Feel like your FTTN connection has been on the fritz lately? You're probably not the only one.
Back in 2024, the ACCC introduced new rules that required NBN Co to start collecting data on the service quality and network performance. Almost a year later, again thanks to the Australia's competition regulator, we’re now getting our first look at what that data says about Australia’s internet landscape.
Published by the ACCC earlier this week, the new report covers the third quarter of 2024 and revealed that the most (86% of 791,011) new NBN connections are being completed without any physical work and that an even bigger proportion (98%) of those connections are being completed within a single business day.
That's not the only good news here. When it came to rectifying service faults, approximately 86% of faults reported by NBN Co were able to be resolved without plant work or getting a technician involved.
Interestingly, FTTN connections and fixed wireless connections proved to be something of an exception to this trend. These connection types reported both more service faults that required intervention. You can take a look for yourself using the graph below.
Again, it’s worth noting that the bulk (93%) of these faults were resolved within a day and that FTTN accounted for more connections (31%) than the other technology types in the mix.
In a statement accompanying the report, NBN highlighted the impact that rainy weather has on the performance of fixed-line services.
“These events have a greater impact on copper-based services (FTTN/C) compared to FTTP. Other factors, such as the degradation of copper networks over time and the length of copper lines, can also affect customer experience on the nbn network," the statement said.
NBN Co added that the impact of weather-related events should go down over time as more connections upgrade from older copper-based technologies.
We'll have to wait until the next set of data drops in a few months time to see if that prediction holds true. If the data has you itching to switch up your own NBN setup in the meantime then it's worth remembering that over 2.5 million FTTN addresses are already eligible for a free FTTP upgrade.
To do so, you just need to order an NBN 100 plan or faster. Even if you aren't eligible, you could still save some money by comparing NBN plans and changing to a better provider. In either case, you can find a round-up of the most popular NBN plans in the widget below.
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