When concluding a contract, the providers must make it clear how high their data transmission rates are. In the future, consumers should be allowed to pay less if the Internet is much worse than promised.
Anyone who has much worse internet at home than the provider promised can reduce payments to them from December onwards.
The Federal Network Agency defines criteria that are published today as a draft version – after a survey of market participants, the final definition takes place. The catalog of criteria is about how big the deficits must be before the consumer can make use of the right of reduction. The criteria apply to landline internet.
With the amendment of the Telecommunications Act this year, the role of the consumer was strengthened. You could reduce the payment to the Internet provider beforehand if the performance was poor. However, it has been difficult for consumers to enforce this right. That is about to change: Anyone who will take measurements with the Federal Network Agency’s “broadband measurement.de” desktop app in the future can use these values to justify the reduction in monthly payments.
Now the network agency defines the threshold from which a consumer is entitled to a reduction. How much less you can pay is already clear: In the event of a “significant, continuous or regularly recurring deviation in speed”, the amount that can be reduced is as much as the difference between the actual and the contractually agreed service.
When entering into Internet contracts, the providers must clarify in product information sheets what their maximum and minimum data transfer rates are and the speed that is normally available. Consumers must orient themselves to these values in order to be able to pay less depending on the results of the measurements.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
