iiNet, Internode to compensate nbn customers

iiNet and Internode have been forced to compensate more than 11,000 customers who were misled about the nbn speeds promised in their contracts.

The move comes after an investigation by the ACCC, and follows similar compensation undertakings by Telstra and TPG in November and Optus in December.

iiNet will offer remedies to more than 8000 customers and Internode to more than 3000 others.

Affected customers can choose from options including moving to a lower-tier speed plan with a refund or exiting their plan without cost and receiving a refund.

“iiNet and Internode have admitted that between 2015 and mid-2017, they both likely engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct or made false or misleading representations by promoting and offering nbn plans with maximum speeds that could not be delivered,” said ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court.

iiNet had advertised its highest-speed plan as providing “Up to 100Mbps. This is our fastest option and is sure to impress”.

Internode had advertised its highest-speed plan as “NBN Platinum: up to 100/40 Mbps”.

Customers affected by the claims were those who purchased fibre to the node (FTTN) and fibre to the building (FTTB) nbn plans:

• 7621 (64%) customers on the iiNet 100/40 Mbps FTTN plan could not receive the speeds they purchased.
• Of those 7621 customers, 1925 couldn’t even receive the speeds of the next lower plan, 50/20 Mbps.
• 1720 (34%) customers on the Internode 100/40 Mbps FTTN plan could not receive the speeds they purchased.
• Of those 1720 customers, 479 could not even receive 50/20 Mbps.

“Internet service providers must provide accurate information to customers about the speeds they can access on the nbn,” added Court.

“Many customers could not reach the maximum speeds advertised by iiNet and Internode because their nbn connection was not capable of delivering it. Some customers couldn’t even receive the maximum limit of lower speed plans.”

iiNet and Internode will write to affected customers by email or post by 27 April 2018, to advise them of the maximum speed their connection can receive (which is only known once a connection is made to the network), and offer compensation options.

“iiNet and Internode customers should carefully review any email or letter from their provider and choose a remedy as quickly as possible,” said Court.

“The options available to each customer depends on their plan, but many can move to a lower-speed plan and receive a refund or exit their plan without cost.”

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