"CyberLawTimes.com Press Release

Delhi's North-West District Consumer Forum has by its order dated 08 Nov '06 directed India's ISP SIFY Ltd (SIFY BroadBand) to pay compensation of Rs 8,200/- including refund of Rs 1,200 paid for two months internet connection to a consumer, Ankur Raheja, an IT lawyer by profession for indulging in Unfair Trade Practices and deficiency in service.

The case related to non disclosure of significant terms and conditions, which included hidden conditions that after downloading of 750 MB data in a month the speed would be reduced to 14 Kbps and also a new condition that if a customer downloaded more than 150 MB data in a day, then he was penalized in the form of reduction of package validity by one day, but still packages were advertised as unlimited.

It has been regarded as a landmark judgement as for the first time technical deficiency has been proved in the court of law in India against an Internet Company. And further Court interpreted the matter from the point of view of definition of Broadband as laid down by TRAI, which lays down criterion of minimum speed of 256 Kbps to be regarded as BroadBand. Accordingly, Court has held providing of 14 Kbps speed instead of 256 Kbps is in itself a 'deficiency in service'.

It has also been held that SIFY BroadBand has poor customer service that did not redress to Customer complaints and selling packages as 'Unlimited Packages' when there existed Hidden conditions, amounts to deficiency in service on the part of SIFY Limited and indulging into unfair trade practices.

The case was supported in the Cyber World by hundreds of SIFY customers from all over India, who all experienced similar problems and supported the case throughout, whose testimonials were also included in the original complaint as Annexure! "

> vinuthomas.com/Forums/...t=439.html
> ankurraheja.com/weblog/
> broadbandforum.in/Sify-Broadband-Lawsuit-t8436.html

its time when we all sue bsnl defeciency in service..frequent disconnection,low speeds.poor customer service..

Yes, I'm a lawyer.

And Yes, you can sue any service provider under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. But you will have to prove the deficiency of service. For this, you should make written complaints to BSNL, and keep a copy of all your correspondence. You should also keep a log of your disconnection times, and the dropping in speeds.

The point is, you should have some proof, otherwise it will be simply your word against BSNL's, and they will come up with some technical reasons that will confuse the judge.

The Consumer Fora are generally biased towards the consumers, but that does not mean they will blindly give the case in your favour.

from now on i will maintain a log..a written complaint..yes i am givinga written complaint 2 them regarding the poor speeds and service..

even if have a log and written complaint ..how is it possible??

thanks a lot..we need guys like u to show us the way

You only deserve the rights you are willing to fight for.

very true...friend..nice quote

Can we sue BSNL for not adequately indicating the fact that its u/l speed is 1/4th the d/l speed and still calling it a Broadband 256

I think it is there in the tariff.

And ADSL clearly says Asymetric, for those that look it up.

1/4 is pathetic, though: should be at least one half, at every download point.

But then their speeds are pathetic anyway. 256! Huh!

Great news, but it's sad to note that it took him two years.

If he hadn't been a lawyer, he would have dropped it.

dear lawyer sir,

the electricity is going off every now and then can we sue the dept of electricity guide us

hello lawer sir, please visit www.waitingforbroadband.com and see the log... can we file a complaint???

secondly... how long will it take to resolve the case??

__________

I never knew Sify bbr was sooo kanjuss... 14 kbps?!?!

@phoenix ... u hv 2 buy a new harddisk to log all the complaints... and u must get thousands of lawers to read them, 1 will not do

he point is, you should have some proof, otherwise it will be simply your word against BSNL's, and they will come up with some technical reasons that will confuse the judge.

The Consumer Fora are generally biased towards the consumers, but that does not mean they will blindly give the case in your favour

Can BSNL prove that are giving true 256Kbps or 2Mbps at any given time, specially peak hours??? I'm on home 256kbps UL plan as I type in, here is my download stats:

::.. Download Stats ..:::
Download Connection is:: 127 Kbps about 0.1 Mbps (tested with 512 kB)
Download Speed is:: 16 kB/s

P.S. And month-end stats are even horrible, close to dial-up standard. Suing a govt entity is waste of time...imo.