Broadband loses speed

A consumer recently complained that his broadband speed continues to be lower than claimed in the plan and brochures. He opted for it in February. “Everytime I lodge a complaint with the customer service staff, the same is closed without resolution,’’ he says. Another consumer says his broadband works less than 5% of the time. Yet another has not got his connection in the first place- he’s been waiting for almost a year.

Despite Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) quality of service regulations, complaints of this nature keep pouring in. TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra admits, “There is tremendous scope for improvement in broadband services to consumers.’’

As Pritee Shah of Ahmedabad’s Consumer Education & Research Centre, who herself faced a broadband breakdown during a weekend, says, “Broadband providers don’t give a guarantee for speed in writing. This needs to be questioned.’’

On its part, TRAI has mandated service providers to give a testing link in their websites where a customer can test the speed. “It must be (at least) 80% of the prescribed limit,’’ says a TRAI official.

The official and Rajesh Chharia, president at Internet Service Providers’ Association of India (ISPAI), however, add that speed also depends on the PC, modem and the visited sites. They advise consumers to check whether their PC is virus-free. Shah though says, “These are standard answers.’’

The TRAI official draws attention to the fact that while bandwidth utilisation should not cross 90% of the total capacity, some have reached 92-94%. “Service providers have promised to improve it in the coming quarter.’’

To gauge consumer satisfaction, Consumer Voice of Delhi is independently conducting its own mobile and internet quality of service survey in the four metros. Its report will be ready in the next two months. “Broadband will penetrate very fast. And once that happens, the quality of service (issue) will have to be addressed,’’ says Voice’s Sri Ram Khanna.

TRAI’s Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations, 2006, specify that a connection must be activated within 15 working days, subject to technical feasibility. In case a service provider expects delay in activation, Chharia says, the applicant must be immediately informed.

If the consumer has already paid for the connection and yet the activation gets delayed, TRAI guidelines state, “A credit at the rate of Rs 10 per day, subject to a maximum installation charge or equivalent usage allowance shall be given to the customer, at the time of issue of first bill.”

Fault repair and restoration time must not cross three working days. Faults pending for 15 days would draw a rebate equivalent to one month of minimum monthly charge or equivalent usage allowance. The regulations also state that billing complaints should be under 2% per 100 bills and all resolutions must happen within four weeks. Refund of deposit after closure must take place within 60 days. Yet, the above-mentioned cases remain unresolved.