Moving house with an internet contract: Take it with you, cancel it, or sign up again?

When Jonas and Miriam got the confirmation for their new flat in April, the to-do list was long: find a new tenant, sell the kitchen, rent a van. The internet contract was right at the bottom. A call to the provider, they thought, could be sorted in the week before the move. The result: five weeks without a connection in the new flat, working from home via a phone hotspot, and a technician hotline that played the same eight bars of piano music on hold, over and over.

It doesn't have to be that way. Moving with an internet contract is clearly regulated by law – you just need to know the rules and get started in time. Right now in May, in the middle of moving season, it's worth getting an overview: when does your contract move with you, when can you terminate early, and what does a timeline look like that actually works?

The basic rule: your contract moves with you – if the provider can deliver

The Telecommunications Act is refreshingly clear here. If your provider also offers the contractually agreed service at the new address, they must continue the contract there under unchanged terms. Same price, same service, same remaining term. Moving is explicitly not a reason for a new 24-month contract – even if some hotlines like to tell you otherwise and try to talk you into an "upgrade" while they're at it. You don't have to sign anything new.

There is one catch, though: the provider is allowed to charge a one-off fee for the move. This has to be reasonable, and in practice the amounts are usually somewhere between €30 and €70. Some providers waive it entirely as a goodwill gesture, especially if you ask nicely and have been a customer for a while. Asking costs nothing – the moving fee does.

Right of early termination: when nothing works at the new address

Things get interesting if your provider can't deliver a service at the new address. In that case, § 60 (2) TKG applies: you can terminate the contract with one month's notice – regardless of how much time is actually left on it. Even a freshly signed 24-month contract is history after just one month. The termination takes effect at the earliest on the moving date, so you can't get out weeks in advance and end up without a connection in your old flat.

And now the part that surprisingly many people don't know: the special right of termination also applies if the provider only offers a worse service at the new location. You've had 250 Mbit over cable so far, but at the new address the same provider only offers DSL with 50 Mbit? That's not the agreed service – you're allowed to leave. The provider has to deliver what's in the contract, not just anything.

On the process: the termination should be made in writing, stating the new address and moving date. As proof, most providers require a copy of the new rental agreement or a certificate of registration. Send that along right away – it saves a round of correspondence. If the provider refuses to cooperate despite demonstrably being unable to deliver, the arbitration board of the Bundesnetzagentur can help – free of charge.

The timeline: eight weeks, counted backwards

Technician appointments are the bottleneck. If you're too late, you'll be waiting – in the worst case for weeks. Here's how to tackle it:

1. 8 weeks before: Check availability at the new address. What's available there – DSL, cable, fibre? A look at our connection comparison helps with the assessment, if you have a choice.
2. 6 weeks before: Inform the provider about the move. Most have an online form for this. State your preferred date for the switch-over – ideally one or two days after moving in.
3. 4 weeks before: If eligible for special termination: cancel now and sign the new contract in parallel. Comparing new customer offers is worthwhile, the price differences are considerable – our internet comparison shows the current offers.
4. 2 weeks before: Have the technician appointment confirmed and put it in your calendar. Classic case: "between 8am and 4pm" – plan the day generously.
5. Moving day: Don't bury the router in the first box. It belongs in the bag with the important things, along with access data and cables.
6. After moving in: Run a speed test. If significantly less arrives than agreed, you have rights – exactly which ones, we cover in the article on right to a reduction for slow internet here.

The two most costly mistakes

Mistake number one: signing a new contract at the new address before the old one has been sorted out. Sounds obvious, but it happens all the time because new-customer prices are so tempting. If your old provider can deliver at the new address, you have no right of early termination – and end up paying twice for months. Check first, then sign.

Mistake number two: only reporting the move in the week before moving in. The switchover itself is often done quickly, but if a technician needs to come to the flat (almost always the case with cable and fibre if there was no active connection there before), appointment availability is what decides things. And during moving season, between May and September, that always feels tight.

A third point, not a mistake, but a missed opportunity: the move is the best moment to fundamentally reconsider your own plan. If fibre is available at the new address but you've been stuck on an old DSL plan for years, switching often pays off twice over – more performance for similar money. How far the rollout has progressed by now and what a fibre connection costs is covered in our fibre overview.

So what does this mean for you?

In short: if your provider can deliver at the new address, the contract moves with you – under identical terms, for a one-off moving fee. If they can't (or only offer something worse), you're out with one month's notice, no matter how much term is left. And the whole process depends on starting early: eight weeks of lead time isn't a luxury, it's the realistic minimum if you don't want to be offline on moving day.

Not sure what the best option is at your new address? We'll take a free look – just get in touch via our callback form contact form, and we'll go through the availability together. That would have saved Jonas and Miriam five weeks of hotspot home office.