In my role overseeing both customer support and legal compliance at Ginternet, I've seen every variation of "my ISP isn't delivering what they promised." What surprises me is how few subscribers know that TRAI — the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India — has specific rules that protect them, and that ISPs can be formally held accountable for failing to meet them.
The Minimum Speed Guarantee
TRAI's Quality of Service (QoS) benchmarks for broadband require ISPs to deliver a minimum of 50% of the subscribed speed "at all times." This means if you've paid for 100 Mbps, your ISP is obligated to deliver at least 50 Mbps consistently — not just during their scheduled speed test windows. If you're regularly getting 15–20 Mbps on a 100 Mbps plan during peak hours, that's a violation, and you have grounds for a formal complaint.
Additionally, ISPs must provide a transparent grievance redressal mechanism, respond to complaints within 3 days, and resolve them within 7 days for most categories of issues.
How to File a Complaint
If your ISP is consistently underperforming, the process is straightforward. First, raise a written complaint with your ISP and get a ticket number. Document everything — screenshot your speed tests with timestamps, note the times, and keep a log for at least a week. If the ISP fails to resolve within the stipulated time, you can escalate to the TRAI Complaint portal (tcc.trai.gov.in) or the Appellate Authority of the relevant Telecom circle.
ISPs take TRAI complaints very seriously because repeated complaints can affect their licence review and regulatory standing. A formal complaint often receives faster resolution than any amount of customer care calls.
Net Neutrality: Still Very Much in Force
India has some of the world's strongest net neutrality protections, enshrined through TRAI regulations. Your ISP cannot legally throttle specific applications (like slowing down YouTube while their own streaming service runs fine), block access to competitor services, or charge you more for certain types of traffic.
If you notice that a specific app or website is consistently slow while everything else runs fine, it's worth investigating. Use a VPN temporarily to test — if performance improves significantly through the VPN, that's a strong indicator of selective throttling, which is a net neutrality violation you can report.
At Ginternet, net neutrality isn't just a legal compliance item — it's a foundational operating principle. We do not, under any circumstances, perform application-specific throttling on any of our residential or commercial plans.