Status: 03/21/2022 10:39 a.m
What to do if the internet is slower than agreed? In home office times, this is more than just an annoyance. A new reduction right is intended to remedy the situation, the Federal Network Agency is promoting its measurement tool.
Fixed network Internet is in many cases significantly worse than contractually agreed. The Federal Network Agency announced this on the basis of its own surveys.
In December of last year, a regulation in the Telecommunications Act came into force that significantly improves the position of customers vis-à-vis their internet provider. After using an app for internet measurement via the measurement tool breitbandmessung.de, customers can reduce the monthly payment if the performance is lower than contractually guaranteed.
Now there is a first interim status as to how this regulation is accepted: According to the Federal Network Agency, consumers have so far requested almost 15,000 so-called measurement protocols as part of the new reduction right. A reduction claim was “almost exclusively” determined. So the performance was so far from what was contractually agreed that consumers were entitled to lower fees.
The logs do not show how high the reduction is; consumers should clarify this with their providers. Netzagentur chief Klaus Müller said they were pleased that the “breitbandmessung.de” measuring tool was being well received.
Slow Internet: Reduction per measurement protocol
Contracts for Internet tariffs contain a product information sheet in which the provider states the maximum, the minimum and the data rate normally available. According to the legal regulation, there must be no “considerable, continuous or regularly recurring deviation” from these specifications, otherwise the consumer can assert a claim for a reduction.
For the new reduction right, consumers must use the “breitbandmessung.de” desktop app for broadband measurement by the Federal Network Agency, but via the LAN cable and not via the WLAN, because wireless access to the fixed network Internet speeds up.
In order to get a measurement log, a total of 30 measurements on three different calendar days are required. There should be at least five minutes between the measurements, or at least three hours between the fifth and sixth measurement of the day. The total period for the “measurement campaign” must not be longer than two weeks.
ISP responses
And how did Internet providers react to the first figures on the new reduction law? A spokesman for Deutsche Telekom said that relatively few measurement logs are currently being received from customers. In the past two months it has been an average of ten per day. “We always look for an accommodating solution,” he said. “If a claim arises after the reason for the measurement result has been clarified, we will of course grant a reduction on the monthly amount.” The contribution varies depending on the customer and the contract.
Vodafone announced that so far “few” customers have made use of the right to a reduction. “We do not publish figures on this,” said a spokesman.
Amount of claim uncertain
Consumer advocates evaluated the numbers on the right to a reduction as evidence of a large gap between claims and reality on the domestic Internet. Around 15,000 complete measurement campaigns within two and a half months are “not inconsiderable”, after all the effort is high, said Felix Flosbach from the consumer advice center in North Rhine-Westphalia. The number of consumers who obtain information on the subject from the advice centers is constantly increasing.
The consumer advocate complained that the amount of the claim was not clear. After viewing the protocol, landline users would have to decide for themselves how much less they wanted to pay. The telecommunications providers then often only offer a small price reduction and do not explain how they came up with the amount. “More transparency of the provider would be helpful”, said Flosbach.
The situation could soon improve for consumers. Because Federal Network Agency President Müller said that his authority was “in the interest of customers in dialogue with the industry in order to achieve simplified compensation models”.