Swisscom after a death 2026: what follows the cancellation

Report a death: the mobile contract covers it, the internet contract does not

Swisscom wrote a death into the contract for mobile only, according to ConvivaPlus's analysis: on 3 November 2026, we searched all 7 contract documents that Swisscom publishes for private subscriptions. Only one covers a death: the Special Conditions for Mobile, clause 6.1. The other six say nothing about it, not even the general terms that apply to every subscription.

For internet, landline and TV, what applies is therefore Swisscom's help page: “In the event of death, we will terminate and take over the policy immediately, without notice period or additional costs.” This is the sentence that matters for relatives, because it applies to all subscriptions, even where the contract is silent. You report the death in writing or by phone.

The mobile contract is worded slightly differently. It speaks of termination “with effect on the day of death” and sets a condition: nobody keeps using the line. If you still need the phone, choose a transfer instead. The checklist below shows which rule applies to which contract.

Death certificate: first the paper, then the call

The order is the reverse of what many expect: first the official paper, then the call to Swisscom. Calling the day after the death to report it “in advance” gets you nowhere. The help page puts it in one sentence: “No, if the contract is being cancelled or transferred due to a death, the death certificate must already be available when we are notified.”

Swisscom simply says “death certificate”. Officially that one word covers two stops on the same road. First the doctor issues the medical death certificate so that the civil registry can record the death. Only then does the civil registry office issue the official death certificate, on request and in four national languages. If someone dies in a hospital or care home, the canton of Aargau says the management reports it (German original): «Die Spital- oder Heimleitung meldet den Todesfall umgehend (spätestens innert zwei Tagen).»

For the Swisscom form you therefore need the certificate from the civil registry office where the person died, not the doctor's sheet. The timeline shows what comes in which order.

Cancellation date: “immediately” is an offer, not a must

The flat still has to be cleared, the letting agent calls on the landline, the alarm may still run over the internet. Whoever cancels “with immediate effect” in the first week switches all of that off the same day, and many only notice once the line is dead.

Yet at Swisscom, immediate effect is an offer, not an obligation. The help page: “If you need the number for a few more days, you can request a specific date for the cancellation.”

In the Swisscom form the field is simply called “Kündigungsdatum”; in our template it is “Cancel with effect from”. The normal notice period without a death is in the notice-period comparison of internet providers.

Final bill: it goes to an address where nobody lives any more

The flat has been cleared, the name is still on the letterbox, and inside is an envelope from Swisscom: the cancellation confirmation, addressed to the mother. It is not a mistake, it is the procedure. In the cancellation form, Swisscom writes (German original): «Die Kündigungsbestätigung und Schlussrechnung werden an die Vertragsadresse geschickt. Beantrage wenn nötig eine Postumleitung.»

There is a way out, and it is on the help page: “You will receive a detailed overview of any outstanding invoice amounts or instalment payments. You specify where we should send the final bill.” If you give that address when you report the death, you need no mail forwarding, and the instalment for the phone still being paid off reaches the person handling things, not the letterbox of an empty flat.

That is why the delivery address is a field of its own in our template, right below the cancellation.

[First name Last name]
[Street, postcode, town]

[provider, address as on the bill]

[place, date]

Cancellation after a death: [name of the deceased], born [date of birth]
Customer and phone numbers: [customer number, phone numbers]

Dear Sir or Madam

[name of the deceased], born [date of birth], died on [date of death]. As [e.g. daughter, husband, heir], I am notifying you of the death.

I hereby cancel all contracts under the numbers above, for the lines at [street, postcode, town], with effect from [immediately / preferred date]. If I wish to take over a line instead of cancelling it, I name it here: [number / none].

A copy of the death certificate is enclosed.

Please send the cancellation confirmation, the final bill and the summary of any outstanding amounts or instalments to:
[name, address]

Please let me know whether any equipment (router, TV box) has to be returned, and where.

If needed, I will request access to the deceased's e-mail or cloud accounts separately.

Yours faithfully

[First name Last name]

Signature: ____________________

Enclosure: copy of the death certificate

Transfer the number: cancel from the kitchen table, transfer only in a shop

Cancelling works from the kitchen table, transferring does not: for the mobile number you have to go to a shop in person. Swisscom gives this reason: “For legal reasons, we need to see identification in person to transfer a mobile contract.”

Why the trip to the shop is worth it: the parents' number is known to the family doctor, the neighbour with the spare key and the friend from the gym club who has phoned for years and never writes. Some of those calls come months later. Whoever keeps the number is the one who answers and can tell them.

In the shop you need your own ID and the document certifying the death; the list is below. Landline, internet and TV can also be transferred by phone.

Transfer internet: one phone call is enough, but one morning goes quiet

With the internet it is exactly the other way round from the mobile. Swisscom only hands over the mobile number in a shop, against ID; the connection in the hallway can be transferred by phone as well: “To transfer a TV or Internet connection, call us or visit a Swisscom Shop.” Whoever stays in the flat, the widower or the daughter who had moved in with her mother, sorts it out without leaving the house.

The price of that convenience is a single morning. On the mobile nobody notices the switch; on the router you do: “There are no disruptions with mobile contracts. When you take over a fixed-network telephone, Internet or TV account, however, there may be brief disruptions on the morning of the transfer.” So keep that morning free of video calls and of calls to the bank on the landline.

Everything else stays as it was: “No, you can continue to use existing devices (router and TV-Box for example).” The person on the contract changes, not the box in the hallway that may still carry the note with the Wi-Fi password, in their handwriting.

Prepaid phone: doing nothing has a deadline too

The mother's phone lies in the kitchen drawer. Every few weeks someone plugs it in, switches it on, now and then a text arrives. For Swisscom it is still unused. Switching it on does not count, receiving texts does not count: Swisscom has defined “use” separately. Only what changes the credit counts, such as topping up or buying a pack.

After twelve months the deadline has passed. The number she could be reached on for years belongs to Swisscom again, and the credit is gone. That is what the prepaid terms say (German original): «Nach 12-monatiger Nichtbenutzung oder bei Missbrauch des Prepaid-Dienstes wird die Prepaid-SIM ungültig, das Prepaid-Guthaben verfällt und die Rufnummer fällt entschädigungslos an Swisscom zurück.»

There is nothing to cancel: “There is no need to cancel prepaid accounts because there is no contract with Swisscom.” To keep the number, for calls that still come months later, take it over in a shop. The remaining credit moves across automatically.

Deceased's e-mail: access goes to the heirs jointly

Mum's mailbox does not go to the daughter who applies, but to the whole community of heirs. Swisscom's application for e-mail and myCloud states (German original) that «die Zugangsdaten nur zuhanden der Erbengemeinschaft und nicht einzelnen Erben zugesandt werden».

That matches inheritance law: several heirs form a community until the estate is divided, and under Art. 602 of the Swiss Civil Code they own the estate jointly and exercise its rights together (paraphrase: there is no official English version of Swiss federal law). A mailbox holding forty years of correspondence then belongs to all the siblings at once, not just to the daughter who is handling everything.

Who then manages the mailbox is for the heirs to settle among themselves. Who belongs to the community of heirs is a matter of inheritance law, and what a will changes is shown by our compulsory-share calculator in the will guide.

Cancelling and opening the mailbox are two separate requests, with a tick box in the form. If you know the password, you need no request and, according to Swisscom, can transfer the address to your own account. Because a Swisscom address is often the login for the bank and health insurer: sort out access first, then cancel.

Sunrise, Galaxus & co.: where a death is in the contract

For internet contracts Swisscom is not the exception but the majority: with five of the 7 providers whose internet terms we read, a death is not in the contract. Only Sunrise and Galaxus Internet name it, as a reason for termination without notice.

With the others, ask for the procedure after a death and enclose the death certificate; our template works with any provider. It is rarely just the phone: the flat, insurance and other contracts are covered in Cancellation letters Switzerland, the newspaper subscription in Cancel a newspaper subscription.

Which channel counts with which provider and how long the normal notice period runs: see the comparison cancelling internet after a death: Sunrise, Galaxus and other providers.