How to Switch Mobile Provider in Germany and Keep Your Number

You can switch mobile provider in Germany and keep your number, and porting itself is free by law. What you cannot skip is your old contract: it keeps running, and you keep paying, until its end date. So the real question is timing. Here is how to get it right.

Find your end date first

Two dates matter. The Vertragsende is the day the contract ends. The Kündigungsfrist is the notice period, and it sets the last day your cancellation must reach the provider.

You do not have to work these out yourself. For contracts longer than one month, German rules require your provider to print them on every bill: the start date, the current end of the minimum term (Mindestvertragslaufzeit), the notice period, and the last calendar day a cancellation can arrive to stop a renewal.

With Vodafone? Our Vodafone Kündigungsfrist guide shows where these dates sit in the account and contract terms.

How much notice you need

German law caps the first term of a mobile contract at 24 months, and providers must also offer a version of at most 12 months. For contracts signed since 1 March 2022, the standard terms cannot ask for more than one month's notice before the first term ends. Older contracts can still have up to three months, so check yours.

If you missed the date, you are not locked in for another year. Since December 2021, a contract that renews after its minimum term runs on with no fixed end, and you can cancel it at any time with one month's notice, at no extra cost. The provider also has to tell you before the renewal kicks in. Our list of German contract cancellation traps covers the other usual surprises.

When to start the switch

The Bundesnetzagentur, Germany's telecoms regulator, suggests starting about three months before your contract ends. A simple plan:

• About three months before the end date: check the dates on your latest bill and choose the new tariff.
• Before the last cancellation day: sign the new contract and ask the new provider to cancel the old one for you.
• On the switch day: your number moves to the new SIM.

Letting the new provider cancel for you is the normal Anbieterwechsel, and it lets both companies agree the date and the number between them. If you would rather cancel yourself, our guide on how to cancel a contract in Germany covers the letter and the proof.

Keeping your number: Rufnummernmitnahme

To keep your number, ask for Rufnummernmitnahme (number porting) when you order. You sign a Portierungsauftrag, a porting order, and the new provider sends it to the old one. By law, providers may not charge you directly for porting, whether you are a private or a business customer.

Most failed ports come down to data. Your name, address, date of birth and number must match what the old provider has on file. Copy them from your latest bill, including a second first name or a hyphen.

The timing is flexible:

• At the contract end: the usual route.
• Early: a mobile number can move at any time. The old contract still runs and you pay it until the end, but you can ask for a new number on it.
• Late: you can still request porting up to one month after the contract ends, and many providers allow 90 days in their terms.

Before you sign: Vertragszusammenfassung and the 14-day window

Before you order, the new provider must give you a free Vertragszusammenfassung, a short contract summary in a standard EU format. It shows the price, the term, and how renewal and cancellation work. If you only get it after ordering, the contract takes effect only once you confirm it in text form, for example by email.

Ordered online or by phone? You usually have a 14-day Widerrufsrecht, a right to withdraw without giving a reason. Signed in a shop? Then there is generally no such right. One catch: if you withdraw from the new contract, also take back the cancellation and porting order at your old provider, or the old contract still ends and the number still leaves.

Prepaid and your remaining credit

Prepaid is simpler than a contract plan. There is usually no minimum term, and porting a prepaid number tends to end the prepaid contract. When it ends, the old provider must refund your remaining credit if you ask. Put that request in at the same time as the porting order.

If the switch goes wrong

The law allows a break in service of at most one working day. If the switch runs past your contract end, the old provider keeps you connected until it is done. For the days after your contract end it may only charge half the agreed base fee, unless the delay was your fault.

Offline for more than one working day without having agreed to it? You can claim compensation: €10 per extra working day, or 20 percent of your monthly fee if that is more. If your number has not moved by the working day after the agreed date, you can claim €10 for each day of delay.

Complain to the new provider first. If that does not fix it, the Bundesnetzagentur takes complaints through its contact form. Keep the order confirmation, the porting order and the old provider's cancellation confirmation. The regulator does not collect compensation for you.

Keep the dates where you will see them

The hard part is remembering a date that comes up once every two years. Snap your contract summary or a bill, Notenz finds the date and provider and reminds you before it is due. Your first 3 letters are read free. Start free.

This article explains German telecoms rules in plain English and is not legal advice. Your own contract terms and the latest bill from your provider are what count.