Abolition of the router obligation decided by the Bundestag

It took a long time, but today the law to abolish the router obligation was passed by the Bundestag without further changes!

The adopted version is from 08.10.2015. This means that the much-discussed "network termination point" is now passive: the end customer is free to choose which device to connect. Of course, providers now fear increasing support requests - but in my opinion largely unfounded, most users will continue to use the device provided by the provider and pay a rent for it.

The only hope that remains is that the equipment on offer will be better, because it will have to compete with the products on the free market. The providers who have so far relied on forced routers (including cable and fibre optic providers) will in any case be forced to make a move.

In any case, the providers still have more than six months - that is how long the transition period should be in order to remove the technical hurdles. In theory, the Bundesrat still has the option of delaying the law and calling on the mediation committee. Ultimately, however, the Bundesrat can be overruled by the Bundestag, so that a delay, if any, can still occur. At some point in 2016, however, the router obligation will not only fall by law, but also in practice.

On the other hand, there are now problems with net neutrality, which has de facto been abolished by the EU, even if the providers of course present it differently - here it will be exciting in the future whether, for example, start-ups will actually have to spend part of their revenues on being delivered to the customer as quickly as possible. But that is another issue.

The contribution Abolition of the router obligation decided by the Bundestag is first on routerzwang.de and was published by fjeromin ...written.