How is the NBN speed in your area?
Consumers on NBN fixed-line connections experienced strong speed performance in December last year, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's 12th quarterly Measuring Broadband Australia report.
Retail service providers achieved between 85.0 and 98.9 per cent of maximum plan speeds across all fixed-line plans in the busy evening hours of 7-11pm in December 2020. This result is slightly higher than the previous report, which tested October 2020.
"In December, consumers received the highest overall speeds since the ACCC began monitoring broadband performance in 2018, and internet service providers delivered a higher percentage of maximum plan speeds in the busy evening hours" ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey said.
The report, for the first time, also provides an indicative view on the performance of the NBN fixed wireless network.
In December 2020, consumers on NBN fixed wireless connections experienced average speeds of 78.5 per cent of maximum plan speed, but that declined to around 68.4 per cent of plan speed between 7-11pm.
"Consumers on fixed wireless connections experienced quite good speeds during the daytime, but we observed a reduction from 5pm when the network is busier," Ms Brakey said.
"Despite the decline in speed, consumers on the fixed wireless network achieved sufficient speeds to access a range of internet applications during the busy evening hours."
Underperforming services
The report reveals that the number of consumers experiencing underperforming broadband services has continued to slowly decline, falling to 7.7 per cent in December 2020.
The figure was 13.9 per cent when the ACCC first started measuring the proportion of underperforming services in May 2018.
Underperforming services have technical limitations that prevent speeds from ever reaching the consumer's maximum plan speed.
"A significant proportion of fibre to the node connections delivered maximum speeds below the maximum retail plan speed that the consumer has selected," Ms Brakey said.
"We encourage both NBN Co and retail service providers to help consumers on connections that do not perform to their plan speed."
"In many cases, these limited speeds are caused by modem or in-home wiring issues and can be fixed with a visit from a technician, or by moving consumers to lower and less expensive speed plans to ensure they receive the speeds they pay for," Ms Brakey said.
How is the NBN speed in your area? Are you receiving the speed that you are paying for with your plan?
I have had my NBN now for 3 months, last week couldn't get on in any way. I rang the customer service number and was connected to an overseas number. The young lass tried to help but I found it very difficult to understand her speech,I asked where she was from and she said , Hyderabad.,India. She kept going away and asking me to hang on for a few more minutes. I was on that phone for 90 minutes. In the end she said to try again after 6p.m. Tried again and still nothing, The next day around 11am it came back on. Not very good service from Telstra.