ACCC to monitor NBN speeds so you don't get swindled
Some 4,000 volunteering households and retail outlets with fixed-line NBN will be monitored to see how fast the internet provided by ISPs actually is.
Which internet providers actually deliver the speeds their ads claim? We're about to find out.
The government on Friday announced the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will be monitoring 4,000 households and retail outlets equipped with fixed-line NBN to see what speeds the volunteering customers are actually getting.
The catchily-titled Broadband Performance Monitoring and Reporting (BPMR) program will see the government invest $7 million over a period of four years, starting three months from now on July 1.
NBN, which aims to connect rural and metropolitan Australia with high-speed internet, should hopefully help our country get its internet-game in order.
Despite constantly being ranked one of the best countries in the world to live in, Australia is preposterously behind-the-curve when it comes to internet speeds. In Akamai's Q4 2016 report, Australia came in at 51 on the list of fastest internet speeds, with an average speed of 10.1 megabits per second. (South Korea was No. 1 with 26.1 Mbps.)
The ACCC hopes the program will help you find the best plan out there, and also put the pressure on service providers to be honest about the speeds they advertise.
When the service will be available for you could be another issue. Earlier this year, NBN updated its address checker to give you a better idea of when you can hook up to those sweet internet speeds, if you can't already.
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