About switching operator or changing package

When you sign the subscription contract, a subscription relationship has been established between you and the operator, which is governed not only by the law but also by the provisions of the subscription contract, which include the operator's general terms and conditions and price list. The latter governs, among other things, the way services are charged and the consequences of any failure to pay on time.

The obligation to pay for the services supplied is already based on the general principles of the law of obligations (cf. Article 9 of the General Civil Code), which is why, in the event of non-payment, the operator may resort to various measures to prevent non-payment (e.g. temporary non-provision of the service, temporary disconnection of the subscriber, etc.) or to obtain repayment of the due but unpaid obligations. These measures are not regulated by the applicable legislation and are therefore generally regulated by operators in their general terms and conditions. It is therefore up to the individual operator to decide on the specific measure to be taken or the method of collecting the unpaid obligations, while respecting the procedures and measures it has laid down and acting in a non-discriminatory manner and in accordance with the principle of proportionality. You are therefore advised to check how the consequences of any late payment of obligations are regulated in your subscription contract and in your operator's general terms and conditions.

The Electronic Communications Act requires that subscribers must be notified of any change to the terms and conditions set out in the subscription contract at least 30 days before the proposed change is due to take effect. They must be informed that, unless the amendment to the terms and conditions set out in the subscription contract is necessary to comply with legislation, they have the right to withdraw from the subscription contract within 60 days of receipt of the notification, without notice, without payment of termination charges and without penalty, if they do not agree with the proposed amendments.

The Agency points out that in this case it is not sufficient to conclude a subscription with a new operator, which the subscriber authorises to terminate the subscription with the operator that has changed the terms and conditions. As this is a special form of termination, you must inform the operator that you are withdrawing from the contract because it has unilaterally changed the terms and conditions of your subscription, as this is the only way to avoid being charged administrative costs and contractual penalties. We therefore recommend that if you do not agree with the announced change, you explicitly inform the operator within the 60-day period that you are withdrawing from the contract because you do not agree with the changed terms. Please note that the termination must be received by the operator within 60 days of the notification of the change of terms.

We advise caution when terminating a subscription by arranging for the new operator to terminate the subscription with the previous operator. In this case, you authorise the new operator to terminate the subscription with the previous operator on your behalf, usually via a number transfer form.

We suggest that when you fill in the number transfer/termination form, you check carefully whether the wishes you have expressed correspond to your expectations and, after you have transferred your number and started using the services of the new operator, you check with the previous operator (e.g. in person at the office, by email, call to the call centre, etc.) whether your subscription has in fact been terminated.

If your subscription has not been legally terminated, you are liable to pay the subscription fee and any services provided to the previous operator for that period.

When you signed the subscription contract, you and the operator entered into a contractual relationship, the details of which, in addition to the subscription contract and any annexes thereto, are set out in the operator's general terms and conditions and the price list for services in force from time to time. Therefore, if the operator's general terms and conditions or the applicable price list stipulate that in the event of termination of the subscription, the subscriber must pay the subscription fee for the whole of the current month, irrespective of the date of termination of the subscription, the operator is entitled to charge the user for this. We suggest that you check your subscription contract and the operator's general terms and conditions, or check with the operator about the charging conditions.

The time limit for connecting to the network is not defined in the sectoral legislation, but is laid down in the subscription contract or in the accompanying general and special conditions. You are advised to check them to find out what the procedure for connecting the services is and what your options are in case the connection is not (not) made within the deadline. If the operator breaches the terms of its general terms and conditions and does not connect your service even after the deadline for connection has passed, you can submit a dispute settlement request to the Agency, claiming connection as a contractual right.

The conditions under which an operator will provide access to its services and through which technologies (e.g. fibre, copper, etc.), as well as where the network will be built or whether and when it will be upgraded, depend in principle on the operator's business policy and technical capabilities. Thus, with the exception of universal service, end-users have no legal right under current legislation to require the operator to conclude a subscription for electronic communications services or to make any related changes. Nor can end-users require the operator to provide services to them over a specific infrastructure (e.g. copper, coaxial cable, fibre). If the operator has several different technologies available at a particular location, you can check which infrastructure it will provide services over when you sign up for a subscription. On the other hand, users can also choose which operator to subscribe to.

Operators design the programming schemes offered in their packages to end-users on the basis of mutual agreements with programme rights holders, often linked to packages designed by TV broadcasters. In principle, however, the operator decides on the basis of its free economic initiative whether or not to include a particular programme in a particular programming scheme.

Subscribers must be informed of any change to the terms and conditions set out in the subscription contract at least 30 days before the proposed change is due to take effect. Within 60 days of receipt of the notice, the subscriber shall have the right to withdraw from the subscription agreement without notice, without payment of termination charges and without penalty.

An end-user who wants to switch operators and port their existing telephone number to another operator can do so by completing a number port request at the point of sale of the operator they have chosen to port their number to. In doing so, he/she shall provide the telephone number and an account number that is no more than three months old.

The selected operator will then check with the incumbent operator whether the number can be ported (in particular, whether the user has settled all outstanding obligations with the incumbent operator, as the incumbent operator will not port the number if past obligations have not been settled). The selected operator then carries out all the necessary activities related to the porting order and, after the number has been excluded from the number grantor's network, the inclusion of the number in its own network. The selected operator shall do so within one working day of the agreed date for porting the number.

The original operator (i.e. the one from whose network you will transfer the number) may charge you the cost of porting the number in accordance with the applicable price list.
When switching to another operator, you are advised to check with the previous operator that the subscription has been terminated.

Article 22 of the Consumer Protection Act provides that the consumer is bound by the terms of a contract only if he or she has been informed of the full text of the contract before concluding it. In this respect, the consumer is deemed to have been informed of the full text of the terms and conditions if they were expressly brought to his attention by the undertaking and were easily accessible to him.

If you were not explicitly warned about the specific conditions of the new package when you switched (either verbally or by an article in the contract itself), the operator has broken the law. The above two conditions must be cumulatively fulfilled, so the operator has not complied with the law by publishing the special conditions on its website without explicitly warning you about them.

The number must be activated within one working day from the moment the operator to which the number is to be ported receives a signed request to port the number to another operator. A number porting request received by the receiving operator between 8.00 and 15.45 on a working day and 12.45 on a Friday shall be deemed to have been received on that working day. Therefore, if the number portability request is signed by the user after 15.45 hours or after 12.45 hours on Friday, the request shall be deemed to have been made on the first working day following. The first following working day in this case is therefore Monday, which means that the number portability was carried out within the statutory time limit of one working day.

Ensuring number portability is a cost for the provider. No direct costs are charged to the user.

There is no regulation on temporary cancellation of subscriptions, operators can regulate this in their general terms and conditions. You are advised to contact your chosen operator for more information.

If the option to transfer the connection to another location with retention of the connection is not provided for in your operator's subscription contract or general terms and conditions, the operator cannot be asked to transfer the connection with retention of the connection. The same applies if the transfer of the connection to another location is not possible for objective reasons (e.g. there is no infrastructure at the new location). You can therefore remain in your old location until the end of your subscription or you can cancel your contract early. In the latter case, the operator is entitled to charge you for the cost of early termination of your subscription, provided that this cost is specified in its general terms and conditions at the time of signing the subscription contract, in accordance with the applicable price list.

When you sign the subscription contract, a subscription relationship has been established between you and the operator, which is governed not only by law but also by the provisions of the subscription contract, the operator's general terms and conditions and the applicable price list. These govern, among other things, the manner of termination (or transfer) of the subscription and set out the obligations of the parties to be mutually settled in the event of termination, e.g. payment of the administrative costs of termination, reimbursement of a proportionate part of the benefit you received in exchange for the subscription, other charges, if any, as set out in the general terms and conditions and the price list of the operator.

When you sign the subscription contract, a subscription relationship has been established between you and the operator, which is governed not only by law but also by the provisions of the subscription contract, the operator's general terms and conditions and the applicable price list. These govern, among other things, the manner in which the subscription relationship is terminated (including the grounds for termination) and the obligations of the parties in the event of termination. Possible charges that the operator may charge you in accordance with the terms of the contract include, for example, the administrative cost of termination, the reimbursement of a proportionate part of the benefits you received in exchange for tying up the relationship, and any other charges set out in the operator's general terms and conditions and price list. If you agreed when signing the contract that you would also pay the (administrative) cost of termination to the operator at the time of termination, then you are liable to pay that cost.