For quite a few years, the ACCC has run the Measuring Broadband Australia program which Choice has utilised together with WhistleOut.
This program relied on volunteers having a box (Whitebox from Sam Knows) in their home to continuously monitor internet stability, speed and availability.
The Australian Government announced in March 2025 that it would end its funding commitment for the Measuring Broadband Australia program in June 2026 - now. Today I received an email to say the Measuring Broadband Australia program will conclude on June 30, 2026.
Does anyone, including CHOICE, know if there is anything that will replace that program, and if not, how will ISPs be monitored after 30 June 2026?
You may be able to continue to use https://realspeed.com/ if the Whitebox does not need to be returned. These routers are supported by Cisco, so other Cisco routers maybe be able to be used.
What other monitoring will be conducted? None that I am aware of. Though speedtest by Ookla continues to measure speeds and provides ratings on performance.
realspeed and Ookla don’t appear to offer continuous 24x7 monitoring. Another benefit was you could see the incoming internet availability and speed as well as the speed at the unit the test was being run from.
The email from SamKnows stated:
What to expect after June 30, 2026:
Service Termination: Your Whitebox will be disabled, and your SamKnows One account will be closed.
Data Collection: All data collection from your Whitebox will cease immediately.
Data Privacy: Your measurement and registration data will be deleted in accordance with our retention obligations under our end-user licence agreement.
Hardware Disposal: You may unplug your Whitebox and we encourage you to dispose of it in an environmentally responsible manner. Free e-waste recycling services can be found at your Local Council & Resource Recovery Centre or your nearest Officeworks, JB Hi-Fi or Harvey Norman store.
