Optus tops ACCC's tenth NBN speed report

Alex Choros - Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor

Last updated 29 September 2020

The ACCC has put out its tenth Measuring Broadband Australia report, the first to show the impact of coronavirus on the NBN performance. Despite the pandemic, Optus has maintained the top spot for real world NBN speeds for the fourth consecutive quarter. Optus customers were found to receive 90% 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 covers ten major providers - Aussie Broadband, Dodo, Exetel, iiNet, iPrimus, MyRepublic, Optus, Telstra, TPG, and Vodafone. Here's how they stacked up this time:

Average percent of max. download speed

	Overall	Overall excluding under performing connections	Peak hours
Aussie Broadband	89.2%	91.4%	88.5%
Dodo	83.9%	88.6%	82.8%
Exetel	88.7%	90.0%	87.9%
iiNet	88.6%	91.7%	87.9%
iPrimus	83.9%	88.6%	82.8%
MyRepublic	89.6%	92.5%	88.4%
Optus	90.8%	92.7%	90.0%
Telstra	86.3%	91.1%	85.1%
TPG	90.1%	92.0%	89.2%
Vodafone	86.8%	90.2%	86.1%

For the most part, providers demonstrated an improvement in download speeds across all speed tiers. The ACCC is attributing this to NBN Co's decision to provide telcos with a bonus 40% network capacity on NBN plans in light of the pandemic.

"We have seen an improvement in download speeds for all speed tier plans and across all retail service providers during the period from May to June," said ACCC Chair Rod Sims.

"Speeds are also similar to those seen prior to the pandemic, in spite of a prolonged surge in broadband demand as households and businesses practice coronavirus restrictions." "NBN Co’s decision to offer [provides] 40% extra network capacity for free has been vital to the network’s sustained performance, and we welcome their decision to extend this offer until 30 November."

MyRepubic and iiNet were the most improved, with busy hour speeds jumping 5.4% and 4% respectively, during busy hours.

When you exclude under-performing connections, Optus still leads the pack in terms of download speeds, but by a smaller margin.

The ACCC also found that there is a steady decline in underperforming services, dropping from 9.6% in the regulator's previous report to 8.1% this time around.

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

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

Once again, the overall report looks like a win for Optus, but it is worth remembering the scale of the ACCC's testing. The results come from a 30 day testing period between May and June across just 1,115 NBN connections. All but 35 of these households have a connection with one of the ten providers featured in the report.

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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