According to Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, Australia’s average download speed is 58.83Mbps with an average upload speed of 21.44Mbps (as of December 2020).
That puts us 61st in the world.
Jeepers!
How far are we behind?
The global average for fixed broadband download speed, is 96.43Mbps, and upload speed is 52.31Mbps.
That puts us about 35Mbps SLOWER than the global average.
Countries with better internet download speeds than Australia
Andorra, Lichtenstein, Barbados, Qatar, Slovakia, Trinidad & Tobago, Vietnam, Kuwait and Malta all have faster internet speeds than Australia.
America has almost tripled our average download speed, with 173.67Mbps, putting them 11th in the global rankings.
What country has the fastest internet speeds? Thailand
With a mind-bending average download speed of 308.35Mbps, Thailand, puts the rest of the world to shame, way ahead of even second-placed Singapore with 245Mbps.
Downloading the recent, and much-anticipated, Cyberpunk 2077 would have taken around 27 minutes and 53 seconds for Thailand-based gamers.
Why are Australia’s internet speeds so slow?
The nbn™ was meant to catapult Australia into the internet age, connecting 93% of homes and businesses to the internet via fibre to the premises technology.
Thanks to a handbrake change of approach from the incoming Liberal government in 2013, fibre-to-the-premises for all was ditched in favour of a “multi-technology mix”.
This mish-mash of inferior technologies along with an ageing copper network has been unable to keep up with the internet needs of Australia, bringing us to this point in time, where we have worse average internet speeds than Trinidad & Tobago.
Growth in internet usage in Australia
The pace of growth in home internet usage has been rapid, to say the least, seen perfectly in the explosion of unlimited data plans throughout the industry.
According to an ACCC market report, the percentage of fixed broadband plans with unlimited data allowances has gone from 6% in 2014-15 to 57% in 2018-19.
That’s almost a 1000% increase in 4 years.
With more and more connected devices as well as cloud computing and cloud gaming just around the corner, there is no sign of internet usage slowing down.
Is Australia’s internet going to get any better?
NBN Co recently announced a $4.5 billion network upgrade, rolling out fibre-to-premises infrastructure to approximately 75% of Australian homes and businesses. Upgrade completion is scheduled for 2023 with customers having to register for the upgrade as the rollout comes through your area.
Are there any alternatives to the nbn™?
Our Superfast Fixed Wireless service has become the gold standard for nbn™ alternatives for both home and business internet here in Perth.
This service is completely separate to the nbn™ and exclusive to Perth. With our Help Centre in Perth, you know you’re talking to Perth-based experts, every time you call.
