How to Change a Plan on a CommsMobile 2.0 Service

Overview

CommsMobile 2.0 plan changes can be made two ways: self-service in the Comms Portal on the 27th of each month, or by email request to Comms Channel support at any other time, actioned by a Comms Channel Admin. The two paths have different billing outcomes. Read this in full before requesting a change on a customer's behalf.

🔴 Travel Pack Warning: Do not make ANY change to a service with an active Travel Pack (including plan changes, provisioning, or SIM swaps) through either option below. Doing so can leave the customer without service while roaming. Wait until the Travel Pack has expired before proceeding.

Option A: Self-Service on the 27th

1. Log in to the Comms Portal and navigate to Services from the left-hand menu.
2. Select the 2.0 service you want to change the plan for.
3. Click the Advanced tab from the service menu.
4. Go to the Change Plan section. The plan cards under Select New Plan only appear for selection on the 27th of the month; the option is not available on other dates.
5. Choose the new plan and click Select Plan, then confirm. This is irreversible once submitted. CRITICAL
6. Monitor the Activity tab and confirm the order reaches Complete before advising the customer.

Billed under normal billing parameters on the 27th, with no double charge.

Option B: Mid-Month Change (via Comms Channel Admin)

1. Confirm the new plan with the customer, including that the changeover month will be billed in full for both the existing plan and the new plan, a fixed full-month charge regardless of which day mid-month the request is made. CRITICAL
2. Check whether the service is currently part of a Pool.
3. Email helpdesk@commschannel.com.au with:
   • Subject: Plan Change (Service #)
   • Body: Service number, Current Plan, Required Plan, confirmation the customer understands and accepts the double-charge billing impact, and, if the service is part of a pool, the line "Service is part of Pool: (pool name)". Comms Channel will remove it from the pool as part of processing the request.
4. This email is mandatory and is the only valid way to authorize a mid-month plan change. If you've already discussed the change with us on a call or in Teams chat, that conversation does not authorize the change on its own; the email is still required so there's a clear record of who requested and approved it. Requests will not be actioned without it. CRITICAL
5. Expected turnaround: 1 business day.
6. If you've sent the wrong plan, contact support immediately: corrections are possible before the change is submitted, but it's irreversible once processed.
7. You'll be notified via ticket or email once the change is completed, and can also confirm it in the portal.
8. The service itself doesn't change; you'll see the same service with the new plan applied. Check the Activity tab for the change log. The billing adjustment appears as additional charges on the next invoice.

Plan Change Rules (Both Options)

• Must be a genuine upgrade or downgrade: moving between plans with the same data allowance is not permitted, even across categories.
  Example: a 10GB Data Only plan → a 10GB Voice + Data plan will not go through: same data dimension, not an upgrade or downgrade.
• Partners can move across categories (Standalone ↔ Pooling ↔ Data Only) as part of a genuine upgrade or downgrade; it's the data allowance comparison that matters, not the category.
• Pooled service moving to a Standalone plan: the service must be removed from the pool first. Partners cannot do this themselves in the Comms Portal; it's a support-actioned request.
  • Option A (27th): request the pool removal in advance, with enough lead time to complete before the 27th; the plan change itself still goes through self-service once the service is out of the pool.
  • Option B (mid-month): no advance step needed; include "Service is part of Pool: (pool name)" in your email and Comms Channel will remove it as part of processing the change.
• Downgrading a Standalone plan forfeits any accumulated data bank balance. (Pooling plans don't carry a data bank, so this doesn't apply there.) CRITICAL
• No overage to manage on downgrade: billing is in advance, so the customer has already paid for their current allowance under the old plan. The new plan's cap simply applies going forward.
• No system limit on the number of mid-month (Option B) requests per cycle, but each one triggers its own full-month double charge. This should be reserved for genuine one-off needs, not repeated adjustments, as the cost stacks with each request.
• Do not resubmit a request taking longer than 25 minutes or appearing to fail: email with subject "Plan change failing or not completing (service number)" instead. Reattempting can cause duplicate orders; the change may already be complete at the network with a delayed notification. CRITICAL

Key Notes