The ACCC has released its 15th Measuring Broadband Australia report, once again casting an eye on real world NBN performance. For the first time, the report now takes a look at NBN provider’s typical evening speeds and compares them to speeds customers are actually getting during busy hours as well as the busiest hour in the testing month (September).
Typical evening speeds are an indication of how an NBN plan should perform between 7pm and 11pm on any given day. NBN plans can slow down due to congestion, so all providers are required to disclose the speeds you can realistically expect during busy hours in addition to the speed tier a plan is configured on.
Naturally, there’s always a question of how accurate these claims are. Here’s the ACCC’s data on how a provider’s typical evening speeds compare to real life experience. These results combine NBN 50 and NBN 100 plans, and exclude underperforming connections.
| Advertised evening speed claim | Busy hours | Busiest hour | % of busy hours where advertised speed was achieved | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aussie Broadband | 98.5% | 99.1% | 97.4% | 59% |
| Dodo | 97.4% | 100.9% | 98.5% | 97% |
| Exetel | 100% | 102.2% | 98.6% | 66% |
| iiNet | 96.3% | 100.1% | 98.4% | 100% |
| iPrimus | 97.4% | 100.9% | 98.5% | 97% |
| MyRepublic | 96.8% | 103.7% | 100.6% | 98% |
| Optus | 100% | 104% | 102.1% | 95% |
| Superloop | 100% | 97.8% | 91.7% | 27% |
| Telstra | 100% | 103.1% | 100% | 87% |
| TPG | 96.5% | 102.4% | 100.7% | 100% |
| Vodafone | 95.9% | 99.8% | 95.2% | 89% |
iiNet and TPG came out best when it comes to consistent performance. Customers on both providers were found to get at least their typical advertised evening speeds for 100 per cent of the busy hours in the testing month. The pair both report typical evening speeds of 50Mbps on NBN 50 plans and 90Mbps on NBN 100 plans.
Here are TPG’s NBN 50 and NBN 100 plans:
And here are iiNet’s:
MyRepublic was also a solid performer, with customers found to achieve advertised speeds during 98 per cent of busy hours during the month. MyRepublic customers also had great performance during the busiest hour of the month. On average, MyRepublic NBN 50 and NBN 100 customers were still able to hit or exceed their speed tier maximums during this time. MyRepublic reports 50Mbps on NBN 50 plans, and 93Mbps on NBN 100.
Here are MyRepublic’s NBN 50 and NBN 100 plans:
iPrimus and Dodo (both owned by the Vocus Group) delivered surprisingly strong results. Customers were found to get their advertised typical evening speeds during 97 per cent of the month’s busy hours, and on average, these were exceeded during the busiest hour of the month.
Both iPrimus and Dodo report 50Mbps on NBN 50 plans. iPrimus reports 95Mbps on NBN 100 plans, while Dodo reports 92Mbps.
Here are iPrimus’ NBN 50 and NBN 100 plans:
And here are Dodo’s:
More shockingly, Aussie Broadband and Superloop were two of the weaker performers in the group. Aussie Broadband customers only got the typical evening speeds during 59 per cent of the busy hours of the month, and this fell to 27 per cent for Superloop.
It’s worth noting the report was based on the speeds telcos were advertising at the start of September, and Supleroop dropped its typical evening speeds for NBN 100 plans down to 96Mbps at the end of the month. Based on this change, the ACCC says Superloop customers would have achieved advertised typical evening speeds during 55.4 per cent of September busy hours.
Here’s how every NBN 100 plan for the providers featured in the report compares:
For the report, the ACCC tested 1,268 NBN connections over a month-long period in September. All but 55 of these connections were with one of the eleven providers featured in the report.
Alex Choros is Managing Editor at WhistleOut, Australia’s phone and internet comparison website.