internet germany competition
Monopoly on Internet acces
<p>I am interested in the legal section of my current situation. If I can do something or if it is worth it.</p>

<p>Let's start with key informations:</p>

<p><strong>Location</strong>: Germany<br>
<strong>Reason</strong>: ISP Problems</p>

<p>So I am moving in a new apartment. The situation that discomforts me, is that in the street, or more over the whole block, I am going to live in, only one ISP is available at all.</p>

<p>Let's call them ISP <strong>T</strong>. <br>
<strong>T</strong> is the one that build the infrastructure for that block. Meaning they digged up the street and planted the cables etc. Now they are the only ISP available. Asking all other ISPs they said that they can't deliver internet to me since they are not allowed to / have no possibility to do so.</p>

<p>I have personal problems and dislikes with this ISP. Making it very hard to form a contract with them but cornered in like this I had to do it. They are far more expensive than my old ISP and even for a higher price I only get half the speed.
Another problem is that I move in next week but they will deliver internet to me between X and 31.10.17. Meaning I am unclear how long I will have to endure living in an apartment without internet. 
Besides they are known for delivering far slower internet than written in the contract. ( 70% of the time it is slower )</p>

<p>I am now interested if it is even legal to have such a monopoly since we have some competetor laws in Germany. And if so what are my options besides just living with how it is now?</p>

<p>Thank you in advance.</p>

<p>First of all, while it is possible that Telekom is the only ISP serving your new address (and only with slow internet), I doubt that this is really the case:<br>
Note that I'm talking about alternatives to get you connected at all, not only about cheap alternatives.</p>

<ul>
<li>Usually, even if all the infrastructure (last mile) is owned by T, other providers are available (they pay an infrastructure rent to T, and you can typically get a "rural" tariff with a number of the other big ISPs). </li>
<li>In addition, you are located in that a spot that doesn't even have GPRS? (quite possible, but definitively worth trying - I've been living with UMTS-based internet in a small village that physically didn't have the infrastructure for DSL - UMTS was the cheap alternative there to a microwave ISP)</li>
<li>No microwave broadband internet provider willing to get you connected?</li>
<li>Not even satellite internet?</li>
<li>Last but not least, Freifunk-Vereine are <em>not</em> a traditional ISP, but often very willing to help poor people in a net-free hole (given that you also help building and running the solution)... </li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>Now about the legal points:</p>

<ul>
<li>In general, monopoly laws do not force anyone to provide certain goods or services. I.e. if someone doesn't want to be an ISP, there is no way to force them. </li>
<li><p>It is, of course, possible to make a law that requires all IPSs to serve all customers regardless of where they live. However, </p>

<ul>
<li>this comes under the topic of anti-discrimination or basic services rather than monopoly, and</li>
<li>in practice one needs to be careful with such laws as too strict requirements can <em>increase</em> the danger of monopoly or oligopoly. </li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Important infrastructure is often somewhat special wrt. monopoly laws. This is because some infrastructure is deemed so important that instead of trying to have polypolic market situation, a government monopoly is implemented (political decision).  </p></li>
<li>Government monopoly/state-owned enterprises can ensure that every citizen gets access to certain services.<br>
This was the case with Deutsche Post/Telekom for telecommunication services in Germany.</li>
<li><p>The transition from government monopoly to polypolic market in practice is  not easy, so just saying Telekom is privatized and now the normal monopoly laws should take care does not work.<br>
In Germany, the <a href="http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tkg_2004/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Telekommunikationsgesetz [telecommunication law]</a> is the basis for the ISPs.<br>
You'll be mostly interested in Abschnitt 2 (§§16 ff). The Bundesnetzagentur is the institution to take care of the relevant regulation.</p></li>
<li><p>E.g. <a href="http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tkg_2004/__21.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§21</a> is the basis of the "rural tariffs" I mentioned in the first bullet point above: T can be forced to rent out their physical infrastructure to competitors so that those competitors can offer services in regions where T has high market power.</p></li>
<li><p>So anti-monopoly legislation here works the way that the owner of physical infrastructure (T) needs to grant access to that infrastructure to other ISPs.</p></li>
<li><p>At the moment, Telekom is the <em>only</em> provider that <a href="https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunikation/Verbraucher/WeitereThemen/GrundversorgungmitTeilnehmeranschluessen/GrundversorgungMitTeilnehmeranschluessen-node.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>has</em> to offer basic telecommunication services</a> regardless of where you live.<br>
<em>Basic</em> telecommunication does include internet, but not <em>fast</em> internet (DSL, VDSL etc.). </p></li>
</ul>

<hr>

<blockquote>
  <p>Meaning I am unclear how long I will have to endure living in an apartment without internet. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>This depends. E.g. if you have an ongoing internet contract at your old flat, that contract is valid also for the new flat - if the old ISP does offer services at the new flat. If not, you have a special right to cancel the contract, but you cannot force your old ISP to offer their services at your new address.<br>
If you then want to change your ISP, the <a href="https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunikation/Verbraucher/Anbieterwechsel/120518ThemenblattAnbieterwechsel.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&amp;v=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">maximum allowed period for discontinued services is 1 day</a></p>

<p>There may be regulation on how soon you can expect basic telecommunication services to work (don't know), but that anyways does not cover DSL etc. - it is internet-by-call or ISDN. So, if you make a contract for DSL, get an installation date and afterwards internet is still not available, you can post a written request stating a reasonable deadline to the ISP to fix your connection. If that does not lead to a working connection, you can cancel the contract. </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Besides they are known for delivering far slower internet than written in the contract. ( 70% of the time it is slower ) </p>
</blockquote>

<p>The contracts typically give maximum speed, so somewhat slower is expected. Since June this year, also minimum and typical speed need to be given (transitional period of 6 months).</p>

<p><a href="http://breitbandmessung.de" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://breitbandmessung.de</a> (by the Bundesnetzagentur) is an official internet speed measuring site. The test there puts your connection in relation to contract maximum, expected and minimum acceptable speed. The Bundesnetzagentur now has <a href="https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunikation/Unternehmen_Institutionen/Breitband/Breitbandgeschwindigkeiten/Mitteilung_Konkretisierung.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&amp;v=3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">detailed instructions</a> how to check whether your internet is too slow</p>
