Why Is Australia's Home Internet So Slow???

Hotpotcorn on 12/11/2014 - 16:42
Last edited 13/11/2014 - 19:13

EDIT 1: just called telstra. they said adsl 2+ or cable are not avalible in my area. i am stuck with adsl…… omg omg fml im so jealous of u guys having ADSL 2+ OR CABLE OR EVEN NBN!!!! makes me so mad that i wanna move houses
Been praying for NBN to start in my area but it never did. Our internet speeds are that slow that even new Zealand is faster than us. Im also with Telstra and i'm getting crappy internet speeds. We pay $80 for 200GB NO home phone included. Seriously $80 is a lot a month and the thing i most hate about is that Australia is like the only country where you pay usage, not the speed. Where most other countries you pay for speed and you will get unlimited usage on any plans.
http://fiber.usinternet.com/plans-and-prices(like this company, you pay for speed up to WHOPPING 1GBPS UP/DOWN).
In china, my grandparents only pay 1000RMB A YEAR (lower than 200AUD) to have UNLIMITED ADSL 2+ with reasonable speeds.

And Also, our homes internet speeds are THAT SLOW that my phones internet (4G) is even faster than our homes internet. My 4g internet gets 75Mb/S while Our homes internet only gets 6.77Mb/S.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3902718790 this is my homes internet speed, i live in 3116.

So my questions is, why is Australia's internet SO SLOW?? We are like the most developed country in the world and yet our internet speeds are just ahead of mongolia…

Internet

Comments

  • Gomo on 13/11/2014 - 22:14
    +1

    Just did a speed test on my NBN Connection, been living in our new home for just over 8 months now, moved into this new estate mainly due to NBN Being rolled out, amazing speeds!

    http://www.speedtest.net/result/3906024965.png

  • kdtrey35 on 13/11/2014 - 22:34
    +2

    What you get 6.8 Mb/s? I'm with telstra ADSL 2 for $90/month for 200 GB and usually get around 0.4-1.1 Mb/s (perth).
    I've been with Optus and TPG before but at the end of the day telstra's connection is slightly better.
    Its really annoying when you cant even stream a youtube video at 480p without it buffering every 10 seconds.

  • striker5950 on 13/11/2014 - 23:27

    im with optus, im on the 100mbps plan 300gb, when i do a speed test i get around 50mb DL speed, which is realistic yet I still find it a bit slow compared to south Korea for instance

  • Fobsessive on 14/11/2014 - 01:03

    6.77mbps is still slightly faster than mine :(

  • neonlight on 14/11/2014 - 07:59
    -1

    OP, don't know why you are complaining about as there are plenty of people with slower internet than you.

    I only have 4Mbps, get used to it. This is Australia not China. You are welcome to live there rather than here if you want fast internet.

    Quality of life is better than fast internet.

    Also NBN is really only available for mostly new suburbs and new apartments or off plans, if you live in existing units you got no chance. If you live in a house you have zero chance as Telcos don't get return on investment they won't rollout fibre. Plus thanks to the government and Telstra monopoly.

    I don't see anything will change in next decade. As not much since ADSL 2 that's 2004

  • ProjectZero on 14/11/2014 - 08:50

    Hey OP, your results of adsl 6.77Mbps down is faster then my adsl2+ down of 4.57Mbps… so yeah… adsl2+ isn't going to solve much for your location.

    P.S. that 4.57Mbps is on a good day…

  • Baysew on 14/11/2014 - 09:24
    +8

    I blame JV

  • TtiGeR on 14/11/2014 - 12:19

    Well, 6Mbps isn't very slow to be honest. I'm pretty confident you will still have the same feeling with 100Mbps NBN service because it's not largely due to your bandwidth.

    There are many factors to your connection speed, bandwidth, contention, distance, international routing, etc.

    You have reasonable bandwidth here and Telstra has better contention comparing with other home providers, e.g. TPG.

    The main problem is the latency between Australia and China (partially due to complicated international routing as well as China's Great Firewall cross-border content filtering), and China's limited international bandwidth.

    I believe your usage pattern is very different to native English speakers. Unfortunately, ISPs are usually optimising their networks for major users only. If you watch a video on Youtube, you will in general have a better experience (latency, buffering, etc.) than watching the same video with same resolution on Chinese video sites, e.g. Tudou, Youku, Kankan, etc. Having a higher bandwidth won't really solve this problem. (I have a few Chinese friends using NBN at home and they are still complaining their Internet is slow for the very same reason.)

    You might try a VPN service with servers in South East Asia (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore) as they usually have better routing to China. One of my Chinese friends (who's also a network engineer) used IPVanish and was happy with the speed improvements. Another friend chose a cheaper provider PureVPN and saw little improvement. You might need to compare a few to find the best one (they usually provide a trial service). There are many websites for comparison as well, e.g. http://www.vpnsp.com/

  • PockyYes on 14/11/2014 - 15:33
    +1

    cries I get speeds of less than 1Mb. I would kill for your internet.

    • ProjectZero on 14/11/2014 - 16:02
      +5

      You will aye… please make your first target Turnbull…

  • [Deactivated] on 14/11/2014 - 18:23

    Be glad you can even get ADSL, there is many still limited to dialup and wireless 2g/3g/4g….
    A quick look at the wholesale spreadsheet from telstra documentating available ports at each exchange will quickly show how bad the issue is. There is literally 100's of exchanges with no ports left for new ADSL connections and as telstra usually own these facilities, they couldn't give a shit with a copper buyout looming.

  • Sweaty-penguin on 14/11/2014 - 20:01

    http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3908447113

    And you think you have problems…

  • misu p on 14/11/2014 - 20:32
    +1

    I come from Romania, my parents pay 12 AUD per month and they get in this package:

    1) 1 mobile phone that works in all major cities, free calls in the network(mobile and fixed) and decent prices outside it
    2) fiber internet connection to the building, afterwards LAN cable, upload and download speed around 30-50MBs each. I downloaded with 8MB there and I think that cap was more because of the router
    3) an internet USB dongle, basically another sim card for internet alone from what I know without any caps
    4) home phone with a lot of included minutes to their own network (mobile and fixed)
    5) around 100 TV channels.

    I am so envious but… I did not move to Australia for the internet :).

    The thing is that until 10 years ago we all had dialup. Afterwards everybody was connected with the current technology (fiber) directly. We barely had any ADSL. Also one of the major world cables goes right through Romania so speed was hardly an issue.

    Cables on the street look like this :) http://www.thefoa.org/images/Bucharest.jpg

    • Gnostikos on 15/11/2014 - 01:56
      -4

      I come from Romania, my parents pay 12 AUD per month and they get in this package:

      Whoop-dee-do.

      Now tell us what the average monthly wage in Romania is. It's less than $500 USD, or the lowest in the EU.

      That's if you work with a youth unemployment rate of 25% and 22.2% of people living below the poverty line.

      I'm not trying to be an asshole, I'm just being objective.

      Anyone could name-drop a dozen or more, second-rate countries with average internet speeds faster than Australia's; the only catch being you wouldn't want to live in any of them.

      TL;DR: For the love of God, the Internet is not the be-all, end-all of life.

      • [Deactivated] on 15/11/2014 - 03:08

        Why would the youth be employed when they have all that bandwidth to enjoy?

      • misu p on 15/11/2014 - 09:51
        +1

        Yes. It is. Read the rest of my stupid comment.

        • Gnostikos on 15/11/2014 - 16:41

          That photo of Bucharest that you linked to, sums up my argument more succinctly than anything I could say.

          Yes, Romania has fast Internet. Eastern-Euro cyber criminal syndicates rejoice. Fast Internet at the expense of perhaps many other desperately-needed social programs and infrastructure developments that Romania doesn't have.

          Like I don't know… roads?

          Romania is physically about the size of Victoria.

          This nation could afford to build an incredibly fast fibre network across all of Victoria in a very short time frame; except we're not trying to do that, we're trying to get a fibre network across an area 32 times the size of Romania.

          So your comparison was pointless before you even made it.

        • malkakas on 27/11/2014 - 12:25

          @Amar89:
          Who's Going to connect whole Australia to fibre network?
          nearly 90% of Australian population live in urban areas.
          remote regions will only get fixed wireless connection.

    • koplik8 on 15/11/2014 - 10:05
      +1

      DoDo has an unlimited dial up plan for $1 a month. BYO modem

      • BartholemewH on 15/11/2014 - 15:46

        That actually would've been a better option than the Virgin wireless broadband i had for about 4 years. 56kbps was about its limit.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/11/2014 - 00:59
    +2

    Everything is up the roof but very slow in Australia, Internet, traffic speed, public transport and whatever moves that speed factor is included

  • luffyex2010 on 15/11/2014 - 09:25
    +2

    I think I can summarized the whole conversation to 5 words

    Power, Corruption, geography infrastructure limitation

    Projects usually double the actual cost, time ETA is usually double of actual is what I am seeing and looking at (non related)how quick some construction company can build a block up so quickly still amazed me.

  • koplik8 on 15/11/2014 - 10:03
    +1

    I just switched to DoDo yesterday. Unlimited ADSL +2 for $39.90 plus the home phone for $29.90. Very very cheap!!!!
    I had to break my existing contract to change. DoDo gave me months 2 & 3 for free plus a $50 credit for month 4. Even breaking the on tract I save over $150

  • overlord on 15/11/2014 - 10:34

    OMG, what are you whining about? You got ~7Mbps, that's super speed to me. My home ADSL internet speed is only ~3Mbps ad I'm totally OK with that.

  • jikijiki on 15/11/2014 - 12:32

    I havn't read much about the NBN stuff, but from my understanding its the government's plan to connect the fibreoptic cable to the node to the majoogily thingy?

    Would someone be able to enlighten me as to why people are saying that TPG isn't interested in connecting houses with the fibre optic thingamabob? I thought it would be a gradual roll-out throughout Aust?

    • superklue on 15/11/2014 - 14:37
      +2

      TPG are attempting to cherry pick high value sites across the country. When they deploy their FTTB infrastructure they effectively lock NBN Co out of the building. All those dwellings must now buy services from TPG. If NBN Co deploy their infrastructure the dwellings would have access to any provider who resells NBN (NBN is an open access network). NBN Co are relying on the revenue stream from these premises to offset the cost of deploying broadband infrastructure to regional and remote areas. I.e. the new satellite program.

  • truongster on 15/11/2014 - 12:51

    I got 100mbits at home, People need to opt out of ADSL and onto Cable. Note Upload speeds are slow and it's only avaliable in major cities.

    • superklue on 15/11/2014 - 14:43
      +1

      NBN Co plans to take over the HFC cable networks. They're looking at ways to upgrade the network to improve upload speeds. Product is due to launch late 2015. Keep an eye out (www.nbnco.com.au) and check the rollout maps for more information.

    • Charity on 15/11/2014 - 16:13

      people need to opt out of being a commoner, and should have been born into a royal family.

      (that means some people don't have a choice to switch)

      • superklue on 15/11/2014 - 16:17
        +1

        Its not uncommon for people to have access to the cable networks. There approximately 3 million premises covered by these networks in Australia.

        • [Deactivated] on 15/11/2014 - 18:16

          HFC has been around since the 90's and originally was deployed to deliver payTV….

  • nocure on 16/11/2014 - 13:25

    Clubtelco …no contract , $40 pm , unlimited , 20Mbps been with them 2 years no complaints …

  • realaaa on 16/11/2014 - 17:11

    I understand where you are coming from, but are you kidding mate? this is not bad speed at all! Especially if you get that speed consistently consider yourself lucky.

    My best speed ever gets just to 7-8 mbps (on ADSL2), but every now and then I have some weird intermittent problem and it slows down to less than 1 mbps, sometimes to 0.1. There is nothing anyone can do, except onsite visit with technician inspecting line quality etc which will most probably incur $200 fee and they will most definitely find out that line is faulty somewhere (yeah right) and leave me with that.

    so here I am, having to restart my freaking modem almost every day or even more, and I'm not even in remote area (several hundred meters from exchange, just a very old building), unfortunately no more options in this building.

    and we are not even the worst case, they are people really struggling out there…

  • Make it so on 17/11/2014 - 18:50

    I just saw this thread. Just want to add my $0.02.
    Moved to Australia from Europe 15 years ago. Could not believe people were using modems still, let alone that I would be using one for the next 6+ years.

    Internet in Australia is slow because nobody here realises how fast it is elsewhere, and what this means for what you can do with it.

    Faster internet isn't (just) about better Youtube. It's about doing different things you couldn't otherwise do, or doing the same things in a different way. For instance, try tapping into the Cloud industry when you are in Australia….. can't even get your data in it unless you put a hard drive in the mail!

  • frewer on 18/11/2014 - 16:32

    I thought this will help OP cheers up a little
    http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3917942237

    Yes, this is suppose to be ADSL 2+ and im live not far from the exchange.

  • [Deactivated] on 04/04/2015 - 19:31

    I hate to compare apples with oranges but I lived in the back of beyond in Wales. Population density was single figures but we had 50mbps internet. I have friends in remote parts of Norway who had these speeds best part of ten years ago and I was embarrassed at the UK's internet speeds……..until I came to Australia.

    I live a few kms from Brisbane CBD and I'm lucky if I get 6mbps ADSL2+ on a good day. Also this figure goes up and down constantly.

    My mobile phone is with Telstra and I cannot make a call on it from home as it never goes above one bar of signal!

    Oz really is a great, first world country but it's telecomms infrastructure is truly third world.

  • AMLagonda on 09/04/2015 - 17:02

    Why is my internet only 4.55mbps I use the WA Maddington Exchange :/ and NBN in my area seems a long way off too.

    lower on this test
    http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4276131703

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