'Throttling' Broadband Provider Sued In Australia

destinyland writes "Optus has been severely throttling users who exceed a download quota, according to ZDNet — down from 100Mbps to 64Kbps — and it's drawn attention from federal regulators. Optus's ad campaign promises 'supersonic' speeds, and one technology blog notes that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission 'isn't happy about Optus' sensationalist claims, which it's sure breaches the Trade Practices Act.' Australia's trade commission called the practice 'misleading or deceptive,' and the broadband provider now has a date in court next month, the second one since a June hearing over 'unlimited' voice and data plans that actually had usage caps."

Comments

Throttling to 28.8 Kb/s.

[Animats]

If you don't subscribe to Optus's "premium" tiers, your service can be throttled to 28.8 Kb/s. From the Optus price list:

'yes' DSL Basic 200MB

• High Speed Data Allowance: 200MB
• Speed Limit if High Speed Data Allowance Exceeded (kbps): 28.8
• Monthly Access Fee (from 15 April 2009): $49.95

'yes' DSL Unlimited

• High Speed Data Allowance: 12 GB
• Speed Limit if High Speed Data Allowance Exceeded (kbps): 64
• Monthly Access Fee (from 15 April 2009) $91.95

Yes, they really call it "unlimited", in the same table with the limits. That table isn't easy to find. You have to go through three web pages, then download several Word documents

That's their DSL service. Their cable service has similar tiers and terms, but slightly different pricing.

Re:Big deal

[David Gerard]

The ACCC are quite popular in Australia because they actually make companies behave.

They're the reason you can't enforce DVD region-locking in Australia, for example. (DVDs are still often sold region-locked, but players can play any region.)