Comment on Optus is refunding NBN customers for promised speeds they can't possibly get

Optus will refund customers over NBN connections that can't deliver the speeds promised in the packages. Australia's second biggest telco is acting more than three months after Telstra announced it would refund 8000 NBN customers for the same reason. Optus is now investigating how many people would be eligible for compensation, which involves the Turnbull government's controversial choice to use fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) as the primary technology for NBN services. The company says it is a problem faced by all retailers. "Optus is undertaking a similar process [to Telstra] in respect of those customers where it has been confirmed that the underlying NBN service cannot deliver the speed they signed up for," an Optus spokesperson said. "This is an underlying NBN copper access issue specifically for fibre-to-the-node and fibre-to-the-basement services and affects all RSPs [retail service providers]." Telstra had just under 800,000 NBN customers at the end of last year, with its refund announcement in May covering 1% oversold on speed promises. Telstra said in May that it would monitor new customers with speed boost packages for their first month to ensure they were getting what they paid for – and would refund those who physically can't receive promised speeds.