Telstra, Optus and TPG are the big names in broadband internet in the country, and now all 3 telecom operators are being sued by the Australian Competition and User Commission (ACCC) over false allegations about maximum NBN speeds that certain customers of the service they could have waited. The ACCC argues that each and every carrier told widely deployed (and often criticized) fiber-to-node (FTTN) customers that their maximum NBN speeds would be checked at sign-up, and that they would be notified and solutions would be proposed. if your service turns out to be poor. The consumer watchdog claims that none of these checks or monitoring was carried out. "Telstra, Optus and TPG have committed to notifying users within a specific or reasonable amount of time if the speed they paid for cannot be achieved on their connection," ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said. “They also promised to offer them a cheaper plan with a refund if that was the case. Instead, we pretend that they did not do these things, and as a result, many users paid more than necessary for their NBN plans,” Sims stated. Sims continued: "What makes this behavior even more alarming is that Telstra, Optus and TPG were aware of these issues and had already engaged with ACCC to provide solutions for users who have purchased NBN plans with speeds that cannot be given." The ACCC states that Telstra, Optus and TPG are in the process of contacting affected service customers who are eligible for a refund for underperforming service. These service customers will also be able to upgrade to a cheaper plan or get out of their contract for free.
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Telstra, Optus and TPG respond
In a statement to TechRadar, Telstra Group chief Michael Ackland apologized for disappointing customers with the service and said he was ready to fix the problem. “We have reported these issues to the ACCC and are already taking steps to ensure solutions are provided to service customers and improve our processes,” Ackland said. “As we have seen today with Optus and TPG, this issue is not out of the question and occurs more widely in the industry due to a complicated process. “In most cases, if NBN Co sells a connection to a retail service provider (RSP) that doesn't deliver the speed the customer wants, and the RSP has paid, the RSP must carry it. “The service customer doesn't get what they want, the RSP always pays a premium and NBN Co has limited obligations to do something about it and continues to charge RSPs for a plan they know about. Possibly the connection does not deliver. "Hence, we strongly support the current ACCC process considering the cost that PSNs pay to access NBN and the service standards that NBN Co should manage," says Ackland. Similarly to Telstra, an Optus spokesperson told TechRadar that the combination of multiple NBN technologies often causes problems for distributors. “The speed that can be achieved in certain NBN connections can be affected by problems such as the length and quality of the copper line that connects a customer of the service with the NBN. Unfortunately, not each and every NBN connection can handle exactly the same speeds,” the spokesperson stated. TPG, which merged with Vodafone last year, apologized for oversight and suggested there were two factors at play for underperforming services. "The first was that NBN Co failed to provide accurate and timely speed information to TPG Internet," the TPG spokesperson said. "The second was the anomalies in the current TPG Internet legacy processes from 2, and they were corrected after the merger." "We will reach out to affected TPG Internet customers and offer them the option to drop a plan and get a refund, leave and get a refund, or continue on their current plan."
Analysis: whose fault is it?
L'ACCC a carrément blâmé Telstra, Optus et TPG pour avoir prétendument induit en erreur les utilisateurs de NBN sur leurs vitesses maximumes de plan, mais à des des degrés divers, les trois grandes opérateurs ont tous pointé du doigt NBN Co ou le déploiement de NBN as a general rule. Although some of the blame placed on NBN Co may be reasonable, since NBN Co was used to derive actionable data, ACCC's quarterly broadband performance reports have indicated for some time that FTTN connections they often underperform due to their design. However, this information may not be widely known to the average NBN user and ultimately, by proactively offering this 'quality assurance' service, it is the responsibility of distributors to ensure that their customers of the service get what they need. what they paid Telecom operators precautionary block access to the fastest NBN speeds offered depending on the connection technology the property has. a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) connection. When they discovered that the speed data required to assess the line speed of each FTTN service customer was not available, operators may have adopted the tried and tested rule of business success: underpromising and overcharging, charging service customers for slower service until such time as they are sure. they would be able to get the fastest. The ACCC argues that the worst performing services were those that had an FTTN connection on the NBN fifty and NBN hundred plans. If those service customers don't get the speeds they pay for, and the operators particularly promised to make sure they did, it's ultimately the telecom operators' responsibility to fix it.