WA-based ISP iiNet is spitting chips after rivals Internode and iPrimus scored big publicity for having connected what were claimed to be the first customers to the National Broadband Network.
Late last week Adelaide-based Internode scored widespread publicity for having connected Robert Pettman, an IT customer support officer. Said an apparently delighted Pettman: “I’ve done speed tests and have seen a few peaks of 80 megabits per second, although it mostly hovers around 50Mbps, which is what I ordered.”
Primus said its first NBN customer, identified only as “Mark”, had a 100 Mbps service installed about the same time.
But iiNet – which had also connected at least one household – claimed the other two had broken an agreement to keep mum for the time being.
Pettman and “Mark” were just part of a trial to check the processes of commissioning and connecting services for the second half of July, said iiNet chief regulatory officer Steve Dalby.
“There is a bit of chest-beating going on there,” Dalby told ARN. He said all three ISPs had agreed with NBN Tasmania to not do any publicly around the matter.