How to file an ISP complaint with evidence.
A complaint without records becomes "a problem with your equipment". A complaint with dates, times, durations and exactly what failed becomes a technical ticket — and backs the next one, with your regulator or consumer protection.
1. Record the drops for a few days
Keep the recorder on and mark each incident as it happens. Two or three episodes with exact times are worth more than a week of impressions. Each mark produces a folder with a plain-language report, all the measurements and a ready-to-attach ZIP.
A report.pdf, ready to attach to the ticket, already comes inside every incident bundle.
2. Open the ticket with the data
When you contact support, give exact dates and times, durations and the observed pattern — for example: "the router responded while external targets failed". Attach the report and ask for the reference number; the next step requires it.
Along with the report, attach the 30-day history: use Download 30-day history (PDF) in the dashboard or Save 30-day history (PDF) in the tray menu. It shows availability and outages day by day, loss and latency by hour of day and for each destination, and the list of incidents. Hours without recording appear with the reason (PC off or app closed, recording paused, PC asleep, or probes that could not measure) and count neither as a working connection nor as an outage. After the free trial, the app keeps building the history, and the license unlocks the PDF, as it does incident reports.
When you mark a lag, the app traces the path hop by hop. If support asks for an MTR, see which tools run one. PingPlotter alternative: compared with WinMTR, PingInfoView and Ping Tracer.
3. Still unresolved? Escalate
Ask for escalation in writing. Say you already have a reference number and the problem is still there, and ask for a supervisor, a complaints team or a formal complaint review. Send the same records, plus a short timeline of what each contact answered.
Message to copy:
Subject: Escalation — repeated internet drops — ticket [reference number]
Hello. I opened ticket [reference number] on [date] about repeated internet drops, and the problem is still happening: [date] at [time] (about [duration]); [date] at [time] (about [duration]). During those times my records show the router responding while external destinations failed. I attach the incident report (report.pdf) and the 30-day history (PDF).
Please escalate this to someone who can review the line, give me a new reference number, and reply in writing with the fix and a date.
[your name] — [phone or email]
Escalating beyond your ISP, by country
If the ISP's own escalation does not work, an outside body can take the case. In each country below, it first asks you to give the ISP a chance to fix the problem. Take the same timeline and attachments: the reference numbers, the incident reports and the 30-day history.
Checked on on the official pages (links in Sources). Rules and deadlines change, so confirm on the official site before counting on one. In another country, look for the communications regulator or the consumer-protection body.
United States: the FCC
Try to resolve it with the provider first, then file an informal complaint in the Internet category of the FCC Consumer Complaint Center. Give as much detail as you can: the dates, times and length of each drop, and your ticket numbers. When the FCC sends your complaint to the provider, the provider must answer within 30 days, in writing, to you and to the FCC.
United Kingdom: an Ofcom-approved dispute scheme
Ofcom approves two schemes, the Communications Ombudsman and CISAS, and each provider is registered with one of them. You can go to it 6 weeks after you first told the provider about the problem, or straight away if the provider sends a deadlock letter saying it cannot resolve it. Both are free. After a deadlock letter, the Communications Ombudsman expects the dispute within 12 months. Keep the reference numbers, copies of emails and letters, and the date, time and name of the person for each call.
Canada: the CCTS
The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services is free and takes complaints once you have given the provider a reasonable opportunity to fix the problem. It asks for your account number, the dates, the steps you took with the provider and its answer, and the resolution you want. For a service that does not work properly, it also asks for troubleshooting details, repair dates and related documents. Start a CCTS complaint.
Australia: the TIO
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is free. Raise the problem with the provider first: skipping that step adds five extra days to your case. The TIO asks for your contact and account details, the provider's name and any documents or evidence, then sends the complaint to a team at the provider, which proposes a resolution within 10 working days. Make a complaint to the TIO.
Ireland: ComReg
Complain to the provider under its code of practice first. It must send you a Complaint Response within 10 working days. If it does not, or you are not satisfied with it, ComReg's free Consumer Care service can take up the complaint, as long as you first told the provider within the previous 12 months. ComReg also has a formal dispute resolution for broadband, with a €15 fee, once the complaint has been unresolved for at least 10 days.
Before you escalate, check that your records hold up as evidence: How to prove your internet keeps dropping. If what you recorded is lost pings rather than drops, see what the percentage means: Packet loss: how to measure it, where it happens and how to prove it.
Sources
Checked on . This guide gathers official channels and is not legal advice.
- FCC: Filing an Informal Complaint
- FCC: Filing a Complaint Questions and Answers
- FCC: Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Center
- Ofcom: Quicker complaints resolution for telecoms customers, under new Ofcom rules (8 July 2025)
- Communications Ombudsman: Our process
- Communications Ombudsman: Consumer wait time reduced (27 March 2026)
- CEDR: CISAS
- CCTS: Information we need to help you
- CCTS: home page
- TIO: Make a complaint
- TIO: home page
- ComReg: Consumer Care
- ComReg: Dispute Resolution
4. Attach what it shows — and stay honest
Your records show what this PC experienced, with explicit coverage windows. They do not identify the responsible component. Saying "the measurements show repeated drops between my equipment and the tested destinations, with the router responding" is strong and defensible; saying "the ISP killed my internet" is not what the data proves.
A second device measuring the same network answers the question support always asks: if the failure hits other devices too, it is from the home outward.
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