Australian internet is the best for streaming according to Netflix

Anula Wiwatowska - Offsite Editorial Lead

Last updated 20 January 2021

After lying dormant for close to a year, the Netflix ISP Speed Index is back to reveal the best internet providers for using the platform, and surprisingly Australia did well.

Globally, Australia has topped the list of high performers alongside Belgium, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland and Thailand. This win comes a little under a year after Australia’s internet performance ranked 68th in the world underneath India and Kazakhstan to name a few.

Although the latest data from the global speed index still has Australia sitting at 61st, at least we can kick up our feet and watch Netflix more seamlessly than our US counterparts.

The data delves deeper to showcase which local internet providers achieve the best results across the platform.

According to the data, Aussie Broadband, Optus NBN and Telstra NBN have tied for the top spot. Snatching the silver, we have a nine-way tie between Dodo/iPrimus, Exetel, iiNet NBN and non-NBN, Optus non-NBN, Telstra non-NBN, TPG NBN and non-NBN, and Vodafone. Coming in third is MyRepublic’s NBN and non-NBN options.

Here are the most popular plans from the gold medalists.

#1	Aussie Broadband	Aussie Broadband 500/44 Mbps typical evening speed Unlimited Data $79/mth Min. cost $79 Deal: Includes $20 off for the first 6 months. Promo code SPRING20. $99/mth after promo ends 15.11.26	100%	Link not supplied
#2	Telstra	Telstra 25/4 Mbps typical evening speed Unlimited Data $97/mth Min. cost $48.50 Deal: Get 50% off any home nbn plan for 2 months. Add code PROMO at checkout. Ends 05.10.26. T&Cs apply.	36%	Link not supplied
#3	Optus	Optus 50/17 Mbps typical evening speed Unlimited Data $82/mth Min. cost $82 Deal: $82/mth for a year, then $97/mth or as notified. New services. Incl intro offer + extra $5/mth off. Min cost $388. Ends 6/10.	21%	Link not supplied

Netflix calculates the rankings based on maximum achieved bitrate during peak usage hours, these results are then weighted across global hours distribution.

The platform knows that each streaming session has a maximum achievable bitrate, the better the provider’s network is the closer that session will be to achieving the maximum bitrate. Netflix looks at each provider’s bitrate performance across it’s three top viewing hours everyday, (when the network is more likely to be congested) and weighs the sessions out to an average score measured in Mbps.

Provider performance scores are placed within categories of 0.5Mbps (for example, <0.5Mbps, 0.5 - 1.0Mbps, 1.0 - 1.5Mbps, and so on and so forth), representing each provider’s weighted bitrate achievements. Bigger numbers mean the provider was able to reach the maximum bitrate more often than those with lower scores.

It is important to note that margin between the best and worst performing local provider is negligible, with just a 0.4Mbps difference betwixt the two. Third place had a score of 3.4Mbps, second is 3.6Mbps and first hit 3.8Mbps.

Internationally Australia obtained a 3.8Mbps score, while the lowest ranking country Venezuela had just a 1.4Mbps.

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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