Australian ISPs are lazy, our internet users get speeds so low they're "criminal" and people across the country deserve a better NBN.
That's the assessment of Australia's newest ISP, MyRepublic, which has arrived in Australia ahead of November 15 with a range of "NBN-built" plans, including one targeted at gamers.
Already an established brand across New Zealand and Asia, MyRepublic is giving gamers a dedicated plan that will prioritise "mission critical" internet traffic, including traffic to specific gaming servers.
Across the board, MyRepublic says it will simplify plans and lose pricing and speed tiers. Instead, it will give customers unlimited downloads and uploads on the fastest NBN speeds available according to the broadband technology rolled out in their area (up to 100/40Mbps), all for a flat fee of $60 a month.
It's this focus on NBN technology that it hopes will push Australians to lobby for a better quality national broadband network.
MyRepublic CEO Malcolm Rodrigues readily admits he has problems with the way Australia has gone about building its national broadband network.
"I don't like the mixed technology here, I think it's the wrong place to be. But I like that it's an NBN."
He says Australians will soon realise the inherent disparity if they're served by a technology offering speeds of 50Mbps and their neighbours across the street have fibre offering double those speeds.
"While we're going to lobby the government, we think at some point someone's going to go, "Why does he get 100Mbps and I only get 50?" said Rodrigues.
"You need fibre, but before you get fibre, you need unhappy voters. And unhappy voters need to be shown they get a different speed to their neighbours."
How does he expect NBN Co to feel about this?
"We're not going to be their best friend," he says.
MyRepublic's big pitch is that its network has been optimised for low latency and custom routing, and it says it can prioritise things like video streaming traffic to ensure smooth playback where it's needed.
Case in point, the Gamer Pro plan (which goes for $70 a month rather than the standard $60 fee) offers low latency to specific gaming servers, with gaming traffic being prioritised.
MyRepublic Australia managing director Nicholas Demos says the ISP's products are "NBN built," compared to other ISPs that "take existing products and put an 'NBN-ready' sticker on it."
While MyRepublic doesn't expect to knock the likes of Telstra, Optus or TPG off their market-leading perch any time soon, Australian managing director Nicholas Demos says it's time for a bit of disruption.
"It's criminal what Australians have been offered in terms of speed," he said. "There's been lack of competition and a lot of mergers between incumbents. That means [ISPs] have become lazy and innovation has disappeared."