Is mobile broadband any good?

Connection impossible, repeated disconnections, slowness, monthly broadband no contract, insufficient speed. The inconveniences suffered by Internet users are daily. Very often, the telecom operator or access provider plays dead. However, the latter is bound by an obligation of result provided for by consumer law.

The Essential

The Internet access provider (ISP) has an obligation to result in the provision of the service. This obligation applies both when the services are provided directly by the access provider, but also when he uses a service provider to do so. The excuse of performance by a service provider, often used by operators to escape their responsibility, therefore has no legal weight.

The only possibilities for the supplier to exonerate himself from his responsibility are reduced: it would be necessary to prove that the bad execution of the contract ( Internet failure, slow down or cut off the network, etc. ) is attributable either to the subscriber or to the unforeseeable fact of a third party that cannot be overcome or by force majeure. 

When a problem is reported to him by his customer, the supplier must check the line. If it detects a problem in the local loop  (which is under the property of the Orange company and corresponds to the cables in the street or underground as well as to the pair of wires arriving at the subscriber), then the supplier can ask their customer to contact Orange.

Concerning the disclaimer of liability:

In 2007, monthly broadband plans no contract, the Unfair Terms Commission considered that the clause in the internet subscription contract allowing the supplier to exempt himself from his liability in the event of a service failure is abusive, as is the clause which would allow him to unilaterally modify the terms of service. conditions of supply of the service without giving the possibility to the subscriber to terminate the contract.

FRAMEWORK & PRINCIPLES

The hypothesis of a malfunction in the provision of the service with a particularly important or recurring disconnection:
In this case, the customer has the right to invoke a contractual non-performance with the Internet access provider (article 1147 of the civil code).

Indeed, the supplier has an obligation of result to provide the service (L120-20-3 of the Consumer Code), the customer is entitled to request a restoration of the service, the reimbursement of the services he has paid for. the period during which he was not on duty, as well as any damages. If the ISP does not grant these requests, then the judge may be seized.

The rights of the subscriber during the delay in putting into service

The supplier must respect the commissioning deadline provided in the contract. If within a month he has not done so, then the subscriber has the right following the delay in commissioning to withdraw in the application of article L121-20-1  (and at the same time must be reimbursed for the sums already paid. for a service to which he has never had access in the application of article 1376 of the civil code relating to the recovery of the overpayment. 

If the subscriber does not retract, he is always offered the possibility of claiming damages and interest by invoking article 1147 of the Civil Code because this is a contractual non-performance.

The hypothesis of debit not in accordance with what was announced by the operator at the time of the conclusion of the contract:

In this case, the customer also has the right to invoke the breach of contract. He can also request the resolution of the contract in court (1184 of the civil code).

If in the contract the supplier announces too wide a range, cheap broadband plans no contract, it is possible for the subscriber to invoke the absence of the object of the contract on the basis of Article 1126 of the Civil Code (the object being an essential element of the contract).