ACCC Has Revealed Australia’s Fastest ISPs

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently released its fifth report on real-world NBN speed, and the results weren’t too shabby. Download speeds generally increased when compared to the previous quarter, including during peak usage hours of 7pm – 11pm.

The report’s sample is now large enough to provide peak hour speed information about nine major ISPs: Aussie Broadband, Dodo, Exetel, iiNet, iPrimus, MyRepublic, Optus, Telstra, and TPG.

TPG came out on top again: its customers were found to receive 88% of their plan’s maximum speeds during busy periods, putting the telco ahead of Aussie Broadband, Optus, Telstra and more.

Here are the full results:

Peak hours Overall Overall excluding under
performing connections
TPG 88.3% 89.0% 91%
Aussie Broadband 85.9% 86.9% 90.6%
Exetel 85.2% 85.6% 86.7%
iPrimus 85.2% 83.5% 86.7%
Optus 85.0% 85.8% 91.6%
iiNet 84.5% 85.3% 90.5%
Telstra 83.5% 83.9% 90.9%
MyRepublic 81.9% 82.6% 90.7%
Dodo 81.8% 83.5% 86.7%

It’s worth noting that the ACCC speed testing program sample size isn’t huge: it covered 940 households. There’s almost certainly a margin of error when it comes to this data, but at the same time, it’s not a bad indication of how Australia’s ISPs perform.

Here’s a look at NBN 100 plans from the providers in the ACCC report:

MyRepublic is the cheapest when it comes to NBN 100 plans from the ISP short list. You’ll pay $79.95 per month for the first 12 months, and $89.95 per month thereafter. The plan is offered on a no-contract basis, so you can leave whenever you want.

If you’re happy to sign a contract, Exetel will give you your first two months free on a 12-month plan. That makes it about $40 cheaper than the MyRepubic plan across the full course of a year.

And here’s a look at NBN 50 plans from the providers in the ACCC report:

Exetel is the cheapest option when looking at the NBN 50 plans here. You’ll pay $59.99 per month for unlimited data on a 12-month contract. That works out to be at least $10 per month cheaper than any other provider here, even when you factor in promotional discounts.

Note that Telstra doesn’t directly sell NBN 100 plans. To get NBN 100 speeds on Telstra you’ll need to sign up for an NBN 50 plan, and if your physical connection is fast enough, you can then upgrade to NBN 100 for an extra $30 per month. Dodo and iPrimus don’t sell NBN 100 plans either, and don’t have any options for upgrading to that speed tier.


Alex Choros is Managing Editor at WhistleOut, Australia’s phone and internet comparison website.

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