How to claim your NBN refund

If you’re feeling shortchanged about the current state of the National Broadband Network (NBN), then you’re not alone. 

About 1 in 7 NBN customers are unhappy, and two of the biggest providers have agreed to refund customers whose speeds are not up to scratch.

Optus this week joined Telstra in promising to refund over 50,000 customers.

The telco said that technical limitations on the fibre to the node (FTTN) or fibre to the building (FTTB) NBN connections, meant that the advertised speeds couldn’t be delivered.

So, in case you’ve been offline of late, let’s get you up to speed on all things NBN.  

The story so far:

With the federal government declaring “super-fast internet” for all, households across the country have been waiting with bated breath for the NBN to finally arrive into their neighbourhood.

While the roll out process is due to reach 50% of the population by the new year, it has copped serious flack for its lengthy delays, with 15 per cent of those hooked up to the NBN complaining about substandard service.

Following more than 27,000 reports lodged with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) in the last financial year alone, the ACCC were finally prompted to investigate and found Telcos have been misleading their customers over NBN speeds and breaching consumer laws.

Telstra‘s NBN advertising boasted that it could provide download speeds of “up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps)”, and maximum upload speeds of “up to 40 Mbps” whilst Optus’s “Boost Max” did that same. 

However, this was not the case, with the ACCC concluding many customers were not receiving the high speeds they had paid for.

What happened next?

Recently Telstra announced it would compensate around 42,000 customers impacted by slower-than-promised NBN service whilst Optus has vowed to reimburse 8,700 homes, who are also still to receive the fast speed times they were promised.

Are you due for a refund?

Telstra has vowed to contact all current (and former) customers impacted whilst Optus has until March 2, 2018, to do the same.

If you want to know more from Telstra, call them on 13 22 00.

Optus customers will have the option of a refund, moving speed plans, discounted speed plans, and exit from contracts without paying a fee.

Residential customers who are unsure if the undertaking applies to them can contact Optus on 1800 780 219.

The ACCC’s Rod Mr Sims said affected consumers must carefully look at the options offered by Optus.

“In some cases, consumers may consider it preferable to simply exit their contract with a refund rather than accept a service that does not meet their needs,” Mr Sims said.

The court-enforceable undertaking also requires Optus to check within four weeks of connecting a customer to a new NBN speed plan that they are getting the advertised speeds they are paying for.

In case you want to see all the options for premium NBN speeds, here are Whistleout’s top plans this month: