Hi all - TPG have just dropped this on me and it doesn’t feel right that they can do this. I’m assuming that there’s something in the small print, but I wondered what my options are other than moving provider - which I guess is what I’m going to have to do.
Thanks
2 Likes
Welcome to the forum Steve.
Could you tell us more about your problem? We don’t know what has been dropped on you or what it might mean.
1 Like
Hi - they have dropped it on me that my NBN service speed is going to be reduced from 100 download and 40 upload, to 100 download and 20 upload for the same price. Essentially, half the service on upload (which by the way I had to increase to this premium service because the lower uploads were never being achieved) for the same price
Steve
2 Likes
Can they do this? AFAIK yes. If they didn’t tell you and you were not getting the performance that you paid for there is a problem, several RSPs have been castigated for that. Think of it as a price rise similar to charging the same for a lesser amount of breakfast cereal: annoying but unless it involves direct deception not illegal.
By the by, what do you do that requires such high speed uploads? How would your use be affected by the drop?
2 Likes
Thanks for the reply - I’m working from home and with a couple of kids in the house too, the upload bandwidth for zoom calls wasn’t cutting it when also other houses in the area doing the same. Even with only me in the house, the total broadband upload speed was too slow because of other houses in the area so I was forced to pay for more. TPG were just too difficult to fight against and they go out of their way to try and blame it on you, I just lost the will to fight and paid the money…
2 Likes
Have you run a speed check to see what you are actually getting in comparison to the advertised rate?
Has the speed change taken effect yet? If so do you have a comparison speed test?
2 Likes
Yes, I was sending them speed tests every hour for about a month at one point, getting 1.5mbs to 5mpbs upload on average during the day despite paying for 40mbs - but I just lost the will to live on the fight, all they try and do is make you do more tests, tell you they’ve fixed something, no difference felt, queue on the phone for ages, repeat the whole process again and again - I just gave up the fight now the kids are back in school and the performance of the network for everyone is better due to NBN having fewer people using it on the street. They design the whole support process to make it a) your problem to solve/prove and b) very hard to contact them and c) incredibly time consuming
2 Likes
That is another issue entirely. If you actually got (say) 17mbps upload on a 20 plan you would be laughing. I would be pursuing not getting anything like your plan’s speed rather than the change in nominal plan.
2 Likes
TPG no longer have 100/40 plans, they are a legacy product. All renewals of or new 100 Mbps plans are the 100/20 ones. So if you renew a contract it will be the 100/20 one, not saying that you renewed in this case.
Have you made a complaint to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman?
https://www.tio.com.au/complaints
You could try other providers eg Optus, Telstra, Aussie Broadband (ABB) and similar to see what they can offer. You don’t have to remain with any particular RSP (Retail Service Provider) but there may be a penalty if you have a current contract with them.
2 Likes
Would my guess be correct you are on HFC? If so no matter which RSP you sign on to the limiting factor is the HFC bandwidth on your service trunk, that is shared with every residence connected to it.
You have indicated it gets better when people are not all at home using zoom or whatever. Your particular problem could be unrelated to TPG service, only to TPG plans and pricing, and whomever you go with may be better, or no better at all, without knowing for certain the underlying cause.
It could be the NBN service to your premises, the TPG servers, your modem/router (unlikely), and sometimes the ‘magic of technology’ such that any individual consumer can figure it out.
If your speed tests were not done so, a good history is to make a speedtest.net account and always log on prior to running tests. It will present a historical database to use as supporting evidence.
A perusal of a few RSP web sites shows that once upon a time not long ago plans were called names like 100/40 referencing their claimed speeds, but now are just 100 or ‘Family NBN’ etc. Seems a shonky way of obfuscating how good the NBN system really is(n’t) and directing attention away from what it might be really bad at, eg delivering real broadband.
4 Likes
There are many reasons why video call might not be of good quality, upload line speed is just one. Zoom recommends a minimum of 3mbs for a good quality call.
We use Zoom, Skype, Whatsapp, Line, Facetime and WeChat (depending on the person we talk to - we do wish everyone used the same one) and find none of these platform have a good video/audio quality all the time (we have a 50/20 FTTP NBN plan where it constantly meters at 53/18 - even when we had 270/23 for six months, there was no difference in call quality with the higher speeds). We use camera on a PC (wired), smart phones (WIFI) and tablet (WIFI) to make the calls and the hardware at our end don’t seem have an impact on call quality. If other processes are running in the background, this can impact on the ability for the device to process and send the video and audio (we always shutdown all apps when making calls to remove this potential source of quality being impacted).
No matter the app, sometimes the quality is reasonable, other times it is not overly good (audio mismatches video, audio dropouts, echos, pixelated video etc). When it is poor, we often hang up and recall to see if we can get a better connection. Often it works, with the quality issues disappearing on the recall. Sometimes, it doesn’t improve.
We have put down the quality to everything from our camera/microphone to the other camera/microphone at the other end. There are a lot of things which can affect the quality in between and the NBN connection between the exchange and home is only one part of the jigsaw.
Choice has also covered some of the popular video call apps in the past as well:
and the rated quality possibly is under ideal situations.
3 Likes
Thanks to all. Yep, I get the shared nature of NBN and how it is affected when everyone is on at the same time - either in my home or in the local area. I’m just wondering how they can get away with reducing the service for the same money. Upload is more important to me than download (once it gets above 40mb download having 100mb really doesn’t make much difference for me.) Sounds like the only option is the ombudsman, but I don’t have the energy.
3 Likes
Looking at the TPG website, they no longer have 100/40 or 100/20 plans per se. All plans are based on download speeds. Critical information also states…
Our NBN100 plan is configured on the NBN 100/20 wholesale tier which provides off peak upload speeds between 1Mbps and 20Mbps. By invitation only, some existing customers may be eligible to configure their NBN100 plan on the NBN 100/40 wholesale tier which provides off peak upload speeds between 1Mbps and 40Mbps by paying an additional $10 per month plan fee (this is only offered on a Month to Month basis) - the applicable monthly charge for this plan is $99.99.
It looks like the plan is 100/1-20 or 100/1-40.
Going to the Ombudsman might not prove fruitful as they will say they have met their advertised speeds. The only option of claim may be the package change. Outcomes on this might be dependent on T&Cs of your original plan about TPG changing plans under a period contract…or if you are on month by month. Month by month might be harder to argue.
2 Likes
Others have asked, but you haven’t answered that I can see in this thread.
How is your service provided?
Is it HFC, FTTN, FTTC, or even FTTP.
Unless it is the very last of those I can’t see how you are going to get 40mbps upload.
And then it would seem to require a business plan, not a residential plan.
3 Likes
Available on residential plans if we refer to Canstar.
At a premium price for 250/25 Mbps or up to 50 Mbps upload on select 500 and 1000 Mbps plans. It’s also subject to the technology used for the connected anBN service. Note the NBN Co is determines the speeds for each tier. The RSP has little control over the base service speed on offer.
Consider:
The average and majority of home users only use small volumes of upload. Hence the NBN Co in it’s infinite wisdom provisions limited upload capacity to meet the low use of the average customer. One source suggested a provisioning ratio of 10:1 or greater in favour of downloads. I could not find any NBN Co assurance of minimum upload speeds. It must be there in the fine print somewhere?
Could the NBN Co offer faster upload speeds?
As others have previously indicated the technology chosen for the NBN restricts capacity for all except for those on full fibre services.
Why does the NBN Co not offer RSPs the option of speed tiers with faster and more reliable upload speeds?
It may be about more than just the convenience of offering demand or capacity in response.
2 Likes
They do offer different tiers including faster upload ones. Most offers are on superior speed technology ie FTTP, HFC and just possibly FTTC not inferior Fixed Wireless, FTTN, Satellite which the majority are on. This is largely the crux of the matter in that a majority are on tech that will not easily or at all support robust upload speeds and so a very high premium applies to getting the speed tiers on the tech that will support them as there are not the numbers to make it economical to offer these packages. Businesses particularly very large concerns can often afford the premiums and so you see most of the packages only made available to Business. Hence at our home we have the 1000/50 package not the 1000/400 one we could get at an exorbitant amount each month or the sometimes offered 1000/1000 one which price makes the eyes shed tears of blood.
An example of a business higher speed one
4 Likes
