In order to get an internet service in Israel (over a fixed connection) one has to sign two service contracts - with the NSP (DSL - Bezeq, or Cable - Hot) and with an ISP (over 40). Since switching an ISP is as easy as changing a username in the connect command, the competition is very tough, and prices are very low (I pay $6/month for a 1.5Mbps service).
Nevertheless, each ISP has a "List Price" and a "negotiated" price (usually 50% off list), for which you need to commit to stay with the service at least year. So every year, you need to contact the ISP to re-negotiate the price - otherwise you'll be charged with the list price.
I did it yesterday - with Bezeq International (the ISP subsidiary of Bezeq, the DSL provider ; they claim for 36% ISP market share) and managed to reduce my monthly cost by $2. Then I got the Email confirmation, and was surprised to see a new condition - that was not there before and wasn’t discussed during the phone negotiation: ".. with a volume of upto 65 Gbit (download and upload) a month". Indeed they use "Bits" to specify volume (either they meant Bytes, or just wanted the number to be 8x bigger).
Calling customer service resulted with:
- First person saying that she "does now understand technical matters, that it has always been there, and there is no penalty if you exceed it."
- Escalation led to - the “Ministry of communication told us to do that 2 months ago (so it was not always there – but of course they don’t have to use this option), 65 “Gig” (not saying bits or bytes) is very high, and we do not enforce it. I can’t tell you how much you use. Maybe tech support can."
- Email to customer service has not been responded yet.
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