The ACCC has told Telstra, Optus and other broadband providers to advertise the slowest internet speeds consumers will face on their NBN plans.

The regulator has issued revised industry guidance saying providers that do not adopt new advertising labels could face a public shaming, government regulation or enforcement action.

“I think the state of advertising is pretty dreadful. At the moment, the advertising is meaningless; we want to make it meaningful,” ACCC chair Rod Sims says.

The ACCC wants ISPs to stop using theoretical maximum speeds of NBN connections in their advertising.

It says practical speeds that can be achieved during peak evening periods should be promoted.

After working extensively with network providers, retailers and consumer representatives, the competition regulator has come up with four new labels to describe the speeds people are paying for.

Between the hours of 7.00pm to 11.00pm, a 'standard evening speed' would be 15Mbps, a 'standard plus evening speed' is 30Mbps, and speeds of 60Mbps could be labelled 'premium evening speed'.

The fourth label, 'basic evening speed', would be the cheapest option on offer, with no minimum speed defined by the ACCC.

The labels are a response to widespread consumer complaints about broadband performance.