Almost everyone has been burned by ISP claims of speeds that are prefaced with those magic weasel words “up to”. Well, the ACCC has put ISPs on notice by funding a new performance monitoring system that will keep providers of services on the NBN honest. The aim: to show consumers what speeds telcos are really providing during peak and off-peak hours.
The monitoring system will keep tabs on around 4000 connections. You can sign up for the program once it’s launched via the ACCC web site.
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said “The program will also allow the ACCC to determine if issues are being caused by the performance of the NBN, or by internet service providers (ISPs) not buying sufficient capacity. It will also provide ISPs with independent performance information from which to draw when making speed claims.”
Once they collect a bunch of data, the ACCC says they will publish the data later this year so consumers can make informed decisions about service providers.
The testing program, which the ACCC says will cost around $7M over four years will be delivered by an as yet unannounced service provider.
A pilot program was run a couple of years ago but that was for just 90 homes.
Despite many naysayers suggesting we don’t need a super fast network, data released by NBNCo this week suggests otherwise.
They say “Homes connected to services over the nbn™ network are downloading around 144GB of data each month which is a 32 per cent year-on-year increase and around 1.2 times the national fixed-line average and 76 times the mobile average”.
And with the number of connected devices in our businesses set to grow significantly over the next few years, our thirst for data will only increase.
The ACCC is often accused of being a toothless tiger. But its ability to put this kind of program together is one way it can help businesses and consumers make better devisions about which retailer they will use for their internet connection.
Will you be signing up to join the monitoring program?
Comments
5 responses to “The ACCC Is Launching An NBN ‘Speed Monitoring’ Program”
Can you guys post a new story when this is live? I’d love to sign up for it but without a date for it, it’s going to be hard to keep track of it.
Will definitely sign on to this. I’m with Optus and not once have we ever achieved sustainable speeds close to their 12mbps plan. I have recorded speed test data for weeks on end showing an average that sits at about 6-7mbps on average (spoke to them and they think it’s fine as long as they hit that 50% benchmark!) and during most periods it’s more like 4-5mbps.
Our ADSL performed as good as the nbn we are provided with now. At least it was consistent. I can’t even connect to my work server without it dropping out now.
yes Telstra is just woeful, they have wasted such a huge opportunity, they are in bed with Foxtel, and culpability in the NBN on the HFC Highly Frigged Copper network they are rolling out.
Not before time!
I monitor my home network myself; it helps when talking to your ISP but also seems to upset them when you know what they are actually peddling. It will be interesting to see what happens when NBN finally gets here, a few kilometres from the Perth CBD.