If the phone purchased with the telephony service is coded for use in a single network, you must have this information in the contract. Furthermore, in your contract, you must also have information on the possibility and conditions of unlocking the terminal.
Moreover, the minimum standard conditions for unlocking coded terminals have been established by a Code of conduct,, adopted by the main mobile operators in Romania.
According to the Code of Conduct:
- You can request the unlocking of the terminal when you buy it or anytime thereafter, upon presenting the invoice or the warranty certificate of the terminal.
- If you buy only the terminal, without electronic communications services, the operator unlocks your purchased terminal for free.
- If you have obtained the terminal in a promotional package or at a preferential price and want to unlock it before the expiry of the minimum period stipulated in the contract concluded with the operator, you will have to pay both the unlocking fee and the early termination fee.
- If the minimum contract period has expired, you only pay the unlocking fee. Warning! The unlocking fee is set by each operator independentlly.
- The unlocking is performed within 15 working days from the date of submitting such a request.
- Operators will only unlock phones that have not exceeded the average usage time mentioned by the manufacturer in the warranty certificate. The unlocking of older terminals will be carried out only to the extent that the operators have the necessary technical resources.
About what, how and where can you make a complaint?
If the phone purchased with the telephony service is locked for use in a network and you have no such information in the contract, ANCOM can take measures. See how you can notify us. Consult the section Complain to ANCOM!
If the provider fails to comply with the unlocking conditions mentioned in the contract, you can address the National Authority for Consumer Protection. In this situation, ANCOM can offer advice and mediation, but it cannot sanction the provider.
Although the mobile network operators have adopted the Code of Conduct, the document has no legal value. Therefore, ANCOM cannot sanction a provider for non-compliance.
