One third of NBN users wish it had never happened

A survey of 958 Australians on the NBN found 34 per cent would revert to their pre-NBN service if they had the option.

NBN users are unhappy with their service.

More than one third of NBN users wish it had never happened, according to new research released Friday.

A survey of 958 Australians on the NBN found 34 per cent would revert to their pre-NBN service if they had the option, with the leading reason being their previous connection was faster or more reliable.

Other reasons cited were the previous service was better value overall, or cheaper.

The research, conducted by finder.com.au found, Victorians were the most likely to want to switch back to a non-NBN connection with 40 per cent wanting to switch back, followed by New South Wales at 38 per cent and Queensland residents at 30 per cent.

Separate research from Canstar Blue released in May also found a growing apathy over the NBN rollout, with the percentage of households looking forward to switching to the NBN plummeting over the last 12 months.

Only 43 per cent of respondents still on an ADSL or cable internet connection said they were looking forward to switching to the NBN, down from 62 per cent year ago.

Minister for Communication Senator Mitch Fifield told The Weekend Australian the overwhelming majority of people on the NBN have a good outcome, but added he would never seek to diminish the experience of a household or business.

“NBN Co, the retailers and the regulators have put in place a range of customer improvement measures,’ he said. “This is a once in a lifetime change. In such a massive switch over there will be some issues but NBN Co and the retailers have worked hard to address these and there is clear evidence of improvement.”

NBN spokesman Tony Brown told The Weekend Australian the company acknowledged a minority of users were having sub-par experiences, but said the survey numbers were at odds with NBN Co’s in-house figures.

“Our own end-user research has found a substantial uplift in end-user satisfaction since we brought our new pricing plans on board in December – especially amongst new end-users joining the NBN network,” he said.

“We have seen network congestion decrease from five hours per end-user per week last August to less than 20 minutes per week now...We are working hard to lift those satisfaction levels even further and also to improve the NBN experience for the minority of unhappy end-users.”

The Weekend Australian reported last month more than 480 of NBN Co’s staff are on $200,000-plus salaries, and 120 earn more than $300,000, as complaints about the network surge.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s latest six-month report revealed a record level of NBN-related dissatisfaction, with 22,827 customers lodging official complaints over their service — a jump of more than 200 per cent on the corresponding period the previous year.

This included more than 14,000 gripes about service quality, and more than 8700 complaints about establishing a new connection.

Many of the complaints were in relation to the rollout of services via the pay-TV hybrid coaxial cable, or HFC network, which was halted for six months to address the high rate of faults on the network.

Ombudsman Judi Jones said she was disappointed “consumers still seem to be facing the same problems” as in prior years.

“Complaints about services delivered over the NBN continued to increase,” Ms Jones said.

“This indicates the consumer experience is still not meeting expectations for all.

“Recent changes to regulation and an increase in our powers to resolve complaints are positive steps that will help improve the consumer experience.”