The world can only exist with a properly working internet service.

Just another day at the Telstra internet help desk in Mumabi

The World of Warcraft that is; and Facebook and Twitter and all the other cyber realities that require an efficient communications network.

So obviously most online gamers and Facebook fiends were salivating at the speeds promised by the Federal Government’s National Broadband Network. It was heralded as bringing Australia into the “modern age” of telecommunications with internet speeds faster than Usain Bolt driving a Ferrari.

Unfortunately, despite the recent advertising blitz touting the benefits of the NBN, the new fibre optic network remains a fairy tale for most net users. 

Where the rubber really hits the communications superhighway for most Australians is the effort it takes to find a company that can actually deliver what they promise in terms of a reliable customer service.

This endeavour can prove trouble enough for someone familiar with setting up a residential internet connection. For those not accustomed to working with computers and IT networks on a regular basis, the whole experience can be an absolute nightmare.

I recently moved into a new house dead smack in the middle of Sydney. One would think the mission to take my existing internet connection to my new address would not be a complex one.

I had no idea the world of bureaucratic pain I was about to enter.

To start with, Optus took over two weeks to connect the new service. When they finally did, there was a mountain of problems that came with the new connection. 

Firstly the original connection was not completed correctly at the exchange and had to be fixed.  Then the new modem they sent was faulty and another unit had to be dispatched.  Then there was a problem with the line that caused drop outs every ten minutes. Then they informed me I needed to install, at my own expense, a central filter device. This did nothing to solve the problem and the only way I was able to use my connection was to have the speed dropped to near the old dial-up speeds.

After a month of beating my head against the wall, I switched to Telstra.

Telstra promised me the holy grail of internet services - a cable modem.  It was like a choir of angels sang as a radiant hand reached down from a cyber-Mount Olympus and pulled me out of ADSL connection hell.

The lovely lady from the call centre in India happily informed me that my new cable modem would be shipped as soon as possible and that a technician would arrive to install a new cable connection in my home.

The technician never showed up. 

After a heated exchange with Telstra I was offered sincere apologies and informed a mistake had been made and a technician would be sent to my house two days later. 

This forced me to rearrange my life and take time off work to wait for said technician. A technician again failed to show. 

I spent my morning away from work on hold with Telstra’s Indian call centre, being passed from supervisor to supervisor to try and work out what was going on.  With each new representative I had to re-explain the situation.

I could feel my blood pressure rising by the second.  Had I been a heart patient, I think the stress would have brought on a severe angina attack.

As the hours ticked by I kept checking outside to make sure I was still living in the middle of one of Australia’s capital cities.  Not a remote community in Far North Queensland or a small town in the Northern Territory outback. 

Telstra now tells me a technician may turn up next week – possibly.

While the federal government spends billions in taxpayer dollars to deliver a magical communications system that most people won’t see for some years to come, ordinary Australians are still engaged in trench warfare with companies like Telstra who struggle provide basic customer service.

In the coming federal election, the political party that truly wants to help ordinary Australians with their basic communication needs, should start by reviewing the trade practices of our major telecommunication companies.

That’s a vote winner every time.

Most commented


Show oldest | newest first

    • Bill says:

      07:09am | 17/12/12

      Typical appalling service from the big telcos.

      An American friend of mine who knew about the difficulties of getting a new internet connection in oz was completely gobsmacked that we meakly put up with this behaviour.

    • andye says:

      08:05am | 17/12/12

      I think a lot of people don’t understand how this actually works here. Neither does the author, apparently:


      This was an ADSL connection. That means Telstra was actually connecting it. Telstra connects the ADSL connection, no matter who you get it through. Telstra have a wholesale monopoly PLUS they are a provider. Conflict of interest?

      The NBN is a wholesale monopoly, which at least removes the conflict of interest here.

    • TheRealDave says:

      09:44am | 17/12/12

      Absolutley correct Andye. A lot of people fail to realise that no matter which company you go through - Telstra is ballsing the process up somewhere in their.

      Under ADSL1 they are ALL re-sold Telstra DSL tails - no matter who you go through. With DSL2 it gets murky because the big majors have their own DSLAMs in a lot of exchanges (because Telstra refused to flick the switch for DSL2 Australia wide unless they got a strict monopoly of the service - meaning they held back DSL2 fromt he Australian public for near 3 years and only turned it on onc ethey started hammoraghing customers to internode, iinet, TPG etc) but Telstra are still involved in theprocess to move your line from the Telstra racks to your providers DSLAM.

      Telstra have been fined millions of dollars over the past decade for their deliberate anti-competitive practices.

      This is how ‘Private Enterprise’ runs the current broadband infrastructure.

    • Paul says:

      11:56am | 17/12/12

      Optus and the other telcos can’t even have a technician walk into an exchange without a Telstra escort.  The sooner Telstra are removed from the equation the better.  What people don’t realise is that the real benefit of the NBN is that it will solve most of the issues that we currently experience in establishing a new connection.

      A few examples:
      - Due to poor maintenance practices the records of where most houses in australia (yes, >50%) are connected in the pillars are simply wrong.. The street techs do not follow their own procedures and call their call centre to ensure the records are kept up to date.
      - The delay in connecting up new users, line maintenance etc. are due to the long wait times to get Telstra techs to accompany non-Telstra techs to the phone exchange.  Telstra won’t let certified non-Telstra techs in on their own.
      - When transitioning between 2 ISPs there can be a delay if you are moving across infrastruce owned by different companies (eg. Telstra DSLAM vs Optus DSLAM).

      Personally, I think the NBN is a hugely needed change to how we run our telecommunications services in Australia.

    • Rubens Camejo says:

      01:03pm | 17/12/12


      Almost right….Optus uses what are known as ULL lines. These are lines that they lease off Telstra and are connected BY Optus to their network at the exchange.

      The line was more than likely a Telstra line and it would have taken 3- 5 working days to switch it to the ULL network, depending on the exchange and the workload on technicians.

      Once the line is switched, Optus, the ISP portion of it, gets involved placing the speed and billing codes, etc, onto the line. Again, this is a schedules issue. When switching lines from Telstra to Optus is involved, somewhere inside two weeks is normal and inside one is rare.

      In due course, (granted, a long curse), when the NBN is fully rolled out, there will be no exchanges and your fibre-optic cable will be connected directly to a service provider where a few strokes of a keyboard, (maybe voice command by then) will have it done.

      I can see you being able to connect yourself to the service provider of your choice in maybe a longer course.

      That is, of course, unless one certain dogmatic bunch of pollies get into power and decide to ruin our telecommunications future and leave us with the likes of Telstra and Optus fighting over who connects whom to the node that sits over 500m from your house and that will give you no better than ADS L speed., (when not too many are on line)

    • andye says:

      01:34pm | 17/12/12

      @Rubens Camejo - Yeah, apparently I am only mostly right about that and there are some exceptions. Mind you, every ADSL connection I have had has been through Telstra and I have never actually gone through Telstra.

    • Wayne Kerr says:

      07:26am | 17/12/12

      Try living on the Central Coast of NSW.  There are some areas that can’t even get cabled dsl.  It’s either wireless or dial up.  It’s more upsetting because these areas aren’t remote nor a 100 miles from civilization.  A lot of these suburbs are right next door to nes that can easily get cabled dsl.

    • TheRealDave says:

      09:47am | 17/12/12

      Wayne - try living in major residential subdivisions in capital cities that have been built since the mid 90’s. It was far more economically feasible to just run RIM’s around the place instead of propelry cabling these areas - and this is why hundreds of thousands of peopele, families and businesses run on prehistoric services

    • Sundress In Sydney says:

      10:29am | 17/12/12

      I am with you Wayne.  We moved into an apartment at a major resort on the Central Coast.  We rang Telstra and paid for a technician to install our lines to be independant of the resort.  We received our nice new modem and our T-Box.  Then when I couldn’t get internet (and so of course not the box) I phoned and the delightful Indian lady told me ADSL2 was not available to me, despite the fact that it was two doors away.  So they sent me a wireless modem.  I was asked to pay twice as much for this service of 5G as I was to be paying for the 500G and T-Box.  I said nope, and sent the lot back.  I received a bill for $2,200 and carefully shredded that too.  Telstra are pathetic.  We ended up just using our mobiles (pre-paid $39 a month unlimited calls so much cheaper, and no line rental of course) and going to K-Mart for a prepaid wireless modem.  The service is pathetic and the worst part is you can’t argue because I can’t understand a word they are saying to me.  By the way, we are not remote, we are in a major resort in a very large city on the Central Coast, so there reallyl is no excuse.

    • Potato says:

      12:59pm | 17/12/12

      Wayne….NBN is coming to the Central Coast. Rollout has started and the first connections will be made before Easter… Rollout is happening in my street as we speak…..

      Look at the NBN website, 80% of the central coast to be services I first few years.  I think the woeful nature of the current communications and the way that lots of small settlements are spearhead around the place(plus terrainetc) helped secure the coast as one of the first roll out locations

    • TheRealDave says:

      01:14pm | 17/12/12

      Potato - and who can you thank for the fact that areas liek the Central Coast and large rural communities are some of the first to get hooked up, rather than people in capital cities who can already get DSL, DSL2 and Cable?

      That right, Oakshot and Windsor - the same two blokes the Coalition are trying to demonize for sticking up for the bush….you know…what the N in LNP is supposed to be doing….

    • Potato says:

      01:36pm | 17/12/12


      I don’t give two wombats who we can thank for it….

      I just made the comment that’s its happening (actually, guys in my street now)

      Why does every topic have to become some political football with nut bags taking extreme left or right views..

      I’m currently eating a toasted ham sandwich, but I suppose some political party had something to do with that too?!

    • Sundress in Sydney says:

      03:00pm | 17/12/12

      @potata, thanks for the update!!  I really do want to do better than what I have now.  Will be interesting.  How do I find out when they are doing my area?  Don’t know anything about this really except everyone is bagging it.  Well, going to go jump on Google and hope.

    • Tony of Poorakistan says:

      07:31am | 17/12/12

      Could not agree more about Telstra - I refuse to deal with them on any level. Having a customer service centre where no-one speaks English is an appalling slap in the face to their English-speaking, paying customers. Not only that, for a company that spruiks about being an Australian icon, taking jobs away from Aussies and giving said jobs to Indians is kind of hypocritical

    • Riversutra says:

      08:03am | 17/12/12

      Having worked for Telstra for 18 yrs , I can tell you those Aussies doing the job were so corrupted by their union, the CPSU, into fighting every change management made to improve service, it’s no wonder jobs went overseas. Australians don’t do Customer Service well in the Public Service. FACT. And Telstra staff were told by the union they were the ones who should be making management decisions. Think QANTAS, same result, get the operations out of Australia and survive.

    • A Concerned Citizen says:

      12:42pm | 17/12/12

      “Corrupted” is how I’d define Telstra overall. A useless, lazy, greedy company that harasses people for leaving (with a non-English speaking caller, no less), and whose greed and stubbornness in mishandling their part of the network are arguably a large contributing reason to why the NBN project collapsed.

      Like Qantas, it is simply a crap company that did poorly post-privatization, with ridiculous prices for poor service, is now floundering badly despite holding a monopoly, and is such a drain on Australia that this country would actually be better off if both of them collapsed entirely and made way for fresh competition.

      Needless to say, every time I get an Indian cold-caller from Telstra asking me back, I am immediately reminded of why I left them- and not just because their ‘deals’ are inferior to the most standard packages of major competitors

    • Rubens Camejo says:

      01:10pm | 17/12/12

      @ Riversutra

      So, Telstra service levels are down t the unions and they were the ones running the show, even after privatisation?

      Goddamn those union thugs, they’re worse than Darth Vader with the power of their dark force.

      I say; kill off all unions and put the likes of Gina in charge for she IS our Skywalker

    • Bob says:

      04:07pm | 17/12/12

      Spent years working with Telstra while working for an ISP subsidiary of theirs.

      Private or public, it was a sick company. It might have been a private company then, but it had a public service mentality that was frankly scary. When Ziggy moved over for Sol, the entire company shut down from top to bottom No decisions made, no cheques signed, I’d like to say that they did the bare minimum required to run the company, but that would have been a dream.

    • SAm says:

      07:31am | 17/12/12

      Ive had similar experiences with Telstra. No idea why they are allowed to monopolise everything.
      In general I dont understand why it is so difficult to get an internet connection happening in this country. Im not an IT genious but I know enough that it shouldnt be hard but why is it?

    • ramases says:

      07:34am | 17/12/12

      I have NBN,but satellite NBN and the service was spot on. The technician arrived on the day to the hour, spent less that an hour putting the new satellite dish on the roof and setting up the modem and getting me online. It works okay with the occasional blip but fixed faster than a speeding bullet. The speed is not quite what i expected but adequate for what I do and need and a lot faster than the snail mail offered by the big telsco’s. Its $10.00 a month cheaper than my old service and had a couple of Gig more download so I’m happy. Of course it not with Telstra or Optus but a company that does its job, funny that.

    • ZSRenn says:

      08:00am | 17/12/12

      Telstra you say? Huh you think you have trouble now. Wait until you get to billing! Once in billing, never ever move again because the quagmire that that creates is untenable.

    • David says:

      11:49am | 17/12/12

      Their billing systems seem diligent. I left Telstra in 2004 but still receive an invoice each month telling me that they owe me $9. I think it’s just telco hi-jinx.

    • SimpleSimon says:

      08:34am | 17/12/12

      *sigh* the problems you’re describing are exactly the reason we’re building the NBN. This article reads like an indictment of the project, but it’s actually reinforcing the very reason it needs to happen.

      And, by the way, a “cable modem” is not the “holy grail of internet services”.

    • Gregg says:

      09:45am | 17/12/12

      You might hope the NBN will solve connection problems but then how many pieces of hardware are going to be in the connection chain?

      So something is not working quite rightly and so who is going to be determining and servicing whatever is the problem and in what timeliness and at what cost?

      A bushfire or a storm goes through and it will be interesting to see just how reliable the communication superhighway is and how well the tarmac stays serviceable.

    • TheRealDave says:

      10:15am | 17/12/12

      As opposed to the current network Gregg? How quick were services restored to areas devasted during Black Friday - for example? Brisbane floods??

      Same same.

      And, in more normal less ‘disaster’ incidents, given that NBNCo will be the ones who own and maintain the entire infrastructure, rathert than a number of companies owning bits ‘here and there’ - I’d say their fault finding and resolution would be a lot quicker. An not have say - Optus telling a client to put a central filter put on the line that Telstra actually owns and needs to be the one testing, for example, which is also one of the first things EVERY ISP in the country says as one of their first ‘troubleshooting’ steps which is rarely actually needed.

    • Gregg says:

      12:23pm | 17/12/12

      ” Same same.”
      You may hope it will be all plain sailing under the NBN but then their services side is really unproven and that is only with relatively few connections having equipment that is relatively new.

      Whether it’ll be same same in five, ten years time as componentry ages and whether the NBN will even have the resources to keep up is another matter.
      They sure cannot keep up with their proposed installation program right now and many new housing estates have residents waiting, waiting and waiting some more.

    • TheRealDave says:

      01:17pm | 17/12/12

      If cetain ‘vested interests’ would stop sticking their oar into the rollout process every 5 minutes with ‘technicalities’ and ‘referrals to comittees’ the process would be a lot further along.

      But lets pretend that hasn’t been happening shall we?

    • Rubens Camejo says:

      01:37pm | 17/12/12

      @ Gregg

      Ok So you’re negative on the NBN and can only find fault with it, ( I suspect for political reasons). At the same time, I notice you you’re not jumping to defend the status quo.

      By status quo, I mean the myriad of service providers that have to go cup in hand to the owner of the network whose commercial interests don’t include making it easier for those other service providers to connect their customers.

      We have a situation where all those in the market have to ask their biggest competitor to help them compete with it.  Commercially, that is a total joke.

      The one thing you overlook, Gregg, is the way ISP will compete when the NBN is fully rolled out.

      Their viability will depend on their quality of service, content and price. The biggest factor about the NBN, apart from its future-proofing our our telecommunications future, is that it is a system that allows any business to provide to provide internet services, not just the four or five large ISP’s we currently have.

      A bank, for instance, might offer a service with each mortgage, or a sporting body like AFL, NRL or FFA, might offer an ISP service along with a subscription that bypasses the likes of Foxtel… think about that for a moment

      If you think about the possibilities of an NBN network with infrastructure that can be accessed by any business willing to provide a service, you’ll understand how it is a monopoly killer and a business creator for those that can now not compete or that rely on others for getting their product out to the market, such as professional sports.

      Once you understand that, you’ll understand why it is that bodies such as SKY news, News Ltd and commercial TV are backing the opposition with their editorial policies and commentary. The cash cow that is sports broadcasting, is at risk.

      The price for the political backing is the killing off of the NBN. That is a price that we will pay by having to put up with the current telco situation for decades to come.

      Of course, you, Gregg, might have a better alternative to the NBN, and if you choose to tells the positive story rather than the negative, fault finding one, we’d all be interested, I am sure.

    • PJ says:

      01:47pm | 17/12/12

      The government’s total investment in the NBN project ...
      - will now be $30.4 billion, up from $27.5 billion.
      - Operating expenditure will be $26.4 rather than $23.2 billion.

      Yes it’s more Budget blow outs I’m afraid from the Cock up Kings of Finance.

      The rollout is painfully slow.

      * Connection to Old Homes

      June 2012 there were only 13,500 premises connected up via fibre, fixed wire or satellite.

      The December 2010 Plan said:
      419,000 connected by June 2013.
      But this has been down graded to only 93,000 by June 2013.

      It’s crap and costing Billions.

      In pursuit of the Big Australia people crush,the Gillard Government’s Mass Immigration program has farmland turning into new estate houses at a rate of knots.

      - in June 2012 NBN admitted it had connected up only 1000 new homes.
      - at the same time NBN said it had received applications for a further 130,000 Lots.

      Thanks to the Government forcing out Private Contractors so the NBN has monopoly, latest housing statistics show 74,000 new homes are without any Fixed Line Comms at all.

      Now thats shocking in anyone’s language.

      In Parliament the Gillard Government was asked to explain how the Contract was given to Fujitsu in 2011 to begin rollout of NBN to new estates and nothing much has happening. Given the above situation, the Coalition also asked why the Fujitsu contract was renewed? No answers were forthcoming as usual.

      By contrast, in the past 18 months
      - Telstra has connected over 35,000 homes with copper,
      - Opticom and others have connected over 8,000 homes with fibre. 
      So the private sector is still delivering where it is permitted to operate.

      -cf SMH - ‘NBN costs blow out by Billions’

      you’ll never know the truth of it with a 1600 PR spin army costing $150 mill ......

    • PJ says:

      02:09pm | 17/12/12

      i wonder how many Australian jobs were smoked by handing the monopoly for new homes to NBN?

      I would how NBN charges will be kept low when they have the monopoly in new suburbs?

    • SimpleSimon says:

      02:12pm | 17/12/12

      Sorry I don’t have time to reply to your entire post, @PJ, but I’ll hit a couple of key points.

      The idea that “the Government forcing out Private Contractors so the NBN has monopoly” is false. The line from NBN Co has been, from the beginning, that they are the service provider of last resort for laying fibre to new estates. Why don’t those new estates have fibre? Because the developers refuse to pay the contractors to do the work. NBN Co WANTS the private contractors to do the work!

      I suspect I’m beating my head against a brick wall, and you’re not interested in the discussion, but if you want to know what’s really going on with the NBN, I suggest you look outside the MSM. The Australian, SMH etc, are pure FUD.

    • Gregg says:

      03:14pm | 17/12/12

      @Rubens Camejo
      First off, I do not have any concerns politically as to what party may be in power and more to the point is that what they initiate on behalf of the Australian public is financially sound.
      There has never been any financial justification at all done for the NBN and there can likely be no idea whatsoever what ultimate cost will be or just how well the money can be recouped.


      The viability of any ISP might also depend on what the NBN will need to charge them and just how much consumers will be prepared to pay.
      Regardless of just how many companies want to dabble in iinternet services ( and that alone is somewhat scary as to what quality of service could be expected ) if the NBN eventually costs X$ and there are Y users, the NBN will need to recoup $Z for every connection on average to cover capital costs, interest, management and maintenance.

      What happens if the numbers of users are far less at say U?
      Either the NBN goes broke or they have to put up charges to ISPs and what do you reckon will happen next?
      Yep, another lot of users will say stuff that, they can get nicked.

      Ultimately, you are going to end up with an indefinite government subsidy for an indefinite time and the idea of it being a valuable service that the government can recoup its money on by selling will be the myth it already is.
      It will just become another budgetary drain foisted on to all future governments by this totally inept one.

      I suppose if Australian taxpayers are eventually paying something like a few billion$$$ PA, maybe even more, you will be quite content to know that that money is not going towards something like the NDIS, Medical care or Education etc.

      Sure, there have been conflict issues with Telstra being both an infrastructure owner and a service provider and though there has been some separation, problems still exist and all that means is a closer look at what is occurring should occur.
      It would probably be a lot more simple than the likely mess we can expect to have with some people on Fibre Optic, some probably still on copper and some on satellite for a basic phone service that just needed more copper at a much lower cost.

      Twenty years from now, even with the same government we would have a real hodge podge of a network and still likely have many people unconnected to the NBN and new housing estates still waiting years with a massive cost and borrowings to boot with a massive interest bill.

    • TheRealDave says:

      03:34pm | 17/12/12

      *shakes head* at the level of hypocristy some people need to justify their political position….no matter how many times they’ve been proven to be wrong.

    • Gerry W says:

      08:35am | 17/12/12

      I got a 100MPBS connection with Optus what a laugh, my wireless modem range is 50% now in my small 11 sq home. I get 20Mpbs with my desktop wireless dongle which is a 300 Mbps capable USB dongle. Also a signed contract can be changed anytime they want, to increase prices 3 times in 1 year on a 24 mth contract. Not good value for money. Still way off being able to watch a movie without heaps of lag. Another unhappy user.

    • Simone says:

      09:00am | 17/12/12

      I have NBN ... It is lovely smile
      The best part is Telstra do not own the infrastructure and hence they refuse to compete with telco’s that do provide customer service. I say spend more on rolling out NBN faster and the likes of Telstra will have no choice but improve their customer service to stay in the mix.

    • Monty says:

      09:05am | 17/12/12

      Wow, it sounds to me, from your story, that telstra has too much power. That it can easily ignore customer service since it owns the communications network and can charge customers or other providers whatever it likes.

      If only there was some way to build a secondary network that would replace our current one. That would take the power away from Telstra. Now that would be a great idea to improve customer support.

    • A Concerned Citizen says:

      12:49pm | 17/12/12

      I was hoping the NBN would BE that secondary network; but when I heard Telstra would be made into stakeholders, I immediately knew not only the project would fail to deliver, but would outright stall and collapse before it was even completed.
      If Telstra were even half-competent, THEY would have built that network themselves long ago.

    • Potato says:

      01:04pm | 17/12/12

      Wow Monty, great idea…

      But what would you call this new network…

      Some type of Broadband network that’s national….many call it BNN…

      I wonder if any govt will have the foresight to introduce such infrastructure for the future…?!

    • Al says:

      09:09am | 17/12/12

      You think you have problems getting it connected, try getting it disconnected to move to a wireless setup with another provider.
      ‘Oh, we will disconnect your service now but you will still receive bills for the next few months.’
      This is what I was told recently, amazing that this dissapeared as soon as I mentioned I might go and speak to the communications ombudsman about it as there was no provision in my contract stating this would occur.

    • Brett B says:

      09:15am | 17/12/12

      Could be worse, you could live in Perth!

      Optus ADSL (can’t get cable) 1.05Mbps download yet with a Telstra 3G smart phone 3.93Mbps.  With the tests being conducted within a minute of each other.

      Can’t wait for the NBN to get to Perth

    • Jess says:

      09:36am | 17/12/12

      on the bright side for the uber- nerds here Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the 4th Keynote speaker at the next month.

    • sunny says:

      11:32am | 17/12/12

      I heard Samuel Morse will be guest speaker at the Opposition’s Communication Policy release and will give a speech titled “Effective Comms Don’t Need No High Falutin Fibre To The Home”.

    • TheRealDave says:

      09:56am | 17/12/12

      This article is precisely why we are building the next generation communications infrastructure. A brand new common platform that ALL of us (well 93% of us) will enjoy not only now but for the next 60 years and more.

      The reason why we have such a shit state of communications infrastructure right now with pockets of availability here and there is because of ‘Private Enterprise’. The exact same ‘Private Enterprise’ that the LNP and its supporters claim ‘could build’ or ‘should build’ the NBN. Sadly - they do not recognise their own hypocrisy/stupidity in that simple statement.

      I wouldn’t touch Optus personally….overloaded DSLAMS routing through Singapore STILL for US connections - pass….

    • Rubens Camejo says:

      02:25pm | 17/12/12

      @ Gregg

      You fail to understand the technology involved. The NBN is just a cable, an optic-fibre cable. The hardware involved , to put it simply,  is a power supply, (much less power than transmitting through copper), some connecting points and not much more. The things that can go wrong with it are not dissimilar to the the things that can go wrong with a copper network, such as natural disasters damaging a portion of the cable, etc.

      The higher technology will be held in the ISP’s premises. The speed that that date will be able to travel down its length will depend very much on that equipment, not the cable itself. barring something breaking a cable “Krappers”, will be a rare occasion.

      Like your F1 analogy, you’ll be going like the klappers most of the time because traffic won’t slow you down.

      As for the need for speed. It’s short sighted to look at needs based on today’s requirements. I am sure 20 years ago 56 kbps was good enough for electronic mail; letters, in other words. Since then our whole economy is mostly based on our ability to transfer data via the internet.

      Thinking the way you and many opponents of the NBN do, ignores our very recent history.  The NBN is not for you or I, it is for the generations to come in the next 20, 40, 60 years time. What will be the speed requirements then?

      As I said, the cable’s limits are set by the equipment that an Optus, or an iiNet has in their premises.

      There are people now sitting in some control room in the States flying drones remotely in Afghanistan killing people with the push of a button. Sad as that is, what will we be able to do from home in the next several decades? Will we have to travel to an office at all?

      Will we have to waste two hours per day travelling to work? Will governments have to spend billions on transport and housing infrastructure in major cities as our population increases or will we be able to work from Dubbo or Port Macquarie for a company based in Albury, where their factory or administration infrastructure is houses because it is a cheap site?

      Will that not make that company more competitive globally when compared to a company based in Ryde and paying top dollar for its accommodation?

      Will we be able to operate machinery remotely? can you predict what our telecommunications will be beyond faster speeds for movie and games donwloads, something that is so very now and ignores the future?

      Do you disagree that a fibre-optic network IS the infrastructure that would allow for such developments,and is so , what would?

      Perhaps you think the world won’t change and our needs will remain the same?

    • Gregg says:

      09:59am | 17/12/12


      I reckon you are just seeing some results Brad of technology attempting to exceed the our technological needs, our striving for more speed, more speed and then more giggas and more giggas at speeds to download movies or play games etc.
      All this technology just gives us more and more refined components that all can have faults in them and even the most minor faults can cause enormous problems given the sensitivity of components in striving for greater and greater performances.
      Think F1 racing if you like and sure you can race like the klappers when everything is performing in sync. but it only takes a small change in a single component that has klappers becoming krappers and if you push it hard enough that can be when the krap really hits the fan!

      I’ve gone from dial up to a Satellite service and now just use a PAYG mobile wifi modem and are paying well less than half of what I ever paid for usually higher speed.
      Sure there can be some slower times when the network gets busier I imagine but we survive and as I keep telling people, just how important is speed when you likely spend much more time either reading or typing info to be transmitted?

    • TheRealDave says:

      11:15am | 17/12/12

      “more speed and then more giggas and more giggas at speeds to download movies or play games etc.”

      *le sigh*  The usual LNP crap that only pirates and pedophiles need ‘more speed’ for their depraved porn and movie downloads.


      So because thats how you use the net we need to limit the entire country and its economy based on your needs? Maybe we should take your woefully innacurate Formula 1 analogy and make it jsut as irrelevant and silly by saying - just re-build every racetrack on the planet to be suitable for a 1971 Hillman Hunter because thats ‘all you need’ to get to the shops and back and its only people who want to run over puppies who need anything bigger and faster?

    • Gregg says:

      12:34pm | 17/12/12

      ” sigh, sigh and more sighing “

      I have not mentioned pirates, pedophiles or running down puppies, let alone porn and I think you might just find that there are many more internet users who would be more than happy with a reasonable if moderate speed rather than see the country forking out billions$$$$ that we are borrowing just for a select few to do their playing with whatever.
      Industry and other high need users could just as easily, probably far quicker and cheaper been provided with appropriate IT by the IT industry.

      I would say my F1 analogy is far more appropriate than anything stupid you attempt to call analysis.

    • TheRealDave says:

      03:44pm | 17/12/12

      Gregg - outside your own litlte bubble there is a big country full of hundreds of thousands of users all over the country, all connected via a number of ways higgedly piggedly according to what was most profitable to a number of providers. Thats why our broadband and communicatiosn infrastructure is a complete abortion. What works nice for you and your ‘simple needs’ is manifestly inadequate for most of the population - let alone business, government and education needs. ‘Private Enterprise’ has had its chance to do something - they chose to extort their customer base for as much as they could while providing minimal service. Why do you think Telstra rolled out RIMs for so long? Why do you think the likes of Telstra charge businesses tens of thousands of dollars a month for connections we will soon be getting for under $100 a month under the NBN?

      This is exactly why people who have no idea about the technology and communication sin general should probably sit out and watch or at the very least do 5 minutes worth of research before dipping a toe into the conversation. Of course, if you’v edecided your position based purely on politics becasue you have no idea of the technology and infrastructure rollout then why stop now?

      Using your 3G modem as an example of broadband use in this country is beyond stupid. Well, unless you are in the LNP and beleive that all we need for the next few generations is enough bandwith to download fart noise applications while sipping a latte in a Coffee Shop….

    • George says:

      10:07am | 17/12/12

      Telstra are morons.

      I had cable for years, got it around 2005/6, then it stopped working properly, lots of dropouts, was visited two or three times by their guys in vans with indolent attitudes, one of them even crawled up the telegraph pole to replace the connection.

      Then it turns out the modem was too old as they had upgraded to this faster cable and I was entitled to a new and better modem for free. I worked this out myself by scouring the interwebs.

      Did they email to tell me that people might need newer modems? Nup.

      The NBN prices are a bit disappointing but it’s better than spending it on almost anything else the government spends money on.

    • Fed Up says:

      10:09am | 17/12/12

      I went from dial ADSL2…and now have fast internet speed 99% of the time through Telstra…purchased the modem from them and installed myself.
      No problems…if you can read english and follow simple instructions…its a breeze.
      As for the NBN…a big waste of money…not everyone needs it…i dont…and those fast NBN speeds will cost you an arm and a leg if thats what you’re after.

    • Bengeck says:

      11:50am | 17/12/12

      “I don’t need it so screw you mate” WoW

      Btw NBN prices are cheaper per Gig then what we have now, you know this right? you can paid more for a crapper service but some of us like shopping around and getting the best bang for our buck.

    • Fed Up says:

      03:28pm | 17/12/12

      No…if you want to go faster than what i have you’re going to pay more.
      Frankly i dont see the need to go faster than fast.
      My bill includes landline,mobile and broadband ( 500 Gigs per mth)...averages out between $160-$180 per month depending on the o’seas calls.
      There’s no need to have the NBN everywhere…BIG waste of the tax payers dollar

    • TheRealDave says:

      03:52pm | 17/12/12

      Yep - this is the typical LNP attitude - I’m alright Jack…but come the day I’m not - then it will be everyone elses fault!

      Funny, its always the same LNP supporters that keep claiming its going to cost you ‘more’ despite the fact that every major ISP in the country has a web site with a plan pricing page that shows the NBN connections are either the same price or cheaper with higher data caps AND much much much faster connections.

      For example, I already pay $100 a month PLUS local call charges on my VOIP phone…..lets call it $110 a month (doesn’t go much higher than that). For that I get 400gb in data and connect at around 16-17mb. Again, unlike LNP shill accounts I don’t get the full ADSL2 speeds because of cable length and quality….apparently every LNP shill account lives IN the exchange cause they all claim they get 20Mb or better already….*rolls eyes*...from the same provider I will be jumping straight in their $100 a month plan that will offer me 1Tb of data..yes a whole Terabyte….or 1000Gb if you prefer AND they’ll give me a 100/40 connection?!?! Thats 100Mb coming down and 40mb going out. No more Telstra strangling upload data to preserve their extortion on voice/data lines!!!! You cannot ever compare the value.

      Of course….a 3G dongle also rocks…apparently…..when it can connect….

    • SimpleSimon says:

      04:02pm | 17/12/12

      @Fed Up - your experience is atypical, and your analysis short-sighted. It’s atypical because there are a huge number (arguably the majority) of Australians who can’t get what you term “fast” connections, let alone reliably, because of the infrastructure Telstra has built. Corner cutting has resulted in a big slice of the fixed line telecommunications market pie - myself included - who are technologically unable to get a decent broadband connection. The NBN will rectify that huge failing.

      It is short sighted because, once the NBN rolls out, services will become available that do utilise the “faster than fast” speeds. And, once that connection IS typical, those who elected to opt-out of the NBN will be members of the second-tier telecommunications world (as I am now) and simply unable to enjoy things that those on fibre connections will be taking for granted.

    • Bob says:

      04:19pm | 17/12/12

      I should mention I vote Liberal. However, the NBN is good. Was it worth Conroy’s price of internet censorship? Not at all. However it’s good and it’s necessary. Fiber has lower maintenance costs, is capable of vastly more, and this is something that has to happen sooner or later. Our copper network is decayed, outdated and just not worth keeping alive. Also, prices drop as time goes on. I’ve seen dramatic price decreases over the last five years along.

    • Steve Wakeford says:

      10:35am | 17/12/12

      Solid work Mr Emery.

    • David C says:

      11:03am | 17/12/12

      Unfiltered social media may give the impression that the entire wold is sharing graphic memes and pictures of cats - however the rest of the world uses internet to get business done.

      At work, smartphones have replaced walkie-talkies. When I need a tech from the other end of the stadium, I send a fb msg. When I need a computer model of the stadium for an audio plot, I chat online with several people at once whilst we make our decisions. After the event , we analyse time-lapse video to spot inefficiencies.

      A certain monolithic telco (guess which one), employs machines and people whose only mission is to spot complaints about customer service by “people with net influence” on social media and deal with them. Within 24 hours of an epic rant, I was presented with a four-day festival of discounts. I now have the cheapest cable net I’ve ever heard of.

      As this writer says, I had to endure 6 contradictory phone calls and endless periods on hold, but the end result was superb, eventually. Service-wise, we are in a period of transition and telcos are a classic example of how this change is inching forward.

      Complain, complain, complain, clearly, politely and give the person at the other end time to keyboard your words. mention to them they are overworked and underpaid.

      My point? The net may be used by consumers to download movies, and play games but “uber-nerds” are using high-speed net to introduce efficiency undreamt of in the past. This equals improved profit, service and better deployment of labour.

      Companies are learning how to target customers instantly and search services are analysing every user’s searches and revealing the world’s gestalt.

      Efficiency won’t improve overnight, but it will happen, because of high speed net.

    • TheRealDave says:

      03:56pm | 17/12/12

      You’d think that a political party that allegedly supports the business community would be keen to embrace anything that will improve business efficiencies, productivity, availablity, external relationships AND cost less per month on the company bottom line…wouldn’t you??

      Apparently not, but only because it wasn’t their idea….

    • Robinoz says:

      11:47am | 17/12/12

      I stayed in two time share resorts at Bali for two weeks and received free, quality wifi Internet; no disruptions, no slow downloads ... everything worked perfectly. In our so-called first world country at Alice Springs, most evenings it’s almost impossible (and often impossible) to connect to the Internet using wifi from Bigpond. Rush on the NBN if that’s any better.

    • Pro says:

      11:49am | 17/12/12

      Telstra is a disgrace. I’m currently on an optus plan that’s supposed to be wireless. As soon as the phone rings, the connection fails. I called the customer services, thankfully an Australian picked up and told me to connect a filter, which i did and the wireless worked, until a few days later, when it started dropping off every time the phone was used. Would anyone know whether iinet is a good option??? My plan is over and i just need the internet, not the phone bundle. They have reasonable prices compared to the others, but how does it rank in internet reliability???

      Telstra is out of the question.

    • St. Michael says:

      05:56pm | 17/12/12

      I can speak for iiNet.  In short, a shitload better service than Tree, Telstruck, and SubOptimal put together.  Yes, you do have waiting times, and the Indian call centre thing is there, but they actually seem to know what they’re doing, which is always nice.  Never had a significant problem with them, and if I did have a minor problem they usually got it fixed during that call or within 24 hours maximum.  Thoroughly recommend them.

    • Bho Ghan-Pryde says:

      11:54am | 17/12/12

      Oh No you poor deprived thing. This is terrible. Please tell us all your first world problems - don’t stop at this one. Did they forget to stock your favourite ice-cream flavour perhaps? You must have other stories of first world misery to relate. There must be something. Do people not listen to you?
      Funnily enough I go to Sydney quite often and never have a problem with mobile internet from Bigpond 3G or G3 or G4 or what-ever it is. It may not be fast enough for online gaming and porn downloads (I do not know) but it works just fine for everything else. Cheer up Princess and could I suggest a trip to the hardware store for some stiffener.

    • Pro says:

      12:08pm | 17/12/12

      When you pay $130 a month to have internet that only works a quarter the speed it’s supposed to and not when the phone is busy, you kinda want your moneys worth. Btw i may sound insensitive, but we shouldn’t worry about the 3rd world problems until we fixed our own here, internet ranking last on our to do list. All we do about the developing countries is give money which doesn’t end up in the right hands anyway. So, you go on and worry about the rest of the world. Go live there, without your 3G internet, clothes, computer, food, water, home. Think of the bright side. You won’t be paying bills or a mortgage!

    • TheRealDave says:

      03:59pm | 17/12/12

      Exhibit two - fast internet is ONLy for porn and pirates.

      Yup, lack of originality is also a common LNP shill account trait.

    • Bob says:

      04:23pm | 17/12/12

      Wireless is a crap solution for the masses. Plus, roughly half the developed world’s economy relies on the internet in one way or another. It’s worth it. My one hope with this government was that it survived until the NBN was progressed enough that it would be necessary to keep working on it. Beyond that, the failure has been epic.

    • eternally confused says:

      05:26pm | 17/12/12

      I dont know much about internet connections but I know mine just sucks.I moved to a new house and have no landline - 5K to put underground cables in so Telstra put me on 4G wireless.But apparently I get 3G beacuse it doesnt pick up the signal(?)Very slow so I complained and they sent me a device that I was mean to “put near the computer” - It arrived in a big tube and it resembles a largerubber whip.I have no idea where it’s meant to go (be nice!) or what it’s meant to do.Perhaps Im meant to slap a telstra tech with it?Anyone else been sent one of these?

    • Andrew says:

      05:28pm | 17/12/12

      Gotta say Brad, had a ditto experience to your’s with Telstra, combined with phone drop outs, having to re-tell the story to Some Indian call centre folk on innumerable times over one whole day I dedicated to setting up broadband 2 years ago. And it took a further 3 weeks of similar at night to finally get some correct t6echnical intervention. Kept a log of the contacts and there were about 40 calls. Very frustrating and can empathise with you in your experience.


Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

The Punch is moving house

The Punch is moving house


Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?


Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”


Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings


Tim says:


From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go

Kel says:


Gentle jabs to the ribs

Superman needs saving

Superman needs saving




Read all about it

Sign up to the free newsletter