NBN may not reach 100Mbps

A recent report has suggested that following trials of National Broadband Network fibre connections, the speed of the service may not reach its target 100Mbps.

According to a recent report, early trials of National Broadband Network fibre connections conducted through a number of Internet Service Providers has suggested that the speed of the service may end up failing to reach its target of 100Mbps. It is claimed that speeds have topped out at five percent slower than the target, coming in at 95Mbps during the trials.

Exetel chief executive John Linton posted on his blog recently after his company became one of the first to go through the NBN process to start delivering services via the network. He said that the first batch of customers had been connected up to the NBN and were now able to use their connections for internet access.

He said: “A surprisingly large percentage of the trial orders are for 100Mbps/40Mbps services, and of those we have contacted/have contacted us, the service is delivering around 95Mbps down and 32Mbps up, with a 10ms ping time. As the NBN Co network would currently be as under-utilised as it’s ever going to be those results seem likely to be the maximum achievable in the near term.”

An NBN official said: “Most speed tests operate at the Layer 3 (Internet Protocol) level and the extra packet overhead will typically result in lower measurement speeds (depending on the type of traffic). We point out that the speeds actually experienced by end-users will depend on a number of factors including, in part, protocol factors, the retail broadband plan they choose, their ISP’s network capacity, the number of simultaneous users on the service, the server’s equipment and configuration, their equipment and their in-premises connection.”

Source – Delimiter