ACCC: Australia’s broadband speeds ‘better than expected’

AUSSIE internet providers have lifted their game, according to the results from the consumer watchdog’s first report into broadband speeds.

AUSTRALIA’S top consumer watchdog has released its long-awaited first report examining the broadband speeds of households across the country.

In order to give consumers more understanding of what to expect from different internet service providers (ISPs) like Telstra, TPG, iiNet and others, the ACCC announced in April last year a monitoring program to reveal how they stacked up in terms of download speeds and congestion.

The initial report, part of the ACCC’s ongoing Measuring Broadband Australia program, focused on peak hour speeds between 7pm and 11pm and looked at Telstra, Optus, TPG and iiNet.

The results are “better than expected”, ACCC chairman Rod Sims said. But if you are having trouble, it’s probably pretty bad.

The report found peak hour speeds are now only marginally below typical speeds at other times. It showed NBN broadband services from iiNet, Optus, Telstra and TPG are now delivering between 80 and just over 90 per cent of the maximum plan speeds in the busy hours of the evening.

“These first test results are better than expected, and indicate the majority of internet service providers are now delivering very close to their maximum plan speeds,” Mr Sims said.

However the report also found five per cent of services tested operated at less than 50 per cent of their maximum plan speeds. So the small minority suffering from peak hour congestion are essentially sitting in a digital traffic jam.

“The results for some types of services are still lower than we would like, but the overall results go against the current wisdom that the majority of consumers and businesses are having issues with NBN speeds,” Mr Sims said.

When it came to peak hour download speeds, the major providers were delivering upwards of 80 per cent of maximum speeds — iiNet was 88.6 per cent, Optus 80.7 per cent, Telstra 88.1 per cent and TPG came in at 90.7 per cent.

In the images below showing download speeds, the purple represents NBN connections and the aqua represents ADSL connections. The lime green is a benchmark level of 60 per cent of the maximum speed of the plan.

Optus had the worst percentage of maximum download speed.

Meanwhile TPG fared the best in the initial report.

Earlier this year, the company behind the NBN changed its pricing structure to encourage retail providers to by more capacity for their end users. The overhaul was designed to reduce the likelihood of ISPs skimping on the cost which was said to be a cause of congestion during busy periods.

“The relatively high average speeds during peak periods indicate to us that retailers are now providing enough network capacity to meet demand in peak usage periods, including on the top speed plans,” Mr Sims said.

“Our results reflect significant and recent changes in the market, particularly the recent discounting by NBN Co of capacity charges and consequent take-up of more CVC by retailers. They likely also reflect the effect of our speed advertising guidance and anticipation that our testing was soon to begin.

“It is highly likely that just a few months ago these results would not have been anywhere near as good,” he said.

NBN OUTPERFORMING ADSL

The testing took place between February and March 2018. It included 25, 50 and 100Mbps plans and involved 400 NBN and ADSL services supplied by over 10 ISPs (although just four were highlighted in this report), reflecting 61,000 individual download speed tests, the ACCC said.

The report revealed NBN 25Mbps plans, the standard to which NBN is instructed to build broadband services, significantly outperformed ADSL services.

The average ADSL speed was 8Mbps compared with an average of 22-23Mbps for NBN 25Mbps plans. However some of the Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN) NBN connections, which rely on old copper to make the final connection to the home and make up a large chunk of the rollout, were unable to support the maximum plan speed and were a factor that brought down the average speeds overall, the ACCC said.

NBN Co. has taken the opportunity to highlight the positive effect brought on by the recent change to its wholesale pricing structure.

“NBN Co is pleased to see the results from the ACCC broadband speed testing program reflect the initiatives we have recently implemented to improve customer experience,” a spokesperson said.

“The report reiterates the positive impact of our new wholesale pricing promotion, which has relieved bandwidth congestion on the network from an average of around four hours to 12 minutes per week.”

The ACCC’s next report will be out in the second half of 2018, with testing expanding to cover 2000 NBN and ADSL services by the end of year.