Yep I am in Australia too, out in the bush. I don't know if I can even call me net dial-up that would imply a dial tone, mine is more like two tin cans with some string in between. Games running pretty good now though TBH but I have a mate having Relic connection issues if anyone knows of a quick resolution it would be appreciated.
Often the problem lies with ISP (Telstra in particular) having blocks on people connecting to you. Try opening ports or calling ISP technical support to do it for you.
I had couple of friends who had Firewall set to 'don't allow anything', internet protection settings on highest and Norton antivirus blocking everything.
It only allows text to be displayed on web pages pretty much, and they were wondering why they have connection issues as well.
Usually the problem is with users settings
If he lives in area with WW2 copper wiring infrastructure areas, than there is nothing he can do. Unfortunately, some areas in Australia are still using 1940's telecommunication infrastructure