A LOCAL resident complained that the Internet speed of her home’s broadband, provided by China Telecom, had been lowered from 100M/s to 12M/s this year while she was still paying the same price, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Thursday.

    The resident, surnamed Liu, said that she had been paying 1,800 yuan (US$261) a year for China Telecom’s broadband with an Internet speed of 12M/s since 2014. She agreed to upgrade the broadband speed for free last year when China Telecom offered to raise the Internet speed from 12M/s to 100M/s for her.

    Liu said that the telecom company renewed her contract for the broadband service this year without getting her permission, and she was surprised to find that the Internet speed had been lowered back down to 12M/s.

    According to Liu, she felt that she had been treated unfairly because the company’s customer service officer told her that new users could use the 100M/s broadband for an annual fee of 1,668 yuan, but she was paying 1,800 yuan a year for 12M/s broadband.

    The spokesperson for China Telecom’s Shenzhen branch said that Liu renewed the contract with the company on its website in November last year. He added that the company had offered Liu a one-year free experience of 100M/s broadband, which is why the Internet speed of her broadband was lowered to 12M/s when her trial period ended.

    According to the spokesperson, the company recently launched a promotion campaign that allows both old and new users to pay 1,668 yuan to use the 100M/s broadband.

    After consulting China Telecom, Liu applied to use the company’s 100M/s broadband for an annual fee of 1,668 yuan.

    (Zhang Yang)