NBN delays: Congestion is getting worse on the NBN, new figures show, but firm blames providers
It’s not just you — new figures show congestion on the NBN is getting worse and your download speeds could suffer.
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Congestion is getting worse on the National Broadband Network (NBN) as it nears completion with a massive spike in use that could be causing delays for users.
New figures from NBN Co also revealed the equivalent of one in 10 NBN users suffered a fault on the network last year, and almost half of those connected to fixed wireless technology could not get the network’s minimum speeds during peak hours.
And the poor customer experience could cost the company financially as it comes just months after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) flagged “bigger rebates” for customers not getting what they are paying for on the $51 billion network.
Congestion for internet downloads spiked this October, NBN Co reports revealed, with connections reaching 95 per cent capacity or more for an average of 56 minutes each week.
That’s up 64 per cent on October last year, from 34 minutes, and could be causing significant delays for NBN broadband users.
The report also showed NBN installers met fewer appointments compared to last year, users experienced more congestion on fixed-line connections, and fewer NBN connections were installed right the first time.
The NBN also suffered and rectified more than 5.5 million faults during the last financial year, according to a Senate Estimates response to Tasmanian Labor Senator Anne Urquhart, which represented almost one in every 10 active NBN users.
And fixed wireless NBN users were perhaps worst off, with only 55 per cent able to access the minimum acceptable download speed of 25 megabits per second during busy hours.
The report card came despite the ACCC proposing new financial penalties for poor customer service over the NBN, including a $75 charge for every missed appointment.
NBN users could also receive a $20 monthly rebate if they were forced to use congested fixed wireless technology, under the new regime, or a fixed-line service that did not meet minimum speed standards.
Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde said the penalties could be costly for NBN Co based on current figures but its users should brace for worsening delays.
Mr Budde likened the broadband network to a motorway, and said adding more users and growing demands for internet downloads would inevitably expose its “weak spots” in the network and slow access even further.
“Obviously with any increase in use of data on the network and traffic, you will see these traffic jams occurring more and more,” he said.
“Unless you actually address the infrastructure problems causing the delays, you will only get temporary solutions.”
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Mr Budde said even the ACCC’s new penalties may not resolve the issue as its acceptable download speeds still fell well below what users were being sold.
“If you sell a litre of milk and only deliver three quarters of a litre of milk, you’ll get complaints, but that’s what’s happening with the NBN,” he said.
“You get promised 50 megabits per second and you only get 40 or 35, so customers are still paying for something they don’t get.”
But an NBN Co spokesman said congestion on the network was still not high compared to figures from years ago, and it was up to retail service providers to buy more capacity on the network to prevent delays.
“The average network bandwidth congestion metric reflects the relationship between customer data consumption and the amount of bandwidth that retail providers have purchased on the NBN network,” he said.
“The metric fluctuates generally as the balance between customer usage and the bandwidth purchased by a retail provider changes over time.”
The multibillion-dollar broadband project is due to be completed by June 2020, connecting Australian premises to the internet with a minimum speed of 25 megabits per second.