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TPG keeps top spot for download speeds in fourth NBN report

Published

4 years ago

February 6, 2019

TPG has held onto first place in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) broadband speed-monitoring report, delivering 87.3 percent of its maximum plan speeds overall and 86.1 percent during busy hours for downloads in the final quarter of 2018.

The National Broadband Network (NBN) speed report saw Aussie Broadband come second, providing 85.7 percent of maximum download speeds overall and 84.8 percent in busy hours; followed by Optus, at 85 percent and 83.9 percent, respectively; iiNet, at 83.7 percent and 79.8 percent; Telstra, at 83.3 percent and 82.7 percent; MyRepublic, at 82.8 percent and 82 percent; and Exetel, at 82.6 percent and 81.7 percent.

Dodo and iPrimus came in last place, delivering 80.8 percent of maximum plan speeds overall and 78.9 percent in busy hours for downloads.

Across uploads, however, Exetel took out first place by delivering 90.1 percent of maximum plan speeds overall, and 89.9 percent of maximum plan speeds during busy hours.

It was followed by iiNet, which provided 88.4 percent and 88.2 percent of maximum plan speeds overall and during busy hours, respectively; Aussie Broadband, at 86.3 percent and 86.1 percent; TPG, at 86 percent and 85.9 percent; MyRepublic, at 83.7 percent and 84.4 percent; Optus, at 83.1 percent and 83 percent; Dodo and iPrimus, at 82.4 percent and 83.3 percent; with Telstra coming in last on upload speeds, at 82 percent and 81.9 percent.

During the “busiest hour”, TPG provided 71.8 percent of maximum plan speeds; Telstra 69.8 percent; Optus 69 percent; Aussie Broadband 67.9 percent; MyRepublic 66.8 percent; Dodo and iPrimus 61.1 percent; Exetel 60.1 percent; and iiNet just 48.3 percent.

Exetel also had the lowest latency of 11.2ms overall, followed by Telstra with 11.5ms; Aussie Broadband with 13ms; TPG with 14.6ms; Optus with 14.9ms; Dodo, iPrimus, and iiNet with 15.6ms; and MyRepublic with 18.1ms.

The ACCC also revealed that fibre-to-the-premises (FttP) connections are delivering the most on speed promises, with 88.9 percent of maximum plan speeds overall and 89.4 percent in busy hours.

Hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) was the second-highest connectivity option, providing 88.1 percent overall and 89.5 percent in busy hours; while fibre-to-the-node (FttN) delivered just 79.6 percent of maximum plan speeds overall but 89.1 percent in busy hours.

“It is good to see that providers have generally managed the transition to NBN Co’s new wholesale products without too much impact on customers,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said on Wednesday.

“We expect NBN Co and RSPs’ focus to remain on fixing speed-related problems and ensuring consumers receive good speeds on their current plans, regardless of which NBN fixed-line technology is supplied to them.”

The ACCC had in August 2017 issued guidance on how broadband providers should package and advertise their fixed-line services along the lines of evening peak speeds in order to improve accuracy and prevent misleading claims.

Included in these guidelines is that RSPs should advertise the speeds typically experienced during “the busy evening period”, and utilise a labelling system outlining the “typical busy period speed” in the categories of basic evening speed, standard evening speed, standard plus evening speed, and premium evening speed.

In November last year, the watchdog then published a review of the speed guidance, using the opportunity to propose an extension of the rules to fixed-wireless services.

Specifically, the ACCC wants consumers to be given more information on how services may be affected by distance and line of sight to cell towers, as well as fixed-wireless cell congestion.

However, it has previously said that it would need an additional AU$6 million in government funding to extend the speed-monitoring program to fixed-wireless services.

The ACCC’s first fixed-line broadband speed monitoring report, published in March, had followed the consumer watchdog forcing Telstra, Optus, TPG, iiNet, Internode, Dodo, iPrimus, and Commander to compensate tens of thousands of customers for not providing them with the NBN speeds they were paying for.

The ACCC is still seeking volunteers for the broadband speed-monitoring program in order to increase the pool of data, especially across smaller RSPs.

The AU$6.5 million speed-monitoring program will take place over four years, with SamKnows appointed in December 2017 to monitor speeds thanks to the government providing funding.

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Cars

How To Use PS5’s Screen Reader Accessibility Feature (And Why You Might Want To)

Published

38 mins ago

June 4, 2023

Francisco Peguero

The Screen Reader is one of the many features available in the PlayStation 5’s accessibility suite. In a nutshell, it’s a digital narrator that can automatically parse and read out any text that appears on screen while using a PS5. This means that Screen Reader can also provide audible instructions for the general operation of your PS5 console, which is another useful reason to turn it on.

Activating your PS5’s Screen Reader is as simple as flipping a switch in the console’s settings.

From the PS5 Home screen, open the Settings menu.
Open the Accessibility options.
Open the Screen Reader tab.
Activate the Enable Screen Reader toggle.

From the Screen Reader options menu, you can also control the rate at which the narrator speaks, whether it uses a masculine or feminine voice, and the volume of the narration. Additionally, while the default language of the Screen Reader is set to whatever your console’s language is, the Screen Reader has full support for 12 different languages. The supported languages include Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Finally, you can use your controller to start and stop the narration midway. Press the PS and Triangle buttons together to pause and play the narration or press the PS and R1 buttons to start the narration over from the beginning. If you ever get tired of hearing the narrator or you have enabled it accidentally, you can always toggle it back off from the Screen Reader options menu.

Cars

5 Emergency Tools You Should Always Keep In Your Car

Published

3 hours ago

June 3, 2023

Francisco Peguero

You probably remember at least one time in your childhood when your parents’ car needed a jump from a neighbor using jumper cables. In recent years, however, jump starter batteries that you can keep inside your car have become cheaper and more prevalent, and they’re now a must-have for your vehicle. The upside to having a portable battery you can jump your car with is obvious — you don’t need to rely on another vehicle or willing driver to bring your car back to life. This is especially crucial if you’re in an isolated area or it’s the middle of the night.

Jump starter batteries have a few caveats, as they are more expensive than cables, take up slightly more space, and, most importantly, you need to remember to keep them charged. However, their benefits outweigh these slight inconveniences, and it’s worth buying a good one even if they can get a little pricey.

This jump starter battery from DeWalt retails at $182, but it comes with everything you need. That includes LED lights to see your engine in the dark, an alarm if you’re not connecting to your battery correctly, a power bank to charge your phone, and even an air compressor. Plus, it’s also built to work in cold weather.

Cars

5 Workflow Generative AI Tools That Could Soon Help Make Your Job Easier

Published

6 hours ago

June 3, 2023

Francisco Peguero

While Bing Chat may have gotten a lot of attention, it isn’t the only Microsoft product that has had its functionality enhanced by the addition of AI. Microsoft 365 Copilot integrates AI across the Microsoft 365 suite, allowing it to pull information from multiple sources and significantly improve your productivity.

Copilot can now be used for creative purposes in Word, Powerpoint, Outlook, Teams, and even Viva Engage. It can be used to write, edit and otherwise generate documents, reports, presentations, emails, questions, messages, and more. Furthermore, with its integration into Excel, Copilot can also be used as a powerful data analysis tool, giving you deep insights into your data in response to simply-worded questions, even generating models and visualizations as needed.

These implementations significantly increase the capabilities of each of the Microsoft 365 programs they have been added to. However, what really sets Copilot apart from many other implementations of generative AI is its ability to draw information from across Microsoft 365 and combine it for whatever you may require. This feature is called Business Chat and allows you to pull information from multiple sources, such as your email, calendar, and chats, all at once. You can have it generate updates, overviews, reports, and more so you can stay up to speed while keeping your team similarly informed.