Telstra's ADSL2 "the best in Australia" - UPDATED

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 18 June 2008 08:42

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Telstra's ADSL2 "the best in Australia"
Detailed testing and analysis of the performance of different ISPs' broadband services carried out be Epitiro and IDC has shown Telstra's ADSL2+ service to be the best in Australia, according to IDC. THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED, THE NEW VERSION IS ON THE PREVIOUS PAGE

The test programme undertaken by UK based Internet performance monitoring specialist Epitiro and IDC mirrors one in New Zealand, the first results from which have just been released. However the project there was commissioned by the country's trade watchdog, the Commerce Commission, so the full results are freely available. That may not be the case in Australia.

David Cannon, IDC Australia's programme manager for telecommunications, told iTWire that IDC and Epitiro were in discussions with both the ACCC and The Australian Communications and Media Authority for a similar relationship, but if that did not eventuate, there were other possible business models.

Regardless, he said the first quarter's testing had been completed, the results being analysed and a report being prepared. "We will be putting out a press release in about a months' time, but I can tell you this now: Telstra's ADSL2 is the best broadband service in Australia."

Epitiro measures the performance of target ISPs every fifteen minutes on a 24/7 basis  on eight key performance parameters which impact the end user's broadband experience. They include latency, available speed, packet loss etc.

Telstra's New Zealand subsidiary, TelstraClear also emerged as a star performer in New Zealand, but only where it operates is own cable network.

Cannon said that, if neither the ACCC nor the ACMA would fund the research, ISPs would pay for it and would also be open to having Epitiro's software installed on customers' computers to enable them to gather detailed data on the performance of individual services. He added that there was also a market overseas from organisations such as the OECD.