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The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman receives many complaints from consumers about the speed of internet services delivered over the National Broadband Network (NBN).

If you have a complaint about your NBN speed you may be entitled to a remedy under recent legal agreement (undertaking) made by your provider.

This page offers guidance on how we take into account the undertakings given to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) about advertising relating to the speed of NBN services.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is pleased to see the Government’s Response and Implementation Roadmap for the Digital Platforms Inquiry, published today (Thursday 12 December 2019) has accepted its recommendation on running a pilot external dispute resolution mechanism for consumers, businesses and digital platforms.

Residential consumers, small businesses and telecommunications providers will benefit from changes to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s Terms of Reference, introduced Wednesday 25 October, 2017.

The updated Terms of Reference strengthen the obligation on phone and internet providers to work with telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, provide information and comply with decisions of the Ombudsman to resolve a complaint.

Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, as a proportion of services in operation (SIO), were 9.0 complaints per 10,000 for report participants, for the period April to June 2017. This is up from 8.4 for the period January to March 2017.

About the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) provides a free and independent dispute service for small business and residential consumers who have an unresolved complaint about their telephone or internet service in Australia.

The Regional Tech Hub provides independent advice and support to help regional Australians navigate phone and internet options and technical issues. This initiative recognises the unique technological operating environment in regional Australia and helps to ensure regional Australians are supported to realise the benefits of connectivity. Support is available via the Hub’s website, phone line, and social media pages.

2023 has been a year of improvement for the TIO. We’ve refined our processes through implementation of the 2022 Independent Review recommendations, continued our fairness and satisfaction surveys about our service, ensuring that we are delivering a fair and independent service, and launched our new complaint handling platform as part of our technology transformation project. These improvements have enabled streamlining of the way we work, and improvements to our complaint handling practices.

Dana is the manager of Legal Aid NSW's Consumer Law practice group. She helps the most vulnerable people in NSW access their consumer protection rights in credit, insurance and general consumer protection matters. 

The TIO wishes everyone a very safe and restful end of year break.