Do we need a broadband monitoring program?

IT WILL only cost 15 cents per user and help us understand why our internet is so bad. So why aren’t we doing it?

Do we need a broadband monitoring network?

INTERNET speeds have become a big issue in the election campaign, giving renewed energy to calls for the establishment of a broadband monitoring system to allow customers to better understand and compare the performance of their broadband service.

Monitoring programs are up and running in the UK, US, Singapore, New Zealand and Canada but the push to establish a similar system in Australia has taken time.

A pilot program trialled by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in September monitored the fixed-line internet connection of about 90 Melbourne households was deemed a success by the competition watchdog.

The program used network probes to assess key performance measurements including download and upload speeds, web page load times, latency and failure rates.

“The ACCC’s pilot program last year demonstrated there are no major technical hurdles in the way of implementing a program in Australia,” a spokeswoman told news.com.au.

Currently, it is difficult for the average Australian customer who is experiencing problems with their broadband connection to understand the source of the problem. Nor is there an easy and robust way for consumers to compare speeds and reliability between internet service providers (ISPs).

Basically, the program is designed to paint a picture of network performance across the different ISPs on the market.

“We consider the program will be a significant improvement for consumers in terms of access to verified, comparable broadband performance information,” the ACCC spokeswoman said.

Amid the fundraising efforts, the finer details of the program — such as the number of volunteers needed to gather the data — are currently being worked through.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has long championed the introduction of the scheme and acting CEO Narelle Clark believes such a program “is inevitable at some point”.

The consumer network has incorporated the issue into its electoral position and has written to the major parties calling on their support to fund the monitoring system but has not yet had a response on the subject.

“If one of the parties was to come out and say ‘yes we’ll fund it’ that’d be great,” Ms Clark said.

Plenty of things can affect the speed of your internet. Picture: ACCAN

AUSSIE CUSTOMERS IN THE DARK

The country’s peak body for ISP customers, Internet Australia, says the complaints received by the organisation show customers are uncertain about the quality and performance of their household broadband.

“Other than general disappointment over the slowness of the rollout of the NBN most of the complaints we’re hearing are about reliability, especially speed,” chief executive Laurie Patton told news.com.au.

Stopping short of throwing his support behind the idea of establishing a performance monitoring system, Mr Patton said the uncertainty of Australian customers meant it was “worthwhile investigating”.

Internet Australia has called for more transparency in relation to the rollout of the national broadband infrastructure in the wake of AFP raids on Labor offices over leaked documents from NBN Co, and Mr Patton said on some level he viewed the idea of a monitoring system as an “NBN specific issue”.

He said the multi technology mix rollout pursued by the Coalition would result in a “patchy network” and the multitude of different technologies added to the variance and uncertainty experienced by broadband users across the country.

“These issues are going to continue as long as we have a network that has been cobbled together,” he said.

A GOOD THING FOR THE NBN

However Ms Clark believes a monitoring system could help the NBN from wrongly bearing the brunt of customer frustrations.

She sees the NBN as “a marvellous platform on which to roll this (monitoring system) out” but so far the government has missed the opportunity.

ACCAN had received a number of complaints from customers switching to an NBN service only to receive a lower grade network performance — a problem she says is generally the fault of ISPs.

Even when the NBN is rolled out, “ISPs are not necessarily buying big enough pipes to sit atop of it,” she said.

A monitoring system would give customers a much greater insight into such instances and enable them to properly identify the source of the poor performance.

Following the September trials, ACCC chairman Rod Sims emphasised the utility of such a service amid the divisive politicisation of the NBN.

“As the NBN rollout progresses, providing transparency over the performance of the monopoly network provider will be particularly important as retail service providers (RSPs) will be dependent on NBN Co for the underlying network capability,” he said.

Waleed Aly blasts Malcolm Turnbull during a segment about the NBN. Picture: Channel 10

A MATTER OF COST

Some have raised concerns over the cost, questioned the actual benefits for consumers and worried about creating a regulatory burden.

Communications Alliance chief executive John Stanton has warned “consumers will ultimately pay” for such a scheme and cast doubt over the need for a broadband monitoring network.

Funding could indeed prove to be an issue. The ACCC has had its budget cut, losing nearly 10 per cent of its staff since the Coalition came to power in 2013, according to a report released this month by the Australian Institute. But the consumer focused government body says the cost of the program is “modest”.

“If a program were to cost say $1 million per annum to run, then this would equate to around 15 cents per broadband service per year,” the ACCC spokeswoman said.

Mr Patton also dismissed the reported opposition of Mr Stanton and the Communications Alliance to a monitoring system. “They’re speaking on behalf of the people who provide the service (RSPs) so of course they’re going to have a different position,” he said.

Others have pointed to tools in the marketplace such as Netflix’s recently released Fast.com service which allows users to gauge the performance of their internet as already fulfilling the purpose — a notion that was shot down by Ms Clark.

“All that shows you is video streaming speeds,” she said.

In any case, it’s clear that Australians’ frustration over sub-par internet performance is growing.

The telecommunications ombudsman received a spike in complaints in the first three months of this year, 6000 of which were related to data speeds, connection delays and unusable services.

A situation that would surely benefit from a broadband performance monitoring system.