"Let me be clear, I think that industry advertising has contributed to this problem." Various websites, including one run by the government, offer speed tests. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Mr Sims said there was a lack of incentives for retail services providers - such as Telstra and Optus - to compete on performance. This has led to "vague and unqualified" information being provided to consumers, making it difficult for them to compare apples with apples. "About 80 per cent of consumer respondents ... told us it is not easy to compare the speed of different internet offers when choosing between internet providers or particular plans," he said.

"Consumers told us firmly that independent, verified performance information is needed, and information from service providers that is comparable and accurate is key." The ACCC wants $6 million to set up a broadband speed monitoring system. Credit:Glenn Hunt Earlier this year, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman revealed that slow data speeds accounted for 20 per cent of the 11,000 internet-related complaints in the first quarter of this year, followed by unusable services and connection delays. Complaints about slow data speeds jumped by 66 per cent on the previous year's figure. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims. Credit:Louie Douvis

While Mr Sims acknowledged the industry's efforts to educate consumers about factors that can effect performance - for example, the number of customers using the network and the number of people in a household - he said the industry had contributed to the problem. He said one solution was to introduce a Broadband Monitoring Program, as seen in the UK, which would provide consumers with comparable information about their broadband service. The ACCC's proposed speed monitoring program would cost $6 million to set up and $1 million each year after. Telcos have long been fighting against this program, claiming the program will be costly, ineffective and drive up prices. "We're not convinced there's a market failure here," John Stanton, chief executive of peak body Communications Alliance, has previously said.

"We should make use of available tools and less intrusive strategies, such as crowd-sourcing." But Mr Sims said crowd-sourced tests suffered from selection bias. "We generally log on to an online speed test when things are going wrong, so we don't get an overall picture of performance," he said. "The international experience tells us better information can spur competition by assisting consumers to make informed purchasing decisions and reducing the cost of switching." Another benefit of the monitoring program was that it would help establish whether poor performance was the fault of the National Broadband Network or the internet service providers.

"With so much being spent on the NBN we need to know if it is delivering, or whether problems are due to ISPs purchasing insufficient capacity to service their customers."