Porting from MTN to CellC - penalties?

[Johnit]

My son is on a MTN contract, R25 per month for R50 airtime (MTN Anytime 50 topup). No phone was included in the deal. He is one year into the two year contract. He wants to port to CellC (favourable deal - 100 minutes anytime, 100MB, 120 SMSes @ R 69 per month). MTN quotes a penalty of approximately R3700 if he cancels, CellC says he need not cancel and can just port, letting the MTN contract run for the rest of the contract term. MTN says this is not true. I would like feedback on the contradictory info.

The one solution is simply to get a new contract, new number, keep the old contract and notify MTN of cancellation a month or so before contract term, but this is a hassle - notifying evrybody of the number change.

Any suggestions?

 

[ajax]

Porting the number is the same as cancellation. You will have to get a new contract like you said.
ICASA should regulate these freakin cancellation fees. He's got, subscription wise, only about R300 left to pay, but MTN wants to charge 10x that!

EDIT: Do you have a link to that deal from Cell C? Sounds awesome!

 

[isie]

if you signed a 2 year contract, you need to pay to cancel it early, once the 2 years are up then you can port at no cost. sorrr
get the cell c person to put what he said on paper then he can be liable for the cost as he cleary doesnt know how contracts work

 

[Aharon]

In theory I suppose what cell c are saying is to keep paying the R25 to Mtn. In practice however MTN will not release the cell number until the contract is up.

 

[Johnit]

Thanks for the feedback! will have to keep MTN contract live - no cost issue, just the number :-(