iiNet To Refund Consumers For Misleading NBN Speeds

Internet providers iiNet and Internode will have to refund more than 11,000 of its customers after making misleading claims on its NBN speeds.

The ACCC has found more than 8,000 iiNet customers and 3,000 Internode customers could not reach internet speeds that were promised in their NBN contracts.

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.

Sarah Court, ACCC commissioner says, “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.”

iiNet advertised its highest-speed plan as “Up to 100Mbps. This is our fastest option and is sure to impress”, while Internode advertised its highest speed plan as “NBN Platinum: up to 100/40 Mbps”.

Court says, “Internet service providers must provide accurate information to customers about the speeds they can access on the NBN. 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 contact affected customers by email or letter by 27 April 2018, tell them the maximum speed their connection can receive (which is only known once a customer is connected to the network), and explain their compensation options.

The ACCC has now received five court-enforceable undertakings from internet service providers in relation to NBN speed claims.

This is not the first time iiNet has been in the ACCC firing line, in 2015 the internet provider was fined $204,000 for its Naked Broadband 250GB Plan advertisements that “contravened the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) by failing to prominently state the total minimum price of the service”.