Online Gamers Might Have Their NBN Access Slowed Down to Ease Congestion

Too much eSports, that’s your problem.

Online gamers may be smacked with slowed-down internet, after the head of the National Broadband Network (NBN) suggested they’re responsible for congestion during peak hours.

According to the ABC, NBN Co chief executive Bill Morrow told a parliamentary hearing that the company was "evaluating" limiting downloads or slowing speeds for some users during peak times.

Turns out, it would be "gamers predominantly" targeted by the proposed fair use policy.

"This is where you can do things, to where you can traffic shape," Morrow explained.

"Where you say, 'no, no, no, we can only offer you service when you're not impacting somebody else'."

Morrow’s argument is that the average consumption on the NBN network is “just under 200 gigabytes per month”, but "extreme" users are downloading "terabytes of data". It’s those "extreme" users he wants 'throttled'—not in the Homer Simpson kind-of way, but in the bandwidth-reduced internet kind-of way.

"Extreme" users would see their access limited during peak hours but given access to as much data as they want during off-peak periods.

Of course, nothing’s been made official, so don’t put on your Fortnite gear and take to the streets just yet. When pressed in the hearing, Morrow refused to classify gamers as a "problem".

He also couldn’t confirm if it’s indeed "gamers" who are responsible for those "terabytes of data".

(As the ABC points out, in 2016, increases to data transferred across Australia were "driven by video content downloading".)

"I said there were super users out there consuming terabytes of data and the question is should we actually groom those down? It's a consideration," Morrow said.

The NBN can potentially cover up to 600,000 Australian homes. However, only around 240,000 homes have access at this time.

Photo: Epic Games