One of the most important things an NBN provider can do is monitor, improve and report on the performance of its network and its customer experiences. After all, no one wants a poor performing NBN connection.
One of the ways that NBN connections are monitored and reported on are using network monitoring devices placed in customers homes. Just in the same way as TV ratings are captured by random TV viewers indicating their viewing patterns, NBN performance is measured by survey boxes in customers homes measuring off-peak and peak network speeds.
At Aussie Broadband, they use SamKnows boxes – these are little white network-connected devices that’ll sit on your home network for six months or so, monitoring speeds at various times of the day and night and reporting back to Aussie Broadband. The results are used for (amongst other things) determining speed results reported in the ACCC’s quarterly Measuring Broadband Australia reports.
At the moment, Aussie Broadband is looking for a handful of volunteers to join the ranks of its measuring team. The information below is taken from Whirlpool where the offer was announced.
What do volunteers receive?
There is no financial compensation for volunteers, just satisfaction that you’re helping us to improve the quality of our service.
The important stuff
This trial is only open to customers. If at any point during the trial, you decide to close your account with us, you will be provided with a return satchel to post the SamKnows box back to us. We will cover all shipping costs of the SamKnows devices.
We will select participants based on their location, service type and speed plan they are currently on. We do prefer if you do not change one of these during the trial.
Register your interest via the link below
Please note: Registering your interest does not guarantee that you will be selected to participate in the testing.
Register your interest here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AussieBB
Naturally, as noted above, the offer is only available to Aussie Broadband customers. After all, there’s not much point in them measuring what their competitors are doing .. except to know they’re (generally) offering a better product!
What if you’re not an Aussie Broadband customer yet? Well, you can sign up instantly today from just $59 per month (for a basic 12/1 Mbps plan), but more likely, you’ll be looking between $79 and $99 a month for a NBN 50 or NBN 100 plan respectively.
Check out Aussie Broadband’s plans here if you’re interested in moving over.
Should have given this out in USA, Uncle SAM who knows everything 😛
I would like to give it a go anyway.
I joined the ACCC Samknows offer when it first came out. Since then I have been with Telstra, Belong, and now Aussie Broadband.
It is a handy little device to see how your connection is going, regardless of what it sends to SamKnows (Or Aussie if you get one from them).
ABB – what iiNet used to be 10-15 years ago.