Netflix Highlights Slow Internet Speeds

Netflix Australia has released the average speeds of Australia’s Internet Service Provides (ISPs), with the results placing Australia well behind most countries.

The streaming service recommends a minimum of 5 megabits per second (Mbps) to stream high-definition (HD) content without any buffering issues and 25 Mbps for ultra HD quality.

Average Australian streaming results reported by Netflix were 3.36 Mbps and below, with Telstra coming in last place at 2.23 Mbps. This means that a significant portion of users on Netflix are unable to stream an HD stream without buffering issues.

Netflix has designed is pricing tiers around streaming quality, with the entry level plan allowing standard definition (SD) content only from $8.99 a month and HD plans from $11.99. Many users who have signed up to this plan may experience streaming issues.

The recent State of the Internet report by Akami placed Australia’s average download speed at 4.7 Mbps, behind many first world countries and even countries like Latvia and the Czech Republic.

The report examined Australia’s internet as a whole, where as Netflix’s data only focuses on Netflix customers.

Story by Matt O’Brien.