The Australian broadband market is highly segmented according to speed. Until quite recently Telstra Bigpond was offering a 256Kbit connection labelled 'ADSL broadband' with 512Kbit and 1.5Mbit connections priced significantly higher. The idea of an 8Mbit or 20Mbit connection would be almost science fiction to their traditional customer base.
Now that FTTH is coming into play in some areas and Bigpond's market share is dropping, higher speeds are becoming more affordable but there are still a lot of people on those lower speed plans. I suspect this is what is skewing the graph labelled 'ISP', more than any selective throttling by the ISP (though I certainly wouldn't put that past them either).
The comparison to other ISPs is not entirely fair either because their customers tend to be clustered in areas where the ISPs have their own hardware in Telstra's exchanges and can therefore offer higher speeds and attractive pricing. Elsewhere in the country, Bigpond and lower speeds are both much more prevalent.
The Australian broadband market is highly segmented according to speed. Until quite recently Telstra Bigpond was offering a 256Kbit connection labelled 'ADSL broadband' with 512Kbit and 1.5Mbit connections priced significantly higher. The idea of an 8Mbit or 20Mbit connection would be almost science fiction to their traditional customer base.
Now that FTTH is coming into play in some areas and Bigpond's market share is dropping, higher speeds are becoming more affordable but there are still a lot of people on those lower speed plans. I suspect this is what is skewing the graph labelled 'ISP', more than any selective throttling by the ISP (though I certainly wouldn't put that past them either).
The comparison to other ISPs is not entirely fair either because their customers tend to be clustered in areas where the ISPs have their own hardware in Telstra's exchanges and can therefore offer higher speeds and attractive pricing. Elsewhere in the country, Bigpond and lower speeds are both much more prevalent.