Judge: Tele2 customer may put SIM card in hotspot hotspot

A Tele2 customer was allowed to put his SIM card in a hotspot in order to be able to use the 4G connection with multiple devices. That is the opinion of the Noord-Holland District Court in a case that Tele2 had brought against the customer.

The judge agreed with the customer that Tele2 had not stated anywhere that the use of a hotspot, in this case the Netgear Aircard 810S, was not allowed. Tele2 invoked a provision in the general terms and conditions, which states how customers may use the SIM card in a mobile phone. “Use of another device that supports 4G from Tele2 is also allowed in combination with the Tele2 Mobile 4G subscription.”

A device is not automatically a mobile phone, the judge reasoned. “That a device should only be understood to mean a mobile telephone is not stated in the general terms and conditions and does not follow from the agreement or from other circumstances when entering into the agreement.”

Tele2 had canceled the subscription and tried to recover the subscription amount that the customer had to pay from him. Instead, Tele2 now has to pay the legal costs of 100 euros and the customer does not have to pay anything. The passage is still unadjusted in Tele2’s most recent conditions. It is unknown whether Tele2 will appeal against the court’s ruling.

The judge has said nothing about the legal status of tethering. In 2017, the conditions of Tele2 stated that tethering, the use of the SIM card for the connection of a mobile hotspot, was not allowed. That provision was removed from the terms and conditions after lawyers pointed out that a provider should not prohibit tethering.