Consumer advice center issues warning to Vodafone and Deutsche Glasfaser

Nowadays, nothing works without the Internet. So it’s nice to have a reliable provider who regularly ensures stable and, in the best case, fast Internet. The contracts often include routers. What many customers don’t know is this: In Germany, the so-called router freedom has been in effect for quite some time. Some well-known providers have been violating this for some time. The consumer center does not want to accept this any longer.

Violation of free router choice

I would claim that it is quite normal for the large mass of consumers to receive an associated router from the provider to go with their Internet contract. This results in an annoying minus for many customers. Since Internet providers charge a monthly rental fee for their routers as standard, after 24 months of contract term, you are left with roughly the same situation as if you had simply bought the router yourself. The big difference is that you have to return the rental device at the end of the contract. This and a few other reasons were the reason for enshrining the freedom to choose a router in law in 2016.

However, even though a corresponding regulation may exist, many providers simply do not want to comply with it. They still add a rental router to the Internet contract by default. In particular, the providers Vodafone and Deutsche Glasfaser have attracted negative attention in the past when it came to fiber-optic contracts. For example, the Federal Network Agency, as the official federal authority, has also commented on the abuses in the area of contracts for fiber-optic connections. Their verdict was that here, too, a free choice of router must be possible without exception.

Router should not necessarily be in provider hands

But what exactly is the legal content of the so-called router freedom? If one takes a look at the regulations, it quickly becomes clear that the provider itself leaves its sphere of power outside the passive network termination point. This means that the customer can connect any router he wants to the fiber optic connection point. What may sound perfectly understandable to us technology enthusiasts regularly pushes laypeople to their limits. The providers also know this, which is why they suggest to their customers that the fiber optic connection will only work in conjunction with the router offered for rent. Unfortunately, Vodafone and Deutsche Glasfaser showed themselves to be intransigent after the confrontation with the consumer advice center.

They wanted to continue their customer policy and make suitable routers mandatory. The result is now a warning from the two major Internet providers. In particular, the consumer advice center complains that the providers are not even fulfilling their obligation to provide information. They would have to make it clear to customers that they can also use their own router without any problems. With this knowledge in mind, many customers would resort to cheaper and more energy-saving alternatives than the devices offered. We hope that the warning does not miss its mark and causes providers to rethink.