User guide on comparator of prices for broadband internet access
According to Act no. 351/2011 Coll. on electronic communications as amended by later regulations (hereinafter referred to as
“Act on electronic communications”) Section 6, Subsection 3, Letter j) Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Postal Services,
Economic Regulation Department (hereinafter referred to as the “Office”) as the national regulatory authority and pricing authority in the
electronic communications sector provides information concerning services to end users, performs users´ researches, publishes them and uses
them in its activities.
Based on the above stated the Office set up a web search engine and comparator of offers for broadband access to internet.
The end users are able to compare offers from undertakings providing internet broadband access including additional services,
which are available on a postal address entered by the user.
In this way the Office has created a unique possibility for the end users to compare the offers of all registered undertakings providing
internet broadband access available at various locations. The Office has been governed by the provisions of Section 6, Subsection 3, Letter d)
of the Act on electronic communications according to which it protects interests of end users with regard to the quality and prices of services.
The comparator comprises all prices charged by the undertakings for individual offers which are included into so called “average monthly payment over
24 month period”, based on which offers with different term of commitment can be easily compared. The Office complied fully with principles of
transparency and non-discrimination, as complete offers from all undertakings available on the entered location will be displayed without any preferences.
Offers are arranged in ascending order starting with the lowest average monthly payment, while the end user can select other options to filter the displayed data.
Display of the available offer
- Comparator of prices for broadband access to internet will display the available offer after typing town/village name, street name, street number and clicking Find button.
- Search results will be displayed in the table below Add/Remove Item boxes, Categorize and Filter boxes.
- The results will be displayed in the table in two separate blocks; at the top of the table there is displayed one
offer from each undertaking which is available at a given address. Lower in the table there are “more search results”
displayed with all other search results arranged according to the average monthly payment over the period of 24 months.
Different search levels
- The comparator allows different search levels:
- In case street number is not entered or the street number is not assigned to the list of numbers in the comparator for a given street, the system will find the offers which are defined as being available for a given street.
- If no street is entered, or a street which is not on the list of streets in the comparator is entered, offers from all undertakings available in a given town/village will be found.
- The comparator allows to search all providers in a given town/village, street, as well as at a specific address of the user.
- Search results at different levels may therefore vary as the inputs provided by the undertakings do not necessarily
contain the exact availability localization down to the level of street numbers.
Adding and removing menu items
- The user can add and remove individual menu parameters, which can be seen in the search results, by expanding the corresponding category Add/Remove and confirming the selected menu item.
- This gives the user the option to have displayed the parameters in search results that are most important from his point of view for choosing the access provider.
Categorization of the offers
- The comparator default setting will arrange the offers according to the average monthly payment in an ascending order from the lowest to the highest payment.
- However, the system allows any categorization according to the user requirements by simply selecting the category item from the drop-down list and confirming by clicking the mouse.
- Categorization can be done in ascending order from the lowest to the highest value or from letter A to Z, or in descending order from the highest to the lowest value or from letter Z to A.
Filtering the offers
- The comparator allows data filtering according to:
- Technology:
- xDSL (copper)
- FTTx (fibre)
- Wireless access (WiFi, FWA)
- Cable access (CATV)
- Satellite
- PLC
- Other
- Various combinations of bundled services:
- Standalone internet
- Internet + TV
- Internet + Voice
- Internet + TV + Voice
- The basic filtering is allowed by simply selecting the required option.
- In the right part of the table of filters you can filter offers by any chosen number parameters while a combination of two filters can be used at the same time.
- You can filter by entering symbols >, <, > =, <=, = and entering the filter values.
- Default Standalone Internet with average monthly payment less than or equal to 30 euros has been set in the Filter for display of Bundled Offers in the comparator.
Parameters displayed in the offers
- In the basic display selected parameters are available. Details of each offer can be viewed or several offers compared simultaneously by simply checking the ”Compare” box in the corresponding rows and confirming your selection by clicking the ”Compare” button in the heading of the table.
- Details of the selected offer or comparison of several offers will be displayed in a new web browser window.
- After each modification of the list of offers for comparison of details and clicking the “Compare” button, the details of each offer will be automatically updated in a new window.
Access set up
- Search results will not automatically guarantee the possibility of setting up access according to all offers. It is always necessary to consult feasibility of access with the access providers concerned, since the possibility of setup has to be often supported by measurements at the premises of the end user.
- Search options on different levels allow the user to view all the offers available in the vicinity of his place of residence which were found based on the inputs provided to the Office by the undertakings which are responsible for their accuracy and update.
Safeguards against excessive overloading of the system
- Comparator serves solely to the end-users for information purposes, with a view to getting an overview of the availability of broadband Internet access at the required location.
- Comparator has a predefined limited number of searches from a single IP address that has been set to maximum 5 queries during time interval of five minutes to avoid excessive system overload.
User support
- End users can contact the administrator at pcpi@teleoff.gov.sk
regarding problems with searching, reporting of system error messages, improper display of search results or for other reasons.
