Can I keep my phone number when I switch provider in Hungary?
You can keep your mobile number, and your landline number if you do not move, when you change provider. Porting is free for you, and you can still request it within 31 days after cancelling your contract, unless you waived that right.
You can usually take your mobile or landline number with you to a new provider. You ask the new provider to transfer it, and the number moves on an agreed day.
📜 The rules in Hungary
Compensation
If porting leaves you without service for over one working day, the new provider pays 10,000 Ft per further day, up to 50,000 Ft; if it is later than agreed, 5,000 Ft per day, up to 25,000 Ft. It pays within 30 days, unasked.
The details
- Apply to the new provider; it runs the whole process for you. For a request made by 16:00 on a working day, it must offer the porting window of the second working day after; the window starts at 20:00 and lasts 4 hours. (njt.jog.gov.hu)
- During the porting window your phone service may be partly or fully down; other services in the same bundle must move that day with at most one working day of outage. Voicemail messages are not transferred. (njt.jog.gov.hu)
- You can withdraw the request at the new provider by 16:00 on the second working day before the window. The old provider may refuse only if you cannot be identified, have a notified bill over 30 days overdue, or a moving bundle needs further coordination. (njt.jog.gov.hu)
- With prepaid, ask the old provider within 30 days after porting to refund your remaining credit. A fee for this is allowed only if your contract says so, and it must match the real cost. (njt.jog.gov.hu)
Média- és hírközlési biztos (NMHH)
Free NMHH commissioner who mediates with your provider when its conduct has harmed you, and possibly many other subscribers, for example on relocation, delayed porting, billing or disconnection without good reason. It cannot fine the provider or order it to act.
Békéltető testületek
Free, independent conciliation boards run by the county and Budapest chambers of commerce. They settle consumer disputes about your contract out of court once you have tried and failed to settle directly with the provider.
🪜 Step by step
- Do not cancel the old contract firstIf you end the old contract before the transfer, the number can be lost. Let the new provider request the transfer.
- Get your details readyYou usually need the number, the name on the old contract and sometimes a customer number or transfer code from the old provider.
- Agree the transfer dateThe new provider tells you when the number moves. Keep the old SIM or line in use until then.
- Check that everything worksTest calls and messages on the new SIM or line, and check that the old provider sends a final bill and stops charging.
📇 Who to contact
Sponsor this page → One labelled block, €100 a month. Founding price €75 until 31 January 2027.
❓ Questions
How long does a number transfer take?
It is usually quick. If the rules in Hungary set a maximum time or compensation for delays, you find them on this page.
Can I keep my number if I still owe the old provider money?
You still have to pay what you owe under the old contract. Ask the new provider before you switch whether anything could hold up the transfer.
Can I move a mobile number to a landline, or the other way round?
Usually not: mobile numbers move between mobile providers, landline numbers between landline providers.
📎 Sources
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