Consumer group calls for better deal between NBN and telco companies

As the rollout of the National Broadband Network continues across the country, a consumer group calls for a better deal between NBN and telecommunications companies.

Contractors working with the rollout of the NBN network are seen in Sydney on July 10. Source: AAP

It has been revealed households are experiencing slower peak internet speeds because of a fee dispute between the NBN and retailers.

Tom Godfrey from consumer group Choice says there is a lot of customer dissatisfaction.

"The NBN was sold as the cure-all for our internet problems, but our own research has found 60 per cent of people on the NBN over the past six months had issues. Topping the list, we're talking about speed issues, disconnections, dropouts."

The $49 billion construction bill for the project is being linked to service complaints.

The NBN company has been forced to charge retailers such as Telstra and Optus higher bandwidth fees to recover the cost of the rollout.

As a result, telcos are only buying the minimum amount, leading to slow net speeds at peak times.

NBN effectively sells bandwidth wholesale to the network.

Executive manager Tony Brown says it is reducing charges to retail service providers.

"Bandwidth, or CVC, is plentiful outside of peak times, so people in the morning can get very high speeds,” he said.

"But what they're finding is, at peak time, when everybody's on the network, those speeds can go down. And people get frustrated with that."

To ease that frustration, Brown says internet users need the right plans from their providers.

"If you're an end user who wants high speeds, who wants a faster speed - 50 megs or 100 megabits per second - you must ask your RSP for that speed, and they will, if the network can provide it, they will deliver it."

Some customers have complained on social media of getting just one-hundredth of what they paid for.

Tom Godfrey, also from Choice, says the merits of the NBN are still to be judged.

"At this stage, I think the NBN is throwing up a lot of questions, and that's why we need to survey, we need to survey in real time, to find out whether or not the stated speeds you're getting in all the marketing material are actually being delivered."

For its part, the NBN says it is confident it can provide enough bandwidth on the network to enable the controversial project to live up to its hype.