nbn Co. Are a Horrible Company to Deal with

pookie on 08/01/2021 - 16:51
Last edited 08/01/2021 - 17:40 by 1 other user

My personal experience lately with NBN Co. are that they are a hopeless bunch of arrogant disrespectful ignorant careless and rude a^holes!!

After months of an obvious proven and repeated fault , and a no-show technician, they refuse to even rebook an appt because they believe there is no fault.

My provider (Superloop) have been excellent, no issue with them, however, NBN Co are the worst company ever, even worse than Telstra.

I have done dozens of tests and sent those results over and over, but NBN Co. are turning a blind eye to the problem, perhaps they simply don't know how to fix it. If so, at least admit it.

Download speed 250Mbps no prob. But upload should be 25Mbps, it is only 0.6-1.1 Mbps for the past 2 months.

Anyway, I lodged a complaint with Telecommunications Ombudsman thinking they might do something. I first tried to contact NBN but they don't speak to consumers :/ pretty blunt reply.

So here is the reply I got from the TIO:

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has received your complaint.

The role of the TIO
The TIO is a dispute resolution service for small business and residential consumers with complaints about telecommunications services supplied or offered in Australia.

We handle complaints where the consumer is an end-user of the telecommunications service or is directly affected by the telecommunications service.

We handle complaints that remain unresolved after they have been made to providers that are members of the TIO scheme.

The types of complaints we handle include complaints about supply of services, faults with services, billing and debt recovery, and breach of privacy.

There are some types of complaints that the TIO does not handle, and some circumstances when the TIO can decide not to continue handling a complaint.

More information needed

The TIO needs more information from you to help us decide if we can continue handling your complaint.

The information we need is:

 Please note, we do not lodge complaints against NBNco as they are a wholesaler not a service provider. To move forward with your complaint, do you consent for this to be logged against Superloop?

Please provide this information within the next week (5 business days), by either completing an online form, emailing [email protected], or calling 1800 062 058.

If you do not contact us again, we will take no further action.

More information about the TIO
For general information about the TIO, see our website: www.tio.com.au

For how we collect, handle and protect personal information about account holders and their representatives, see our privacy policy: www.tio.com.au/privacy

You can contact us if you have questions about the information in this letter.

Yours sincerely

Bella

Early Resolution Officer

Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman
Contact via 1800 062 058 or [email protected]

They want me to make the complaint against Superloop, which I will not do because it is not their problem. They have been really good with customer service.

So it appears there is no accountability for the pathetic actions/omissions from NBN Co.

Now what ?

PJ

Internet

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Comments

  • whooah1979 on 08/01/2021 - 16:55
    -1

    Download speed 250Mbps no prob. But upload should be 25Mbps, it is only 0.6-1.1 Mbps for the past 2 months.

    This doesn't make any sense. It sounds like the RSP is throttling the upload speed.

    • pookie on 08/01/2021 - 16:59

      Not sure what you mean ?

      I am paying for the following plan 250/25, and only have been getting 250/0.6 to 250/1.1 Mbps

      The upload fluxuates between 0.6Mbps to 1.1Mbps

      So clearly the upload speed is a problem.

  • orangetrain on 08/01/2021 - 17:00
    +8

    NBN Co are now run by former Telstra executives installed by LNP. The LNP are waiting to sell it off.

    • pookie on 08/01/2021 - 17:02

      So is there any way to get my complaint taken seriously and my fault fixed?

      It is very difficult to live-stream while working from home when the upload speed is 1.1Mbps at max :(

      • orangetrain on 08/01/2021 - 17:04
        +9

        Yes, file complaint with superloop. They are meant to deal with providing your service.

        • pookie on 08/01/2021 - 17:06
          +1

          I have already complained to Superloop many weeks ago, they have been trying to sort it out for me by liaising with NBN Co. But even Superloop describe their conversations with NBN Co as "Heated".

          I don't feel good about sending the TIO after Superloop since they have been really pro-active and helpful.

          • orangetrain on 08/01/2021 - 17:09

            @pookie: Ask Superloop if filing a TIO will help get ball rolling? Talk to Superloop what your options are?

            Who knows, maybe Superloop don't want to deal with NBN at the moment.

        • pinnacle on 09/01/2021 - 10:00

          You pay for the services to Superloop and they are the one to sort out the poor upload speed (irrespective of who is finally having control over the infrastructure). There are multiple MVNO's using Optus, Telstra, or Vodafone Network. But you always make the complaint to your provider not to Optus, Telstra or Vodafone etc

  • AustriaBargain on 08/01/2021 - 17:06

    I have gigabit with Aussie and I get gigabit speeds. Sometimes more than gigabit for some reason. The upload speed is a hard limit, it never goes faster than the stated speed unlike download speed. But it is the true upload speed we're paying for.

    • Clear on 08/01/2021 - 18:35

      They're slightly over provisioned. My ABB gigabit connection is the same.

  • juzza87 on 08/01/2021 - 17:07
    +9

    You don't deal with the NBN Co. at all, it needs to be your ISP to deal with them. Your ISP is the one selling you the guaranteed minimum speed not the NBN Co.

  • pookie on 08/01/2021 - 17:07

    I was originally with Telstra when the fault started. An NBN Co technician whom visited here in the very early stages told me it was Telstras problem, so after many weeks of Telstras awful customer service, I changed to Superloop.

  • BOGOF on 08/01/2021 - 17:09
    +7

    They want me to make the complaint against Superloop, which I will not do because it is not their problem

    As far as your contract with Superloop is concerned, it is their problem. I understand you have have received good customer service and even empathy/sympathy, however your contract is not with NBN but is with Superloop, and if Superloop are unwilling or unable to make NBN fix the issue, your only option is to raise a case with the TIO against Superloop, which is how the Government have designed and engineered this situation.

    Oh, and good luck with that!

    • pookie on 08/01/2021 - 17:13

      Ok, I get your point. I do feel empathy/sympathy for Superloop. The staff are great, they follow-up, call me back, give me updates, don't keep me on hold for 7 hours without even coming back to me on hold etc…. complete opposite to Telstra LOL.

      But, yes. At the end of the day it comes down to contractual obligations.

      • AlanJ on 09/01/2021 - 10:37

        "The staff are great, they follow-up, call me back, give me updates, don't keep me on hold…" In this case, they are clearly on your side, whereas the TIO has already told you that it is not interested in your complaint about NBN.Co, no matter how justified this may be. I think, therefore, that your path is clear. Keep Superloop on side, but keep politely pressing them to follow the matter through for you. Their approaches so far, to NBN.Co (they say) have been "heated"… well, that's what you pay them for. Just keep your own discussions with Superloop friendly and "non-heated", so that they keep seeing the company, and not you, as the problem. Good luck!

  • pookie on 08/01/2021 - 17:10

    It's all so damn frustrating, all over Christmas and new Year I was unable to have a decent live video chat with my mum of whom lives too far away and is a Covid risk. Arghhh….and uploading files is so slow…it should just be fixed. I beleive it is the NTD Box on my wall here needs replacing or something. It most certainly is NOT any of my equipment. Isolation testing has ruled that out.

    • Twix on 08/01/2021 - 18:23
      +2

      We need more details about your setup. HFC or FTTP? Did you get 1Mbps upload plugged straight to the NTD bypassing the router?

  • ShortyX on 08/01/2021 - 18:20
    +2

    Do you have FTTP? If so, you could add another link with a different supplier and see if the issue lies with that connection as well.

    • Clear on 08/01/2021 - 18:37
      +1

      That's a good idea +1

      To reinforce what Twix said above before even trying that OP, connect a computer directly to the NTD UNI-D port that's going to the router if it's FTTP and see if you get the same upload speed.

  • xuqi on 08/01/2021 - 18:48

    "nbn Co. Are a Horrible Company to Deal with"

    You've never dealt directly with NBN co….. Your service provider has and as others have pointed out, is the person you need to report to the TIO.

    That, or find the email address of the CEO…….

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/595670

    • twadds on 08/01/2021 - 19:04

      An NBN technician came to his house, most people would consider that dealing directly with NBN co.

    • zuruhara on 08/01/2021 - 20:59

      NBN co installed my HCF socket. ALthough they kept cancelling the appointment (3 times)

  • brendanm on 08/01/2021 - 19:35

    I have filed a complaint against nbnco, but it was about 3 years ago. Ended up with an actual phone number of an actual person, and had everything sorted out.

  • Platinumtelecom on 08/01/2021 - 22:19
    +1

    Did you test with your computer connected directly to the NTD? You may need your pppoe credentials to test.
    This will rule out any potential hardware issues

    • Twix on 09/01/2021 - 10:05
      +1

      Superloop = IPoE.

  • axlfan on 08/01/2021 - 22:27
    +3

    NBN is an unmitigated disaster all the way through.

  • This Guy on 08/01/2021 - 22:38
    +1

    You said you pay Superloop for a service.

    You said Superloop is not providing you with the agreed service.

    What has this got to do with NBNCo?

    Superloop rents connections and bandwidth from them (and possibly others).

    It sounds like Superloop has horrible customer service and is blaming NBN instead of taking responsibility for not provisioning the service you are paying for.

    Call back Superloop. Be clear about your issue ("I am not getting the advertised upload speeds").

    When ever they say "NBNCo", cut them off and say, "I am your customer, not NBNCo. I have no relationship with NBNCo."

    When they talk over you out of frustration because they are reading a too cleaver script, talk back over them and ask, "Do I need to make a claim with the TIO or will you honor your advertised speeds".

    DO NOT YELL. DO NOT SWEAR. The person you are talking to is just an employee, doing their (shitty) job. They have no control over your situation, people you will never meet are causing your issues.

    If they are not responsive or keep blaming NBNCo, advise them you are ending this call and will follow up with the TIO in 28 days if this problem is not solved ("I will be ending this call now as it seems to be going nowhere. If this issue is not fixed in 28 days I will escalate it to the TIO").

    Good customer service is, "I am sorry to hear that you have this problem. Lets work together now to try to solve it." The out come is either they fixed the problem or are sending someone out to solve it. Blaming a business partner is lazy and will resolve nothing.

    • st1ng on 08/01/2021 - 22:55
      -2

      It's definitely not a Superloop problem. ISPs buy symmetrical links between the POI and their data centres, and I'm yet to see any POI where the upload bandwidth is even close with the download bw.

      For the OP, your only option is to lodge the TIO complaint against Superloop as they are your ISP.

      • This Guy on 08/01/2021 - 23:02
        +2

        It is 100% Superloop's problem as they are the service provider.

        Superloop's contract with NBNCo has nothing to do with the client.

        If I pay you to mow my lawn, you take my money then don't mow my lawn because your Victa lawn mower failed I don't whinge about Victa. It was your choice to use them and it is your problem if their tools fail. It is your problem to rectify.

        Stop looking at this problem as a tech head but as a client. If you look at stuff like this as a tech head your problems will never be solved unless you spend more money.

        • st1ng on 09/01/2021 - 13:39

          It is 100% Superloop's problem as they are the service provider.

          Hence why I said "lodge the TIO complaint against Superloop as they are your ISP"

          It is 100% Superloop's problem as they are the service provider.

          The point I was trying to make is the cause of the problem is very unlikely to be within Superloop's network.

          • This Guy on 09/01/2021 - 18:11
            +1

            @st1ng: All good. I understood what you were saying. But starting with:

            It's definitely not a Superloop problem

            undermined both of our advice to complain about Superloop to the TIO. Hence the rebuttable.

  • Sweet3st on 08/01/2021 - 23:20

    I had ongoing issues for about 6 months after Telstra switched me from cable to NBN. Neither wanted to send a technician and each would blame the other. Finally I paid a private technician to come. Wasn’t too expensive, the guy was very thorough and located and fixed the problem. Just a thought as in the end it saves some grief. Then I switched to TPG FTTB and gave them both the finger.

  • omnimaqq on 09/01/2021 - 07:39

    Not sure if 5G is available in your area but I'd definitely check that out. Just signed up to 5G and getting 500mb+ download (averaging 250mb+) and always 30mb+ upload. I'm with Spintel

    • pjcook on 09/01/2021 - 11:21

      Until such time and everyman and his dog is using 5G in your area then it will fall through the floor….

      • omnimaqq on 10/01/2021 - 07:27

        Well I better enjoy it until that day comes 😂

  • OzHunterNSW on 09/01/2021 - 10:18

    Imagine working in this company when you know each time you pick up the phone, it is a complaint of some sort or other.

  • pjcook on 09/01/2021 - 11:30

    Here are some simple fact about the NBN Broadband setup….

    You sign up with a Service Provider and your contract is with them.

    Your service provider is buying bandwidth from NBNco and they have a contractual agreement with each other

    If your problem is within the infrastructure owned and managed by your Service provider the issue will usually be sorted out fairly quickly….

    If, however the problem is with the NBNco Infrastructure (as it seems to be in your case) that is when things get difficult. NBNco have rudimentary technical knowledge at the support level and rarely are they able to find a fault in their infrastructure so there SoP is to hand the issue back to the Service Provider and no problem found….. I have experienced this numerous times with my customers and have had direct experience of the NBN Technician (I use that word advisedly) telling me the problem was with the modem when I had tried 3 different Modems and the Diagnostics he was looking at clearly showed a physical connection to their infrastructure….

    You are now in no mans land and the TIO actually has no legislated power to deal with NBNco and has to deal with the Service provider, in your case Spintel.

    Sorry I cannot help you at all as I run up against this brick wall of NBNco regularly. Changing Service Providers rarely sorts out the problem as you are still connected to the same NBN infrastructure.

  • srhardy on 09/01/2021 - 13:04

    This is why I went for Optus 5G and cut the cord for ever.

    The WORST of telstra under the government was spun off into the NBN once the mandate for FTTH was removed from its mandate. Its unfixable

    • srhardy on 09/01/2021 - 13:16

      Having said that, all the speeds are coded into the line. So this is a coding error somewhere as upload should be coded to 25mbs and OBVIOUSLY its not. It maybe the BOX interconnected point has it hard or cross wired (even on fiber this happens at junction boxes) as installers are of variable quality at best! It would also explain when it continued when you moved providers from telstra to superloop! A wrong code or more likely a network miss plugged, hard wired connection at a intern-connect/junction area will do this and the prick of a thing to sort!

      NBN need to have a senior, experienced person assigned to fix this (not the normal monkeys on call out repair)

      When I went on the nbn my phone was getting someone elses calls (completly different number but they were coming through to mine), this is a pain to fix and it was the start of a stormy relationship with nbn services. Multiple moves and changed providers, I just decided to live with 5G and its been much better.

      Optus are working hard to getting it upgraded and yes, Ive had my NOKIA5G replaced once already! But hey they are in control and do act and work on improving and replacing faulty equipment. Also scored some sweet bonus data on my mobile that seems permanent! Your lucky to get an NBN guy to work in the rain, or not run away because the one fix they are authorised to try didnt make any difference and you have to relog it again and again!

  • MontyMacaw on 09/01/2021 - 13:37

    You are supplied by a retailer. Therefore you have to deal with them. The end result will be that they offer to end their service if you are not satisfied with their efforts and find another supplier - in other words you’re screwed. I’ve had similar issues with this sort of thing. NBN sent out a guy that clearly was not fully trained who disconnected extension outlets in the house and left. Nothing changed. They then said that a tech had been out and they were satisfied it was ok. He didn’t even test the line! In the end I got the better of them by videoing the Ookla speed app showing the intermittent issues and they assigned a new ISP number (I think that was it at least) and things improved. Not great of course but better. Of course it was an FTTP connection - Thanks Malcolm Turnbull, you’re a peach.

  • pookie on 10/01/2021 - 09:39
    +1

    Update (copied from my chronological notes):

    09/01/21:
    NbN Tech arrived. Very polite 2 guys. They did an immediate speedtest on my PC and immediately acknowledged terrible UPLOAD speed. They took a look at the NTD box on my wall, then said they need to go outside to somewhere and will either call me if it’s fixed so I can check, or they will be back.
    10minutes later they called for me to check. I did speedtest and saw a better UPLOAD speed (10-11 Mbps) (see results sheet)
    The tech said something about the NBN software was ‘stuck’ and was not allowing a refresh, so they had to do whatever to ‘unstick’ it. All is better now and will slowly improve as the day goes on.
    ** I am wondering why the very first NBN Tech that attended my premises didn’t bother to run a speedtest to check the results before leaving. Would have saved ALL these problems for me!!

    So, todays speedtest shows Upload as 12.57Mbps. Still not the 25Mbps I should be getting but I will wait a few days and see how it is. No doubt Superloop will call me for an update in the next couple of days. The 2 guys that visited yesterday were actually interested in making sure that I could see proof of an improvement before they took off back to NBN_land. So much for NBN Co. infacticably denying any fault existed on their part. Too easy to blame the ISP.

    Anyway, quite an experience :/

    PJ

    • Ramrunner on 10/01/2021 - 12:44

      I'm on Fixed Wireless. I was initially getting very close to 50/20 (maximum available).

      After every man and his dog jumped on my tower it dropped as low as 4Mbps download, and a myriad of upgrades to the tower ensued over the course of 12 months.

      Then NBN moved the goal posts and changed the plans to 70/10.

      My download speed is now consistently 50-64Mbps.

      Upload never goes above 5 in fact usually about 3.5.

      I have complained a few times about this, without result, but I kind of consider myself lucky as others around me aren't getting anywhere near 50 off that same tower so I don't feel like pushing any further in case they move me to another cell or something and it actually gets worse.

      It's very usable but of course not ideal for my security cameras/ring doorbell/backups/uploads.

      Fibre really is the only way Australia should have gone to ensure futureproofing, but with Turnbull at the helm at the time telling us no-one needs more then 25 that was never going to happen.

    • Twix on 10/01/2021 - 16:17
      -1

      Use the Speedtest by Ookla program for testing. Don't use your browser.

      Router QoS = on or off?

      • Twix on 11/01/2021 - 16:13

        Attention neg voter. When on 250-1000Mbps the Speedtest by Ookla desktop program is more accurate than a browser based speedtest.

        If I had a dollar for every time someone had left old QoS settings enabled when changing to 250-1000Mbps I would be rich ;-)

      • Ramrunner on 12/01/2021 - 09:11

        I don't think QoS can be turned off on my AVM 7390

        I just added my computer to the real time applications with all traffic and ran the speedtest app (I always use the app by the way) this morning for testing and it went to 6.1Mbps.

        I'll see how it affects other things in the house but a gain is a gain, as long as it doesn't start killing all other outbound stuff I guess.

        Thanks.

    • MontyMacaw on 10/01/2021 - 16:46

      Classic case of NBN having a tech come once and assume they did everything. Their techs are not all quality but more quantity. The box you have is supposed to update the firmware regularly. My advice to everyone with one is to do a reset with the reset button as a matter of course if you have any problems. This usually allows the firmware update if it hasn’t been done.

      Now of course because you have an improvement you will settle for whatever you get - which is how they work.

      • pookie on 11/01/2021 - 20:31
        +1

        yep. That's what they are hoping, but i not go away until i get my 25Mbps Upload, or closer to it anyway :)

  • Womblek on 11/01/2022 - 17:06

    I have similar issues with my NBN now. Download OK, upload sub 0.5 MBPS, making any Zoom/Teams call impossible. I have called the provider 50+ times over the last 4 months and had 4 different NBN technicians out. I lodged the complaint with the TIO and in theory the provider has until the 18th January to fix it. NBN have committed to the provider that they will fix it by the 25th January - this is almost 90 days from the first NBN technician visit. I do not trust it will be fixed by the committed date, but it seems the provider does attach the TIO complaint to NBN so should help. If you find any other solutions let us know!

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