the letter generator drafts it.
5. Calendar the reconnect deadline: before 3 years and 90 days for the standard hold, before day 90 for the short-term hold.
6. Watch the next bill for the partial-month charge Verizon says to expect, and for subscription add-ons that kept billing.

Verizon’s mobile support line, printed on the page, is 800-922-0204.

Things members trip on at Verizon

The standard hold has a hard edge. Verizon does not auto-reconnect a standard suspension. If 3 years and 90 days pass, the line disconnects, the number is gone, and any remaining device balance can accelerate onto the next bill. The statute’s number-retention rule in § 3956(c) covers relocations of three years or less, so a four-year overseas tour is exactly the case where Verizon’s clock and the statute both run out.

The short-term hold is not free. It bills $10 a month (or less if your plan is cheaper), device payments keep going, and it burns days from a 90-day annual bank; Verizon says each day used comes back 365 days later. It is a convenience for TDY and boot camp, not an SCRA benefit.

Cancelling a device payment agreement is on the page, but the terms are thin. Verizon lists “disconnect service and/or cancel device payment agreements” as an SCRA option and, for a spouse or dependent of a servicemember who died or was catastrophically injured, states the device must be returned or documented. For an ordinary PCS or deployment cancellation the page does not say what happens to the device balance. Ask before you hand back a phone, and get the answer in writing. A device installment plan is a debt, not the service contract; § 3956(e)(1) leaves other obligations that are due at termination payable.

Family plans. Verizon says a family member on the account who accompanies the servicemember can disconnect or cancel too. That tracks § 3956(d), which lets the account holder terminate the servicemember’s line, or every line, when all beneficiaries relocate together.

Fios is a different page. The military FAQ is written for mobile lines. For Fios it links to a landline suspension how-to and to a Fios discount FAQ. Verizon publishes no Fios internet or TV cancellation policy for orders on the pages read for this guide (verified August 2026). The statute covers internet access and video service regardless, so send the same written notice and orders to Verizon for Fios and cite § 3956.

Discount, not a right. Separately, Verizon offers a mobile plan discount to active duty, Guard, Reserve, veterans, retirees, and Gold Star families, verified through ID.me and applied to up to four lines, plus a Fios internet discount (verified August 2026). Those are voluntary and can change; nothing above depends on them.

Breaking a lease on the same orders? The apartment lease guide and PCS money moves cover the rest.

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.