Regular readers of this blog maybe remember our travails with our internet connection from a couple of years ago, where it took months to actually fix the problem, with many technicians seemingly not knowing what the problem was1-3.
Now it has started again. Coincidentally, this arrived from Telstra a few days ago:
“On 1 July 2024, we’ll be making changes to our home internet pricing. nbn co is increasing the price they charge us for wholesale internet and this is an important factor for the changes we’re making. The price changes also mean we can keep investing in our network, products and services while responding to increased data usage. This includes 24/7 network monitoring to help protect against scams, 4G back-up to help keep you connected in an outage and support from our local teams when you need us.”
When a corporation says prices are changing, they mean increasing. In this case, our Unlimited Internet Plan will be increasing from $100 per month to $105 per month. While I would not normally quibble much about such a relatively small price rise, in this case I will, and this is why: Up until recently our internet connection was a fairly reliable 53 megabits per second (Mbps) download speed and an upload speed of about 18 Mbps. However, over the last couple of weeks or so, it has been considerably slower, rarely if ever reaching anything like our previous speeds. The download speed has varied between an almost acceptable 40Mbps down to about 2 Mbps. As I write this, I did a speed test for the Telstra nbn and the download speed is 21.4 Mbps, with the upload speed being 1.8 Mbps. On the assumption that this 21.4 Mbps mark is about average for the last couple of weeks, which it seems to be, this means our price is going from $1.88 for each Mbps download speed, to $4.91 per Mbps. Instead of being an increase of 5%, it is an increase of 261%.
This was not long after Telstra announced it was going to sack as many as 2,800 jobs, as it was pivoting away from declining revenue streams in its fixed enterprise business, and restructuring the way it prices its products. Telstra said the redundancies would take place before the end of the year, and allow Telstra to streamline its sales and service model, cut the cost base of its tech services and reduce its network applications. She said the job cuts would not impact customer service, and the business would aim to be ‘transparent’ about its new pricing model plans4. Really?
So, we will start the whole ‘badgering Telstra’ process again to try to get back to where we were. As I finished this rant, I did a speed test again; the download speed was 3.2 Mbps, and the upload speed was 0.9 Mbps. Telstra has just been contacted. Here we go again.
Sources
- https://blotreport.com/2022/03/02/internet-connection/
- https://blotreport.com/2022/03/14/the-internet-connection-saga-continues/
- https://blotreport.com/2022/03/18/the-internet-connection-saga-part-3/
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-22/telstra-share-price-falls-after-job-cuts-pricing-announcements/103875164
my internet speed today
8.94
Mbps download
0.69
Mbps upload
Latency: 26 ms
Cath,
What do you pay for?
NBN fttn. no idea what speeds I am supposed to get.
Cath,
It should be in your plan.
I’m with iiNET (TPG), albeit using VDSL2 (the old Transact) not Turnbull’s downgraded NBN. 107/37, typically 90Mbps down. Had a couple of problems over the years and I can report that iiNET’s highly regarded customer service is very well earned.
What’s your NBN speed guarantee BA? If you haven’t already told both Tls and NBN that you’ve already been through an arduous and painful “fix” and that you require a speedy, permanent solution or you’ll be submitting a complaint to the TIO then I’d be doing that. ISPs and NBN Co rely on a majority of customers with issues not knowing and exercising their rights.
Jon,
50Mbps is what I pay for.
Then we’ll see just how long it takes the execrable TPG to destroy that iiNet customer service. I was with TPG for 20 years, almost a foundation customer, and left because of their woeful customer service. I switched to iiNet not realising it was the same company. Now with amaysim and they’re pretty good – of course they put their prices up recently too; gave us an extra unwanted 18GB of data as “compensation”, the whole thing presented as if they were doing us a favour.
I’m beginning to understand why people say corporations are all the same. Maybe they are paying out too much in executive salaries and packages, and that’s why the bottom line is not looking so good?
From my perspective iiNet’s service quality hasn’t dropped since TPG bought them out Doderamus. Their primary (day) tech help appears to be in Sth Africa. Their tech support (he was working from home att) was exemplary in configuring a new modem iiNet sent me in the hope of sorting out a fluctuating VDSL2 speed problem. As I suspected all along the local techo later discovered a fault in the exchange about 2 km away from my home.
Whenever I’ve had net issues they have invariably involved either the exchange (not relevant for NBN connections) or the line from the pole to the house (eventually replaced by Tls). One advantage of maintaining a fixed phone service is that telcos have (used to have?) enforceable repair responsibilities – for safety reasons. I’ve had Tls contractors check wires/connections from roof to modem before they finally decided to check to line from the pole to the roof.
Just had a look at recent ISP surveys and Whirlpool comments. I see iiNet has dropped down the list somewhat (level with TPG) and have far more complaints than before NBN, which has complicated things somewhat. People seem to have forgotten that previously everything was via the telephone system, now for most there’s another layer. A quick perusal suggests NBN Co is responsible for maintaining connections from the pole to the home, which is where many problems lie in older locations. Used to be Tls, then Tls contracted by NBN.
These links might be useful/interesting:
https://www.choice.com.au/electronics-and-technology/internet/connecting-to-the-internet/articles/best-nbn-providers (limited as usual)
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/telecommunications-and-internet/broadband-performance-data
https://www.canstarblue.com.au/internet/nbn-providers/
More general:
https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/roy-morgan-unveils-annual-customer-satisfaction-award-winners-across-all-categories-2023