The Australian government have given the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) a stack of cash to keep an eye on NBN and Telco internet speeds as the issue ramps up as being a key to demonstrating just where the NBN is performing well and not so well.

But to do this, they need this real Aussies and to monitor their internet connection.

I spoke with ACCC Chairman Rod Sims about just what’s involved:

The long and the short of it is this.  The ACCC need 8,000 volunteers so they can whittle it down to the 2,000 first homes that will be connected to the monitoring service.  They’ve had 4,000 so far, so they genuinely want you.

If you’ve got an NBN connect, no matter where you are, no matter what your connection “type” and no matter which ISP you’ve chosen, the ACCC are keen to get you on board.  This will involve them sending you a little black box, that plugs into your modem and does regular speed checks and sends them anonymously to the ACCC.

It’s a little while off though, the tender to supply the boxes is still out, so that needs to be selected then the boxes produced first – but, this is your chance to help.

Once it’s running, we’re going to get regular reporting showing which Telcos are offering the best speeds – because as we’ve learned this week that is a telco to telco issue for the most part.

Web: ACCC