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On the NBN? You could be owed hundreds

Aug 21, 2017

Telcos offering the NBN will refund costumers .

You may be set to receive a refund if you’re one of thousands of National Broadband Network subscribers who were charged for fast internet speeds but instead experienced wait times akin to the days of dial-up.

Australia’s biggest telco, Telstra announced in May that it would refund nearly 8,000 customers after it came to light they’d been charged for internet speeds that were impossible to achieve under the NBN that was executed by the federal Coalition in 2013.

The Australian today reported that Optus said yesterday it too would undertake a “similar process” and would aim to figure out just how many customers had been stung and would refund those who had.

However, Optus would not provide a number of those affected to The Australian.

The NBN has been its own worst enemy since its inception as it has emerged many people would pay the same price for the exact same, or even slower, internet speeds.

In order to make money on the $49 billion NBN outlay, hefty “bandwidth” fees are charged to telcos who in turn, pass that hike onto consumers.

While Optus has come forward to say the high cost of “bandwidth” was stopping it from providing high-speed internet to some of its customers, Telstra – which controls more than 50 per cent of the NBN retail market – still maintains its customers “always” enjoy high speeds despite The Australian reporting it had highlighted a number of unhappy Telstra customers.