Rod Sims (ACCC)
TPG has delivered an average download speed on the National Broadband Network (NBN) of 88.7 per cent, making it the fastest internet service provider (ISP) tracked by the consumer watchdog.
The Measuring Broadband Australia (MBA) report, prepared by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) shows the performance of the National Broadband Network (NBN) services from the major ISPs in the country.
TPG was followed by Aussie Broadband, who was number one in the previous report, iiNet, Optus, Telstra and MyRepublic.
The report showed that 69 per cent of all tests continued to achieve download speeds of above 90 per cent of maximum plan speeds, while seven per cent of tests recorded less than 50 per cent of the maximum.
For this report, 950 NBN and ADSL services supplied by 15 ISPs were considered. The tests covered 25, 50, and 100 Mbps plans and ADSL services provided in August 2018.
According to the ACCC, broadband speeds did not slow significantly in the busy hours (7-11pm), with average speeds reducing by just 1 percentage point compared with the average. This applied to both standard speed plans and the increasing number of consumers on higher speed NBN plans.
TPG's download speed during busy hours got to 88.4 per cent, a 2.8 per cent increase. Aussie Broadband's download speed was down 2.5 per cent to 85.8 per cent total speed.
TPG also had the highest upload speed both overall (89.2 per cent) and on busy hours (89.1 per cent). Aussie broadband upload overall speed was 87.8 per cent, iiNet was 87.1 per cent, MyRepublic 85.3 per cent, Telstra 83.2 per cent and Optus 82.8 per cent.
The report found that NBN services continued to outperform ADSL, with NBN plans sold with a maximum speed of 25 Mbps on average achieving a download speed of 22.7 Mbps during the busy hour, three times the average busy hour download speed recorded for ADSL plans.
“We are pleased that the Measuring Broadband Australia program is being taken very seriously by internet service providers and is delivering noticeable improvements to customers’ broadband speeds,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said.
“We note NBN Co has reported that congestion has increased slightly in recent months. Our results suggest that ISPs not featured in this report could be contributing to this, as the overall results featured in this MBA report do not show an upward trend in congestion.”
The report has also focused on the difference in busy hour broadband performance between NBN urban services and NBN regional services.
However the difference was not significant, according to ACCC, with those in urban areas receiving 84.8 per cent of maximum speeds on average compared with 83 per cent per cent of speeds in regional areas.
The tests are being conducted by UK-based SamKnows, who was awarded a $6.5 million contract in December 2017 for the broadband speed monitoring program.
The project expects to see broadband speeds recorded across 4,000 Australian homes over the next four years. The ACCC continues to encourage consumers to take part in the speed tests.
