Pausing an internet subscription: never really free

Almost never, and never for free. No Belgian operator guarantees a pause on a home internet subscription: Proximus refuses it on its bundles, Telenet freezes internet and TV for six months a year according to Selectra, hey! suspends a mobile line for three months. Everywhere else, nothing is published. Four months away cost between 12 euros and 380 euros depending on the exit you pick.

Pausing a subscription means freezing its service and its billing for a set period, without ending the contract or losing the number or e-mail address. It is not cancellation, which ends the contract, nor Easy Switch, the Belgian procedure that moves it to a competitor.

Which Belgian operators agree to pause a line?

Very few, and rarely for private customers. I checked the help pages and terms on 25 October 2026, and filled the gaps with the Selectra summary dated 8 October 2026.

Checked 25 October 2026: the hey! help page, a moderator's reply on the Proximus forum dated 31 December 2025, and Selectra for the rest. "Nothing published" does not mean "impossible".

The only refusal in black and white comes from Proximus: "It is not possible to temporarily suspend your bundle." The only yes on the fixed side comes from Telenet, but I found it only at Selectra, not on the operator's own site. Ask for it in writing before you leave.

Orange and VOO: no pause published for private customers

The business version exists, three months from the customer portal. For a private customer, including a former VOO customer now under Orange, nothing. An adviser can make a gesture, and it is negotiated. It cannot be demanded. The migration details are in our article on VOO becoming Orange.

What do four months away cost under each option?

Between 12 euros and 380 euros. The 368 euro gap equals almost five months of bundle, and it turns on one choice: let the contract run or cut it.

Calculated 25 October 2026: bundle at 75 euros a month, mobile line at 20 euros a month, contract started more than six months ago, DIGI at 3 euros a month for 7 GB (price recorded by Selectra on 8 October 2026). Swap in your own amounts.

The Telenet freeze is the gentlest exit, but only a Telenet customer can use it. Cancelling is free past the sixth month, and costs what the table does not show: the welcome tariff when you restart, which will not necessarily match today's. As for the mobile line, the real saving comes not from a pause but from a plan costing a few euros that keeps the number.

When is it better to cancel than to keep?

As soon as the sixth month is behind you and the absence runs past two months. Belgian law allows no termination fee after the sixth month, and before it caps the bill at the fees remaining up to that sixth month, as BIPT (IBPT, the Belgian telecom regulator) and the FPS Economy (SPF Économie) both point out. The month-by-month calculation is in our guide to cancelling Proximus.

Here is how to decide for your situation:

• Away for under two months: keep the contract, nothing makes up for the cost of restarting service.
• Away two to six months with Telenet: ask for the freeze, the only pause described for fixed services.
• Away two to six months elsewhere: ask for the pause in writing, then compare with the cost table.
• Away over six months, contract over six months old: cancel, with no fee.
• Contract under six months old: do not cancel before multiplying the fee by the months left up to the sixth.

How do you ask for a pause, step by step?

1. Find the contract start date and count six months.
2. Write to the operator (customer portal, chat or e-mail). A call alone leaves no proof.
3. Ask four questions: length, monthly price during the pause, restart date, effect on the commitment.
4. Insist on written confirmation before touching any equipment.
5. Keep the modem and the set-top box at home.
6. Put the restart date in your calendar.
7. Check the first invoice after the pause, line by line.

If the answer is no, go back to the cost table and choose between keeping and cancelling.

The modem and the set-top box stay at home

They belong to the operator. Sending them back during a pause, without written agreement, can be read as a cancellation, and restarting service then happens at the price of the day. Keep them safe, and only hand them back with a confirmed cancellation.

And the phone number while you are away?

A pause keeps it. Cancelling the mobile line releases it, and getting it back afterwards is a matter of luck. If you want to move to a 3 euro plan, port the number to the new operator first and cancel nothing yourself: the procedure is in our article on switching mobile operator without losing your number. For a landline the rule is the same, and landline number portability has its own timings.