Almost a quarter of Australians – equating to 3 million people - are dissatisfied with their home broadband speed, according to a newly published survey.
And, the survey by comparison website finder.com.au also reveals that 32% of Western Australians (32%) are unhappy with their home internet speed - well above the national average.
In contrast, Tasmanians are the happiest with their broadband speed (51%), followed by 33% of Victorians.
And, while 23% of Aussies are dissatisfied with their home broadband speeds, a similiar amount – or 24% - do say they are “completely satisfied” with their broadband speed.
{loadposition peter}The finder.com,au survey also looked at user experiences with the National Broadband Network, with Aussies aged between 25 and 34 found to be the “most hungry” for the NBN making up 41% of all those checking the status of their address via finder’s NBN tracker.
Aussie men are significantly more NBN-hungry (78% over 22% of women), according to finder, while Young Gen Ys (18-24) have little interest in the NBN, making up 7% of queries – “most likely because they are living at university, still at home or moving too frequently to look into an NBN connection”.
Of all the Australians who checked the NBN status, the survey found that men aged between 25 and 44 accounted for over half (53%) of all queries.
“It makes sense that 25 to 34 olds have the biggest appetite for NBN," says Angus Kidman, editor-in-chief at finder.com.au.
"They’ve grown up with the Internet and understand why it’s important to keep up with changes that impact their connection with the outside world.
"What’s surprising about these figures is that the older generation has little interest in the NBN. They are more likely to be homeowners, and therefore have more control over what they can do within their homes versus young Australians who are probably renting.”
As reported by iTWire, the latest report from the company building the NBN, NBN Co reveals that the National Broadband Network is now available in four million homes, a third of the total to be reached, with chief network engineering officer Peter Ryan describing this as "a significant rollout milestone".
"We now have the flexibility and the right technologies in place to design and build the network at the speed and scale needed to reach our end goal by 2020,” Ryan said.
"With these four million premises our halfway built milestone comes into focus – we are expecting to reach this around the middle of the year."
There’s also an element of “NBN apathy” according to finder which found that:
• 2.4 million Aussies are yet to check if their home is NBN-ready
• Almost one third (31%) of Australians who don’t have NBN aren’t fussed about accessing the network -- that’s equivalent to 5.6 million Aussies
• And 58% of Australians (10.5 million people), have no idea of the repercussions of being in an NBN-ready premises and not activating their connection
On the question of Aussies becoming “more or less interested” in the NBN (Q3 ‘16 vs Q4 ‘16), finder’s survey found that over Q3 and Q4 of 2016, Aussies checking their addresses for the NBN decreased by 8.4%.