internet goes down? ISPs pay back the customer for the down time - Ofcom proposes

[zMeul]

source: http://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/ofcom-wants-uk-isps-to-automatically-pay-customers-back-whenever-connections-go-down/

 

 

seriously loving the idea and should be implemented EU wide

 

Quote

The proposal, which is bound to upset UK ISPs, would essentially force providers into offering a better service and timely repairs by hitting them where it hurts- the wallet. Ofcom’s current proposal calls for broadband issues to be fixed within two working days. If this is not achieved, then ISPs would need to pay the customer back £10 for each calendar day that the service is down.

 

Ofcom is also proposing a £6 per day fine for late line installations for new customers. Finally, the biggest kicker is £30 to be paid back to the customer if an engineer misses an appointment or cancels with less than 24 hours notice.

 

Ofcom is UK's telecom regulator

[Sir Asvald]

FINALLY. SOMETHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT. 

[zMeul]

2 minutes ago, Abdul201588 said:

FINALLY. SOMETHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT. 

not just yet, they're in "talks" until June

[Morgan MLGman]

2 minutes ago, zMeul said:

not just yet, they're in "talks" until June

Eh, I'm not even hoping for that to happen in Poland, fucking third-world countries Judging by your location you can probably relate, haha

[Sir Asvald]

3 minutes ago, zMeul said:

not just yet, they're in "talks" until June

Still. Something a lot of people will be happy about.

 

 

[Oshino Shinobu]

Ofcom's been pretty active lately. They've fined EE and Vodafone recently too. Glad that we actually have an organisation to somewhat keep companies in check

[Carclis]

If we had something similar in Australia a lot of ISP's would be going bust.

[zMeul]

15 minutes ago, Morgan MLGman said:

Eh, I'm not even hoping for that to happen in Poland, fucking third-world countries Judging by your location you can probably relate, haha

Internet here is really strong, can't complain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Internet_connection_speeds

 

[DocSwag]

And here we are in the U.S. where the senate just voted yes on a bill to let ISPs give others our internet browsing history without our permission...

[Matt_98]

27 minutes ago, zMeul said:

source: http://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/ofcom-wants-uk-isps-to-automatically-pay-customers-back-whenever-connections-go-down/

 

 

seriously loving the idea and should be implemented EU wide

 

 

Ofcom is UK's telecom regulator

 

finally bt opencrap will have to actually fix things

[GoodBytes]

Seriously? When my service is down and back up, I just call my ISP, and they give me the days that I hadn't service (or intermittent) back on the next bill.

I guess, they are doing it automatically, is that what they propose?

[haloharry97]

idk about the rest I care about this "pay the customer back £10 for each calendar day that the service is down." 

[Matt_98]

Just now, GoodBytes said:

Seriously? When my service is down and back up, I just call my ISP, and they give me the days that I hadn't service (or intermittent) back on the next bill.

I guess, they are doing it automatically, is that what they propose?

 

pretty much, it should be easy to implement (there are only 2 isp's really in UK)

[Master Disaster]

My ISP (Sky) already do this, if my internet goes down for more than 24 hours then I automatically get a day knocked off the bill for every day its down up to 3 days, it it goes down for more than 3 days then I get a month of BB & TV for half price. The only time it ever went down for more than 3 days they gave me a 3 day refund on my BB & TV plus the rest of the month half price and a months worth of MySKY Premium access too.

 

I first got broadband with BT and it was terrible, we were sold up to 20Mbps, told we would get 16Mbps but when it was switched on we only ended up with 8Mbps. They blamed the cables and refused to acknowledge they had told me I would get 16 during their own speed test. After 3 months of faffing around I got them to cancel the contract (after I threatened them with trading standards because I had the email they sent me with the speed test results on it) and signed up with Sky instead, using the same line they were able to give me 20Mbps (the fastest possible through ADSL) and since then I've upgraded to fibre and now get 50Mbps even though it was advertised to me as 40Mbps.

 

Sky are amazing except if you want to cancel or downgrade something, then all of a sudden you get the non English speaking call centers who don't seem to understand the word no.

[UMxMarky94]

Just now, haloharry97 said:

idk about the rest I care about this "pay the customer back £10 for each calendar day that the service is down."  but i think it needs to be a full refund + £10 or even, %10 refund per day from your month bill. I have been without tv or internet for up to 2 week before.

well for most people it would £10 + £1 

[NumLock21]

Someone at Ofcom must have a terrible experience with their isp. And now they are showing them who has more power, by fining these isps. Nice!

Would be great to have something like that here. Those no shows or last second cancellation appointments are annoying. 

[haloharry97]

Just now, UMxMarky94 said:

well for most people it would £10 + £1 

 i was not thinking when i put someone that in

[Dabombinable]

20 minutes ago, Carclis said:

If we had something similar in Australia a lot of ISP's would be going bust.

Helstra would be fucked.

[mynameisjuan]

Ouch....

 

Last week we had an outage due to a fiber trunk break. A contracted illegally dug on a marked zone that contained our fiber and server other strands of dark fiber. It took over 1000 of our customers down for an hours as we repaired the fiber. 

 

That would of been a big financial hit for something not caused by us if that was implemented in the US. And the problem is this stuff happens all the time for ISPs. I mean we could pay back the customers and then charge or sue the offender but that doesnt guarantee the money back. I do understand it though because internet outages suck. 

 

Also does this fee apply only after an entire day of outages or per day when there is an outage regardless of time? If it is only after 24 hours of an outage the ISP is def liable and we would own up to that and already refund them. However, if the outage is for more than an hour than that ISP needs to get its shit together.

[Carclis]

1 minute ago, Dabombinable said:

Helstra would be fucked.

For sure. You could easily spend close to a month waiting for them to send someone around to fix issues with your lines, and that's assuming they actually get resolved by the clueless technicians.

[Maslofski]

sounds like the technicians are going to get bent over even more for most of those costs. atleast our technician told us that if it stopped working or didnt meet the requirements to call him personally first if its within the first week, elsewise he loses money

[BuckGup]

How about upgrade your hardware so I can get almost 1Mb/s

[Doobeedoo]

ISPs definitely need better service and significantly faster expansion of fiber.

I'm in Croatia worst fucking internet in EU pretty much, from last what I read lately it's 3. slowest in EU so it sucks. Can't get fiber, it's barely expanding.

[zMeul]

4 hours ago, mynameisjuan said:

Ouch....

 

Last week we had an outage due to a fiber trunk break. A contracted illegally dug on a marked zone that contained our fiber and server other strands of dark fiber. It took over 1000 of our customers down for an hours as we repaired the fiber. 

I get you

but if some shithead digs in the wrong spot without permits he should pay the damages and extra - the ISP would be covered

[Zodiark1593]

39 minutes ago, zMeul said:

I get you

but if some shithead digs in the wrong spot without permits he should pay the damages and extra - the ISP would be covered

Assuming the offending party has the liquid assets to cover the damages to the ISP and customers.