Consumer watchdog finds 60% of consumers have had issues with service in past six months and more than 75% of NBN customers have had problems

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Australia is plagued by internet disconnections, drop-outs and slow download speeds, a survey has found.



The Choice internet satisfaction survey found six in 10 Australians have had issues with their service in the past six months.



More than 75% of national broadband network customers surveyed said they had had problems, while more than 80% of ADSL and ADSL2 users listed varying speeds and connection issues.



“To make matters worse, some of the slowest providers also scored poorly when it comes to value for money and customer and technical support,” said Choice’s chief executive, Alan Kirkland.

Telstra, Australia’s largest internet service provider, ranked last for value for money. The company’s customer and technical support also scored below the average.

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“Telstra’s poor ranking on value for money is not surprising given Choice’s investigation last year, which found consumers paid up to a 92% price premium to access Telstra’s network,” Kirkland said.

Dodo was another cellar dweller, with customers listing speed and customer support as the ISP’s weakest links.

“Although internet service providers, such as Dodo, might spruik ‘superfast broadband’, in reality, most Aussies who reported an issue with the NBN complained about slow speeds and connection issues,” Kirkland said.

iiNet, Internode, iPrimus and Optus fared best in the survey.

“Overwhelmingly, consumers place importance on a reliable (95%) and speedy (94%) connection and value for money (94%),” Kirkland said.

Choice was so alarmed by the survey results, the consumer watchdog has joined forces with Enex TestLab to monitor Australia’s broadband networks.

“With so many Australians experiencing issues with their internet service, we want to get to the bottom of speed issues to make sure people can expect to get what they pay for,” Kirkland said.

The survey results follow the telecommunications industry ombudsman’s half-year update, which showed a 53.6% increase in complaints in six months.

The dispute resolution service received more than 24, 641 complaints in the second half of 2016.