Are we automatically entitled to the best telecommunications connection available in our area? This has been the case since February 19th, but the new development is still unknown to most consumers, due to the reluctance of many telecommunications operators to implement the new regulation. Yet it seemed like a concrete step forward in terms of transparency in contractual relationships and maximum efficiency of our connection. An "efficiency bonus" even more useful these days, with the new push for smart working determined by the measures being implemented to limit the effects of the new oil crisis.
Everything starts from the last decree A law incorporating further measures from the PNRR, approved on February 19th and about to be definitively converted. In the chapter on "simplifications for electronic communications," Article 98 of the Communications Code, which governs the information obligations of telecommunications operators, is amended. This amendment requires them to provide their customers with precise information, before signing any contract, on the network technologies actually available at their specific user address and the guaranteed services.
This does not of course prevent agreeing a contract on any of the available technologies, but it is clear that the measure enables the customer to choose correctly the best ratio between quality and price of the service.
The map of different solutions
In practice, since February 19th, it is no longer sufficient for the operator to offer a generically defined offer, for example, such as "speed up to 200 Mbps" or "fiber up to 1 Gbps". The operator will have to specify in detail all the technologies available at the customer's premises with the related guaranteed performances, as well as the price offered for each of them: FTTH (Fiber To The Home) or optical fiber which reaches our device, the technically best solution, or FTTC (Fiber To The Cabinet), which uses the old copper cable for the final stretch, a compromise solution with lower performance. Or perhaps an FWA connection. (fixed wireless access), that is, via radio with one of the available solutions, including that of an Internet connection from our WiFi router via the 4G or 5G cellular system.
The new regulation has a significant impact, if correctly implemented, especially for those users who operate in areas where different technologies are present. And it is precisely in these cases that fairness The availability of some operators leaves room for some doubt, based on expert comments and reports from many users to consumer associations. Many operators, in fact, may find it advantageous, to maximize their margins, to offer one or another of the available technologies, regardless of which offers the best performance.
The “temptation” of radio connections
A typical case – it happens especially in smaller towns – is that of the offer by small operators of a connection FWA instead of FTTHThe operating costs of offering an FWA can be significantly lower than the wholesale fees the operator must pay for FTTH lines, implemented for example by OpenFiber, which then passes them on to the operators for resale to end customers. And so, in the end, we are the ones who lose out, in the ratio between what we pay and what we get.
What to do? The best solution is to do on our own exactly what the operator would be obliged to do: provide us with a summary of all the technologies available in the area not based on information collected more or less freely by the operator himself but "certified" with a detailed report taken from the official coverage maps of Agcom, the Communications Regulatory Authority, in short, the sector authority.
Don't have the required documentation or suspect it's flawed? Let's get it from us right away by consulting the clear and effective service made available to everyone via the web by Agcom with its Broadband MapAnd if our operator does not behave correctly we report the matter directly to theAGCOM.
