A guide to be able to choose between home internet promotions proposed by operators. Here are the clauses and conditions of contracts read carefully before signing the contract
Choose the connection technology: ADSL or fiber?
Before this step there are assessments to be made. The question is now unavoidable: fiber or ADSL? In reality there would be also to consider the FWA, but it is less frequent that you look for it as connection technology.
To know which is the technology that can be activated in the area where you live is one of the prerequisites. There are in fact offers that impose a surcharge to those who require the activation of fiber optic FTTH (the fastest and that connects directly to the apartment) or FTTC (in this case the fiber connection reaches the street cabin and the last stretch passes through the old copper cables) and then only ADSL is available in that area. In any case it is advisable a preliminary check of the coverage.
Check the speed of the home internet line
To make a speed test of your line is another useful element to find the best home internet offers. The connection speeds promised are stratospheric: 1 Gigabit/s in download and 200/300 Mbits/s in upload for fiber and with Adsl up to 300 Mbit/s. To get an idea if these values were real to download a 2 Giga HD movie with the ultra fast fiber would take only 16 seconds, with the 100 Mbit/s approximately would take just over 2 minutes and a half. With the 20 Mbit/s ADSL, the most common technology, it can take up to 13 minutes.
In this case it is important to know how you will use the connection. If you are a video game addict or a movie fanatic obsessed with Ultra HD or 4 K, download, upload and latency performance is one of the most important aspects. There are often minimum limits below which viewing can be unsatisfactory. Or you are a compulsive downloader. Or you want to use the Internet simply to keep in touch with relatives who have emigrated to Canada. Each of these options will involve increasing your focus on a few different features of the tariffs.
Testing the current speed of the active technology can be a good benchmark for considering only those offers that provide better performance, perhaps at a cheaper promotional price. Especially if you have been loyal to your internet provider for several years, changing can be an important saving factor. A study by SosTariffe.it has shown that between unfaithful and faithful users the difference in the price of internet subscriptions can be as much as €100 a year.
If you have a 7 Mega DSL with a contract signed 4 years ago, you find yourself paying for a slow connection, perhaps even reliable but unquestionably slow, as much as you would pay for a 1 Gigabit fiber. Not the best value for money, in short.
Extra costs and the modem
And here we come back to the problem of coverage. Beware of considering an upgrade to fiber without carefully verifying that it is a viable option for you. In the contract are often included activation clauses deactivation of services that do not admit ignorance on the part of customers. One of these is the one that was mentioned earlier. If in the neighborhood or in the building it is not possible to activate the fiber, the offer could be overcharged (in some cases even 5€ per month).
The bill and the efficiency of the line are then linked to another component, and in this case it doesn't matter if we are talking about ADSL or fiber: the modem. With AGCOM resolution n. 348/18/CONS it has been established that users can freely choose the modem to use for their connection. Operators therefore had to adapt to the new directive and could no longer impose the combined purchase of offer/device.
In fact, they also had to circulate the configuration data needed to match any device to the internet and VOIP line. The migration code according to AGCOM regulations must be provided to any customer who requests it. Several operators have also made these codes available on their website.
From the point of view of tariff offers, this change has had effects on the transparency of costs and conditions linked to the combination of the modem with promotions. In the offers following the resolution of the Guarantor in fact it is important that it is made explicit the price of the basic or advanced modem proposed by the operator, whether it is included or not in the proposed rate, any contractual obligations placed with this option. All this, however, is optional.
Do not believe that one modem is worth the other. On the contrary, it is one of the elements that can affect the performance of the technology, as are the devices from which you connect. A modem of the latest generation is more performing over long distances and can handle more devices connected at the same time than more basic or older models. On the other hand, an obsolete PC or a tablet of a few years ago will not be able to cope with the requirements to take full advantage of new technologies.
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Flat or consumer?
It is often believed that home internet offers are only those with fixed monthly subscriptions that allow you to surf by paying a tot per month without limits. There are two falsehoods in this belief. Operators, both fixed line and mobile, also offer pay-as-you-go rates and truly unlimited rates do not exist. There are always conditions called misuse that put limits (they are very wide thresholds, but they are still traffic limitations).
Service providers try with this clause to discourage the subscription of offers for personal use by companies. In fact, the condition placed is based on the principle that: "the customer is obliged to use the service for exclusively personal use and to use the SIM and the services in good faith and correctness, respecting the modalities and limits foreseen by the contract, refraining from obtaining advantages other than those connected to the normal use of the services".
Excluding home internet promotions with telephone or mobile plans, the other services connected to the basic tariffs remain to be evaluated. Joint subscription TVs are among the options proposed most frequently by operators, some like Vodafone or Tim have also created their own streaming TVs to increase services for customers. Another alternative are digital or online gaming services.
Support has become a plus
Customer and technical support are also becoming among the combined options to pay attention to when choosing. Waiting time to be able to talk to an operator of the internet company is one of the recurring nightmares of many users. Would you be willing to pay extra for this inconvenience and waste of time? The answer is yes. That is why companies offer service plus packages that include priority contact from the technician and dedicated interventions.
There are also plans related to the age of the customers that make service support one of the key points. It's assumed that older people, for example, may have more trouble solving technical glitches, perhaps in component installation or connecting to devices. Se si sta valutando quindi un’offerta e si hanno più di 65 anni si può anche fare una ricerca mirata delle tariffe riservate ai clienti di questa fascia d’età.
Considerare i device abbinabili alla promozione
Tra gli altri extra c’è da considerare il capitolo dei device smart che possono essere richiesti con le promozioni internet casa. È un pezzo dell’offerta che interessa in genere gli appassionati di tecnologia e coloro che sono attratti dalle soluzioni di smart house. Non è ancora una delle opzioni aggiuntive diffuse e presenti in tutti i contratti di fascia alta, ma è comunque un elemento che può essere decisivo nella scelta.
Valutate quanto costa abbandonare l’operatore
Infine, per poter scegliere la migliore offerta ma non restare incatenati per periodi troppo estesi al singolo operatore è necessario leggere con molto scrupolo le condizioni di disdetta del servizio. Qui si annidano ancora diversi costi non esplicitati. In genere le tariffe prevedono dei costi molto alti qualora si voglia disattivare la linea, mentre il prezzo si abbassa notevolmente se si opta per la migrazione (quindi il passaggio da un fornitore ad un altro).
Solitamente la disdetta si può effettuare:
- inviando una raccomandata A/R alla sede legale;
- tramite PEC.
Se avviene entro 14 giorni dall’attivazione di una nuova fornitura è gratuita: questa è un’opzione che tutela il cliente in caso di contratti sottoscritti via web o al telefono e permette anche di ottenere il rimborso dei versamenti delle spese di attivazione e canone.
Se, invece, avviene dopo 14 giorni:
- non si avrà diritto al rimborso;
- potranno anche esserci delle penali da pagare.
Il diritto di recesso può essere fatto valere anche nell’ipotesi in cui vengano modificate le condizioni contrattuali, che l’utente non è obbligato ad accettare. The user can therefore choose to change operator without having to pay penalties or a cost for deactivation, but he will have at his disposal a maximum of one month to decide.
Searching through the basic contracts of operators for a migration are charged around € 5, for a deactivation the cost order varies between € 25 and € 40. If the offer included the modem on loan for use or other devices for navigation and the use of services, these must be sent to the warehouses of the companies or you can redeem them by paying the price specified in the contract.