The TIO, John Pinnock, said the organisation -- which provides the last resort for individuals and businesses in dispute with telecommunications companies -- was considering some alterations to its database to allow it to identify and categorise complaints based on whether they related to satellite, cable, ADSL or other delivery platform.
"We would find out whether any particular category of platform was producing any more broadband complaints than any other".
Pinnock said while a final decision would be made on 1 July, his preliminary view was that the move was "worth trying". He said it stemmed largely from a request from the Australian Communications Authority for platform-specific complaints data.
The news came as Pinnock warned consumers against the excessive bills generated by use of file-sharing services as complaints over broadband Internet services continue to rise.
Pinnock told ZDNet Australia he was concerned many new broadband users had not previously used an Internet service -- with their inexperience and lack of understanding of billing practices leading them to rack up unexpectedly huge bills.
Pinnock cited one instance in which a young woman who had broadband Internet connected shortly after moving into a new residence racked up a bill of around AU$10,000.
He said, however, that while he had criticised telecommunications carriers from around a year ago -- when many introduced limits on usage -- about their provision of information to the user community, he now felt enough information was available to place some onus on the consumer to pick up their knowledge of the available options.
Pinnock said consumer complaints over contracts, faults and provisioning difficulties with xDSL and cable Internet services had risen by 45 percent to 1,151 in the year from April 2002 to March 2003. The TIO recorded 240 complaints in the June quarter 2002, rising to 349 in the March quarter this year.
He said in a statement the rise in broadband Internet complaints was in line with an increase in consumer take-up of broadband technologies, and was not of itself a cause for concern.
"Complaint numbers are always high when it comes to new technologies," he said. "It can take months or even years for consumers and the industry to become accustomed to new methods and systems for billing and provision".
Pinnock lauded Telstra's new BigPond Internet usage meter after months of debate over the lack of accuracy of the carrier's previous version, saying the telco had "taken some really good steps".
"In general, Telstra has improved its performance considerably".
However, Pinnock did say he had some reservations about contracts in general in the telecommunications industry, noting that some were "unbalanced" in that they imposed enormous responsibility on the customer without necessarily imposing a similar level of responsibility on the carrier.
Neither Telstra OR the ombudsman can get their act together this is the issue. The ombudsman is useless and Telstra does not have a clue on how to run anything