In a classic case of "shoot the messenger", the Minister for Communications and the Arts, Mitch Fifield has suggested that the way the TIO reports complaints about the NBN is flawed and needs to be reviewed, despite this being the same way they have reported data for several years. Of course the big difference is that the subject of the complaints, the NBN, is a constant thorn in the government's side and bad numbers make the people responsible for the policy decisions for the current rollout plan feel bad.

More Australians are being connected to the NBN than ever before and with this new service comes... a few bumps in the road. Or, a lot of bumps. Okay, a really large bump. For the period between July and December, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) saw NBN complaints rise 203.9 percent compared to the same period last year.

Last week, the ACCC released its first monthly report looking at the state of broadband in Australia, with a particular focus on whether the NBN is delivering on the promises made by RSPs, as well as how ISPs delivering pre-NBN services are faring. The data, collected with SamKnows under the "Measuring Broadband Australia" project paints a positive picture although there is room for improvement.

The ramp-up of the nationwide NBN rollout means that more Australians are finally getting connected to the National Broadband Network. And that's a good thing. But the telecommunications industry ombudsman's bleak 2016-17 annual report shows that complaints about Australia's internet have overtaken mobile phones in volume, and over 27,000 complaints about the performance of the NBN represent a 160 per cent rise versus the year past.

The latest complaints report from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has revealed NBN customers are among the least satisfied internet users in Australia. A whopping 13,406 NBN-related complaints were made to the TIO in the last financial year, an increase of more than 100 per cent compared to the year before.

The number of complaints was also five times higher than non-NBN services such as ADSL2. That ACCC NBN performance monitor report can't come soon enough.

Good news, everybody! Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) have hit an eight-year low, although complaints about landlines (yes, still a thing) are on the rise.

Anyone who's not in an area which has current National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout plans is complaining about the fact they have no prospect of high-speed connections in the near future. But what are actual customers who can get on the NBN complaining about?

Annual figures for complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) show that the number of complaints were down, but almost 140,000 of us still had problems bad enough to make involving the TIO necessary. Which providers received the most complaints?

The good news? Overall complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) have fallen over the past year. The bad news? Too many people are still being shafted for excess data charges.

The number of total complaints received by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) in the period between January and March this year fell substantially, but data complaints relating to billing are on the sharp upswing.

This makes the Adelaide Mayor's $20,000 roaming bill and Malcolm Turnbull's $13,000 look like amateur hour. One Australian had to battle his carrier over a $570,000 phone bill after his phone was stolen while overseas.

Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) were at their lowest for five years in 2012-2013, which suggests service from phone companies and internet service providers has finally started to improve. But which areas have the most complaints?

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) reports that for the first quarter of the year the level of complaints about mobile phones dropped by 30 per cent, but Australian consumers still found plenty to complain about, with an overall rise in complaints of 4.5 per cent.

Public awareness of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has more than doubled in the past four years, according to the latest TIO Talks report national survey. However, despite these gains, a whopping 43 percent of respondents remained clueless about the organisation's existence. (That stifled giggle you just heard came from Dodo's headquarters.)

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman reports that Aussies made fewer complaints to it this year, but when we did complain, it was about really serious bill shock. Anyone fancy a $147,908 phone bill?

The good news? The overall number of complaints made to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) actually decreased in the last financial year. The bad news? The TIO still received almost 200,000 complaints, and the majority relate to being overcharged for mobile phone services. Telstra has seen complaints decrease, but both Optus and Vodafone have seen a rise.

EXCLUSIVE: Lifehacker just got off the phone with Laurence Kain, a small business owner who earlier this afternoon took the extreme step of chaining himself to the Canberra City Optus store. He said his “peaceful protest” was a last resort after unsuccessful attempts to switch the ownership of his iPad data account between his businesses, despite three previous store visits and five hours on hold. Updated

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has always been the main resource to use when you've experienced a billing or service problem with a phone company or internet service provider (ISP) and can't get the problem solved by talking to the company directly. From July 1, its ability to do that will be enhanced with the ability to handle complaints with a higher total value and more flexibility when dealing with small business problems.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) plays a vital role in helping consumers resolve complaints with phone companies and internet service providers, not all of whom have great reputations. Given the continued slackness evident in many of those operators, the TIO is expanding its role to try and fix issues at industry level.