No more slow internet in Germany! As of December 1, 2021, a new telecommunications law comes into effect that finally allows customers to successfully defend themselves against an Internet provider if it does not provide the connection speed it promised. Here’s what you should know right now.
Slow internet in Germany? This is how you measure the speed!
Since the 1st of December you can finally defend yourself if your internet service provider does not fulfil its contract. Until now customers in Germany only had the possibility to end their contract prematurely if the internet was too slow. Now they can also simply reduce their monthly payments.
What to do? The new law speaks of the right to a reduction in case of “significant, continuous or regularly recurring speed deviations.” The Federal Network Agency explains what customers must do to prove these deviations.
The most important thing is to measure the speed of your connection. You can measure it at www.breitbandmessung.de. Your connection must reach 90 percent of the contracted maximum speed at least once within two measurement days. In addition, the connection should reach the contractually agreed normal speed in 90 per cent of the measurements and may not drop below the minimum speed in more than one measurement.
This is how you lower your internet charge in Germany
If the above conditions are met, you can lower your monthly fees. Those who receive only half of the promised speed from their provider will only have to pay half of the cost set in the tariff.
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) has analyzed in its study how often operators such as Telekom, Vodafone, 1&1 or O2 promise too much and deliver too little. Dr. Kathrin Steinbach, consultant in vzbv’s Digital Market Observation Team, summarizes the results: “Internet problems are part of consumers’ daily lives. The study shows, for example, that consumers often pay a lot of money without receiving an adequate service in return.”
This is why consumer protection organizations advise to regularly check the speed of the Internet connection. If the line is too slow, customers should demand that the provider actually deliver the promised speed. If the provider fails to do so, customers can unusually terminate their existing contract or reduce their monthly payments accordingly from December 1, 2021.
You can compare the offers of German Internet providers on our website: Internet in Germany.