Choice broadband survey shows NBN customers happier and with better connections

The cream rises to the top folks – and that’s what Choice’s survey of almost 2,000 Aussies and their internet connection shows if you look closely at the data.

Sure none of the headlines say this, in fact more than anything if you read the stories today people are interpreting most of the results as a negative for the NBN, but in fact, the NBN is the leveller of the playing field that Australians have needed.

Simply put, the overall satisfaction with Internet providers at a measure of 73 on average. This takes into account a host of things like customer service, speed and reliability.

Overall, our connection reliability sits at 74 with speed at 71.

For NBN customers the numbers go up. Reliability at 76, speed at 75.  And the sample size of NBN customers is just over 500 out of the 1900 odd in the survey.

Overall, NBN customers put satisfaction at 75.  Again, higher than the overall “Internet” numbers.

This is an interesting snapshot of Australia.  We’re at about a quarter of homes connected to NBN, a quarter of these survey respondents were on NBN, and the results were better in every single measure.

There’s a long way to go, and if anyone should be worried right now, it’s not the NBN – it’s Telstra – they drop down the tree when it comes to rated providers on NBN customers alone – so with a level NBN playing field, smaller carriers are going to boom.

Interestingly, Choice has announced they are going to start a broadband monitoring program.  They say it’s to monitor not just NBN but also ADSL services. But with those phasing out, it seems somewhat strange.  Moreover, it hits head to head with the official Government monitoring program being conducted through the ACCC.  They’re seeking volunteers at the same time as Choice, which doesn’t help anyone – and just adds confusion to the market.

Smacks of Choice seeking relevance in the modern market – what they should focus on are these excellent qualitative surveys rather than competing with the ACCC?