It will be a scorching summer on the price increase front: here's how to defend ourselves from the increase in the cost of the phone subscription
Summer 2019 will also be remembered as a hot season for fixed, mobile and Internet phone rates: already from the beginning of June, in fact, the operators have presented a flurry of "remodulations" with consequent increases from 99 cents per month (for voice rates) to almost 5 euros per month for the data connection.
While Tim, Vodafone, Wind-Tre and other operators are increasing costs, they are very often offering some benefits such as extra GB of data traffic in compensation. Most consumers, however, would rather receive nothing and keep the rate they chose. Fortunately, since phone operators are required by law to give at least 30 days notice before reshaping their offer, we have time to make our own choices and defend our interests in the best way possible. Here is some advice on what to do when our telephone operator increases the monthly cost of the subscription.
How to withdraw from the contract without paying penalties
The first rule to defend ourselves from remodulations is simple: change telephone operator. On the other hand, if we are no longer comfortable it is our sacrosanct right to seek a more advantageous rate. We can do this free of charge until the day before the contractual changes announced by the operator come into force. If we fall within the time limit we do not have to pay penalties, disconnection fees or other unjustified costs. The quickest way to withdraw from a telephone contract is to send an e-mail to the customer service, or to call it and speak to an operator.
Remodulations: is there a law coming to block them?
Today any kind of remodulation of telephone rates, provided that the 30-day notice period is respected, is absolutely legal. Tomorrow, perhaps, it will no longer be so because at the beginning of July a bill has landed in the Senate that attempts to block unilateral changes to the terms of contract. Among the changes proposed by the bill is the impossibility for the operator to change the contractual conditions for at least six months after the stipulation. Other parts of the bill provide for greater transparency on prices, so that the user is clear about how much he is paying and for what services. Today, however, services such as voicemail, LTE connectivity, SMS notifications are stated in contracts, but well hidden in the notes. This last measure of the DdL, among other things, would make it much easier to compare the rates of the various operators and help us choose the one that suits us best if we want to withdraw from the contract with our current operator.