Canberra has fastest internet speeds in the country, analysis shows
While living in Sydney, Jana Prencel's slow internet speeds made it difficult to do even the most simple tasks, but she said that's all changed since moving to the Canberra region.
"I was living in a sharehouse [in Sydney] while I was studying at university and there were five of us there," Ms Prencel said.
"As soon as one person was on the internet, the speeds were so shocking that I could barely do anything like download lecture slides or notes, let alone trying to watch a lecture that I missed online."
Despite running multiple speed tests on their internet connection and making numerous complaints to their provider, Ms Prencel said there was nothing that could be done.
Now living in Karabar just outside Canberra, she said there's been a huge improvement in their internet speeds.
"It's been a dream since I moved," Ms Prencel said.
"Our internet use now is mainly a combination of streaming videos like Netflix and YouTube, and my partner also does a lot of gaming online as well.
"We both use it at peak times at night and it always works."
Ms Prencel's experience of faster internet speeds near the nation's capital isn't the only one. Canberra was found to have the fastest average download speeds out of all capital cities, according to new analysis.
The analysis of 17,000 broadband speed tests by Ookla between July 2017 and September 2018 found Canberra had an average download speed of 35.8 megabits per second (Mbps).
Hobart had the next highest speeds with 25.8 Mbps, followed by Sydney on 25.1, Melbourne on 24.6 and Brisbane close behind on 24.4.
The analysis found Perth had the slowest average download speeds during the time period, coming in at 20 Mbps.
While there was a large gap of internet speeds between Canberra and other capital cities, on a state and territory level, the results were much closer.
The ACT still had the highest average download speeds, but only just, at 27.5 Mbps compared to Tasmania on 27.4.
Once again, Western Australia had the slowest speeds out of all states and territories with 20.1 Mbps.
Data from the analysis period showed average download speeds across the country got faster with each successive quarter, rising from 20.7 Mbps in the third quarter in 2017 to 26.4 in 2018's third quarter.
Technology spokesman Angus Kidman from comparison website finder.com.au, which helped conduct the analysis of internet speeds, said cheaper and faster NBN plans were one of the reasons why internet speeds were increasing.
"It's promising to see our broadband speeds improving. We're still a long way behind other countries though," Mr Kidman said.
"Our national average is on par with Sri Lanka."
Mr Kidman said the ACT's small size could be the reason why download speeds were faster than other states or territories.
"The tiny size of the territory also means it's easier to deploy high-speed options for most residents," he said.
Parts of Belconnen, Gungahlin, Woden and Canberra's inner north are connected to the NBN, while work on installing the network is continuing in the inner south, Bruce and large parts of Tuggeranong.
Most Viewed in National
A relationship banned under traditional law.
Our new podcast series from the team behind Phoebe's Fall
View episodes