Optus tops ACCC's speed report for fifth consecutive quarter

Alex Choros - Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor

Last updated 04 December 2020

The ACCC has put out the eleventh Measuring Broadband Australia report, with Optus taking the top spot for the firth quarter in a row. Optus customers were found to receive 98.5% of their plan's maximum speeds during peak hours (between 7pm and 11pm) putting the telco ahead of TPG, Aussie Broadband, MyRepublic, Telstra, and more.

The report currently now covers eleven major providers - Aussie Broadband, Dodo, Exetel, iiNet, iPrimus, MyRepublic, Optus, Telstra, TPG, and Vodafone. Superloop is also now featured in the report, for the very first time. Here's how they stacked up this time:

Average percent of max. download speed

	Overall	Overall excluding under performing connections	Peak hours
Aussie Broadband	95.9%	100.1%	95.1%
Dodo	85.6%	89.6%	84.8%
Exetel	89.9%	90.2%	89.2%
iiNet	93.8%	98.4%	93.6%
iPrimus	85.6%	89.6%	84.8%
MyRepublic	98.2%	102.9%	96.8%
Optus	99.4%%	102.7%	98.5%
Superloop	94.4%	99.1%	93.4%
Telstra	97.1%	101.8%	96.5%
TPG	99.0%	101.4%	98.4%
Vodafone	93.4%	96.6%	92.1%

The ACCC says the eleventh report showcases the highest speeds it seen since it has started the Measuring Broadband program. This is being attributed to NBN Co's decision to provide telcos with a bonus 40% network capacity on NBN plans in light of the pandemic. In addition, NBN Co now over provisions download speeds by between 10% to 15% where possible to help ensure customers can get closer to the speeds they're paying for and to balance out overheads.

While Optus still leads the pack, it is only 0.1% ahead of TPG in terms of peak hour download speeds. Telstra was the most improved from last quarter, demonstrating an 11% in peak hour speeds.

The Measuring Broadband report also tracks outages that last over 30 seconds. Here's how providers stacked up:

Aussie Broadband: Approximately 0.3 daily outages
Dodo: Approximately 0.2 daily outages
Exetel: Approximately 0.4 daily outages
iiNet: Approximately 0.2 daily outages
iPrimus: Approximately 0.2 daily outages
MyRepublic: Approximately 0.2 daily outages
Optus: Approximately 0.3 daily outages
Superloop: Approximately 0.3 daily outages
Telstra: Approximately 0.2 daily outages
TPG: Approximately 0.2 daily outages
Vodafone: Approximately 0.4 daily outages

Once again, Optus comes out well, but it is worth remembering the scale of the ACCC's testing. The results come from a month-long testing period during October across just 1,224 NBN connections. All but 24 of these households have a connection with one of the eleven providers featured in the report. The ACCC reports a 95% confidence level in its results.

If you're after a new NBN plan, check out our guide to plans from the providers mentioned in this report.

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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