back to article nbn™ gets its wish: Australian ISPs' performance to be rated

Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission has been given at least AU$7m to fund a broadband speed rating service that will publish details of speeds users experience on Australia’s national broadband network. This year the Commission (ACCC) has already set new rules for internet service providers that compel them to …

  1. Magani
    Unhappy

    Doesn't go far enough

    ...that compel them to advertise typical internet speeds users will experience at peak times, rather than theoretical headline speeds.

    How about a guaranteed minimum speed below which penalties apply to your ISP?

    A few days ago, I went into my local ISP's store to get myself "upgraded" as my street has just become nbn-ready. I was offered an 'up-to-25Mbps' connection for my been-in-place-for-years HFC cabling. I asked why it was being downgraded and charged $10/month more, because I already get 'up to' 30Mbps[1]. In return, I got a lot of pseudo-techno-mumble from the PFY at the counter that seemed to totally ignore the question and instead revolve around 'We're just selling what they tell us to'. This was followed by 'The actual speed depends how many people in your street are using the Internet'.

    WOW! I'd never thought of that.

    </sarcasm>

    He then suggested I could buy a Speed Upgrade to 100Mbps but seemed unable to explain how it could go faster if it was already maxxed out at 25.

    YES!. Not happy, Jan!

    [1] At 02:30 on alternate Wednesdays that coincide with the alignment of all major planets. Any random time that falls between about 16:30 and 22:30, it runs (HA!) at somewhere less than 4Mbps and occasionally just grinds to a .

    1. Pompous Git Silver badge

      Re: Doesn't go far enough

      "How about a guaranteed minimum speed"
      Well the minimum speed I get from my FW connection is 0 bp/s. Usually on a Sunday when we want to watch iView, but that's not guaranteed. This week it was Friday morning.

  2. Berny Stapleton

    SamKnows?

    How about they get a bunch of SamKnows boxes and just pay them to do some testing for them?

  3. John Tserkezis

    I call bullshit on this.

    Like the power consumption stickers you get on appliances like fridges and such, and worse still, the fuel economy figures you get on new cars.

    I can already smell it from here.

  4. iLurker

    $7 million ?

    A better idea would have been to give Simon Wright a modest donation and have Whirlpool do it.

  5. Blanker

    After a long investigation of NBN I come to the following opinion:

    1.Most ISP’s are bad and have overseas calls centers.

    2.If you need help from the big ISP’s you sit on the phone for a long time.

    Or they just hang up the phone.

    3.NBN speed by many ISP’s to low

    4.To signed up many complains people has to wait weeks for a connection

    Or the phone is not working.

    5.Many have no good package, like any free calls to mobile phones.

    Or you have to pay for the wifi modem.

    6, TPG are the worst of all (And TPG bought iinet, Westnet and AAPT)

  6. FlatEarther

    Useless

    This service can not tell the difference between poor performance due to insufficient CVCs, poor (NBN/|Customer wiring) or factor in distance from the node.

    With 121 POIs and only 4000 measuring points the results will be useless for most.

  7. Medixstiff

    Watch ISP's blame "obviously cr4ppy quality copper to the node" for slow speeds etc.

  8. JJKing
    Flame

    The NBN Far Cup.

    Any random time that falls between about 16:30 and 22:30, it runs (HA!) at somewhere less than 4Mbps and occasionally just grinds to a .

    This is obviously the result of turnbullshit's Faster, Cheaper, Sooner. THREE lies for the price of one.

    Watch ISP's blame "obviously cr4ppy quality copper to the node" for slow speeds etc.

    I have mentioned previously that when Ziggy was in charge of Telstra he said, somewhere around 2001/2002, that the copper was on it's last legs. When he was anointed to the nbn board, it suddenly became robust. Wonder if he can turn water into wine? There was some poor sod on Whirlpool who has the misfortune to have FTTN and he had the blinding speed of 2.2mbps down. What a bloody joke.

    I have just had a cursed green box installed behind my back fence. It is 20 metres from my house or 34 metres from my Router. Unfortunately I am around THREE HUNDRED METRES from it due to the way the effing copper runs.

  9. rtb61

    But, but, but the Liberal Party was able to dump about 15 billion dollars into their buddies pockets buying networks that were going to be scrapped at a loss and after those buddies got them elected.

    Woohoo happy shareholders got billions of tax payer dollars, now what is wrong with that, you losers and just jealous because you don't own shares in those companies.

    Of course no one will come out and say that aloud but that is pretty much exactly what happened and now chaos as the system designed to profit a couple of corporations collapsed into a screaming heap.

    1. Pompous Git Silver badge

      "But, but, but the Liberal Party was able to dump about 15 billion dollars into their buddies pockets"
      And that's different to the ALP doing the same thing? How? Remember the NTD cost is ~$600 and elsewhere on the planet the connection is a $15 ethernet socket. If a user needs four so they can access more than one ISP simultaneously they purchase a device to plug into it.

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