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The ACCC is urging NBN customers with slow connection speeds to contact their provider as they may be eligible for a refund.
Over the last 15 months Telstra, Optus, TPG, iiNet, Internode, Dodo, iPrimus and Commander have each admitted that they likely made false or misleading representations about the connection speeds NBN customers could experience.
According to the ACCC these providers advertised and sold NBN plans with maximum theoretical speeds when, due to the limitations of NBN technology, many consumers could never experience these speeds.
The consumer watchdog has accepted undertakings from each of these eight RSPs that they would contact more than 142,000 affected consumers to offer them a range of options, such as moving to a lower speed plan of their choice, or exiting their contract and receiving a refund.
ACCC acting chair Mik Keogh says there are hundreds of dollars up for grabs still.
"A large proportion, two in three affected consumers, have not responded to the letter or email from their RSP," says Keogh.
"They may be eligible for refunds, some in the hundreds of dollars."
"The ACCC is urging NBN customers to contact their NBN retailer if they have received a letter or email offer of a remedy or think they might be entitled to a remedy."
These refunds are not just for old customers those who have recently signed up to a new NBN plan may also be eligible for a refund where the provider advertises maximum connection speeds. Within four weeks, providers must check their speeds and if the speeds are below that advertised for the plan the consumer chose, the provider must offer remedy options.
"Our message to providers is that if you advertise a particular connection speed and customers cannot experience that speed, you risk breaching Australian Consumer Law," says Keogh.
"We expect providers to provide consumers with accurate information up front about the internet speeds they can expect to experience, and then deliver on those promises."
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