The wonderful NBN.

[Guest vagabond]

On 29/11/2019 at 8:04 AM, vagabond said:

Like clockwork*, it is now estimated for January next year.

 

 

 

 

*not actually a clock or anything that measures or displays actual time.

Aussie Broadband called me, NBNCo have told them I am being connected on 17th January.

 

How we laughed!!!!

[Steve M]

Telstra NBN disaster! I was hoping this was not going to happen to me, but sadly it has.

 

As at 12 December 2019, my house was connected via Telstra cable broadband yielding up to 80MB of speed, which was fantastic. As such I have been holding back connecting to NBN. On that day, I receive a call from Telstra saying I needed to connect to NBN urgently before the 28 February deadline to avoid potential higher costs after that date. Subsequently, they booked me in for an NBN connection on 19 December. All sounded OK ...

 

Problem #1.   Nobody from Telstra turns up at my door after me waiting around all day for them on 19 December. I ring them and they say “Oh, didn’t anyone inform you your booking has been rescheduled to 30 December”. Nup, no one from Telstra advised me.

 

Problem #2.  On 30 December The NBN is connected to my home under a 46MB plan, except that there is something wrong at the tap in the street and my house is only getting a pee-poor 1-3MB speed! 
 

Problem #3.  Telstra tech says the issue should be fixed by late afternoon. No it isn’t fixed that day! 
 

Problem #4.  Next day I ring Telstra, they say wait for a couple of more business days. Nope, still not fixed after that time. They say again wait a week and it should be done by then. You guessed it, still not done by that time! 
 

Problem #5.  I ring Telstra again and now I am advised that the NBN contractor has logged me for a resolution by 16 March 2020!   Someone on the Telstra tech team suggests that I disconnect the NBN black box and white modem and to reconnect my old Telstra cable modem and it should be fine and I will get back my previous good speed. 
 

Problem #6.   I reconnect my old modem and nup - it doesn’t work anymore as something has been reconfigured at the Telstra end?? 
 

Problem #7.  Here we go again, I ring Telstra about the above and firstly this new technician says my NBN job to fix the street problem has now shifted from 16 March to 25 March
 

Problem #8. Again, why has no one from Telstra advised me of this change of date? 
 

Problem #10.  Secondly, this latest technician tells me I was given the wrong advice about reusing my old modem, as it will no longer work as NBN has been configured for my home and I have no choice but to use the slow connection at 1-3MB until the 25 March.

 

So there you go, it seems I have to tolerate 3-4 months of SLOW internet  until the problems are fixed in the street ...is this Telstra/NBN Co’s service at its best? what a schermozzle! 

 

*I’m not sure what to do here folks? I have thought about moving to TPG or Tangerine service providers, but I am concerned that the 25 March commitment to fix the problem may be further delayed.

 

(Sorry, but I can’t use my usual ‘Cheers, Steve’ salutation as its all just too sad)

 

 

 

 

.

Edited January 11, 2020 by Steve M

[aussievintage]

3 minutes ago, Steve M said:

Telstra NBN disaster! I was hoping this was not going to happen to me, but sadly it has.

 

As at 12 December 2019, my house was connected via Telstra cable broadband yielding up to 80MB of speed, which was fantastic. As such I have been holding back connecting to NBN. On that day, I receive a call from Telstra saying I needed to connect to NBN urgently before the 28 February deadline to avoid potential higher costs after that date. Subsequently, they booked me in for an NBN connection on 19 December. All sounded OK ...

 

Problem #1.   Nobody from Telstra turns up at my door after me waiting around all day for them on 19 December. I ring them and they say “oh, didn’t anyone inform you your booking has been rescheduled to 30 December”. Nup, no one from Telstra advised me.

 

Problem #2.  On 30 December The NBN is connected to my home under a 46MB plan, except that there is something wrong at the tap in the street and we are only getting a pee-poor 1-3MB speed! 
 

Problem #3.  Telstra tech says the issue should be fixed by late afternoon. No it isn’t fixed that day! 
 

Problem #4.  Next day I ring Telstra, they say wait for a couple of more business days. Nope, still not fixed after that time. They say again wait a week and it should be done by then. You guessed it, still not done by that time! 
 

Problem #5.  I ring Telstra again and now I am advised that the NBN contractor has logged me for a resolution by 16 March 2020!   Someone on the Telstra tech team suggests that I disconnect the NBN black box and white modem and to reconnect my old Telstra cable modem and it should be fine and I will get back my good speed. 
 

Problem #6.   I reconnect my old modem and nup - it doesn’t work anymore as something has been reconfigured at the Telstra end?? 
 

Problem #7.  Here we go again, I ring Telstra about this and firstly this new technician says my NBN job to fix the street problem has now shifted from 16 March to 25 March
 

Problem #8. Again, why has no one from Telstra has advised me of this? 
 

Problem #10.  This latest technician also tells me I was given the wrong advice about reusing my old modem, as it will no longer work as NBN has been configured for my home and I have no choice but to use the slow connection at 1-3MB until the 25 March.

 

So there you go, it seems I have to tolerate 3-4 months of SLOW internet  until the problems are fixed in the street ...is this Telstra/NBN Co’s service at its best? what a schermozzle! 

 

*I’m not sure what to do here folks? I have thought about moving to TPG or Tangerine service providers, but I am concerned that to the 25 March commitment to fix the problem may be further delayed.

 

(Sorry, but I can’t use my usual ‘Cheers, Steve’ salutation as its all a sad turn of events)

 

Commiserations of course -   but why on earth do people continue to use Telstra?  Every dealing I have with them (on behalf of a club I help out at) is an absolute disaster like the above.  They have failed to keep appointments, sent the wrong stuff, sent other stuff to the wrong address, mixed up our account with a different club, delayed, failed to inform, the list goes on.

[Telecine]

Contact the Telecommunications Ombudsman. Tell Telstra that you going to first.

[Batty]

After Telstra messed up my NBN connection (from cable)I went wireless 4G with Optus, initially great speeds, but they slowed over the months.

I am now a happy NBN user with Aussie Broadband.

 

Telstra had 6 attempts at connecting me to the NBN, ABB did it in 10 minutes.

 

You do not have to stick with Telstra.

Edited January 11, 2020 by Batty

[Guest Muon N']

Move and tell them you are doing so, and why.........how much worse could it be in the long run?

[GregWormald]

On 11/01/2020 at 6:45 PM, Muon N' said:

Move and tell them you are doing so, and why.........how much worse could it be in the long run?

Yup--this. 

I have had great service from Internode for years.

BTW--tell Telstra you want your money back because of their failure to deliver.

[soundbyte]

On 11/01/2020 at 7:15 PM, Muon N' said:

Move and tell them you are doing so, and why

I recently cancelled a mobile plan that I had used for about 17 years, the actual Telstra shop in Hobart CBD refused to help me cancel the service, I had to ring up, no choice.

When I rang the person at Telstra was not interested in wanting to know why I was cancelling, just that the number would be deactivated within 5 minutes of ending the call, "is there anything else I can help with today"?

Pretty much no value in telling Telstra anything, if you feel it necessary to move (I would suggest that you do if you are not happy) just do it, there are lots of other service providers with plans that provide much more than Telstra does and they are usually cheaper.

On 11/01/2020 at 7:15 PM, Muon N' said:

                                                                            .........how much worse could it be in the long run?

Probably a lot better off in the long run.

 

As for being with Telstra for the best coverage, that is not necessarily the case, in a few places that we visited in 2018, some outback towns had only Optus coverage at that time, not sure if that has changed?

Glad I had an Optus compatible SIM at that time.

 

[Guest Muon N']

10 minutes ago, soundbyte said:

I recently cancelled a mobile plan that I had used for about 17 years, the actual Telstra shop in Hobart CBD refused to help me cancel the service, I had to ring up, no choice.

When I rang the person at Telstra was not interested in wanting to know why I was cancelling, just that the number would be deactivated within 5 minutes of ending the call, "is there anything else I can help with today"?

Pretty much no value in telling Telstra anything, if you feel it necessary to move (I would suggest that you do if you are not happy) just do it, there are lots of other service providers with plans that provide much more than Telstra does and they are usually cheaper.

Probably a lot better off in the long run.

 

As for being with Telstra for the best coverage, that is not necessarily the case, in a few places that we visited in 2018, some outback towns had only Optus coverage at that time, not sure if that has changed?

Glad I had an Optus compatible SIM at that time.

 

Yes, if you are just cancelling the service that will be the case, but if you are changing a 'mobile phone' service to another you just sign up with the new one and make sure you request keeping the same number and they churn it over as the term is. The Telstra service is terminated as a result and you will be billed for what is outstanding but have no requirement to contact them what so ever.

 

Separately, I once rang Telstra to check if a service I cancelled (internet service) had been carried out as it should have been, before answering my inquiry the guy on the other end asked me if I had any other services with Telstra and I answered 'no", he then hung up.

 

I was with Telstra for many years and swear never again to use their services.

[zippi]

My area finally went NBN-live just before the New Year. In anticipation of this I signed up for ABB 50/20 during Dec 2019. ABB configured the hardware and sent it promptly 2/1. Arrived 4th of Jan 1pm-ish. Hooked everything up and by 2.30pm had a solid 46mbps downstream and 19mbps upstream running. Has not skipped a beat since.

 

I wanted to churn to ABB from Internode for couple of years and was less than happy with Internode ever since the sale to IINet and the takeover by TPG, however ABB could not make the churn happen until we had NBN (because we had digital only "naked" service and no actual traditional phone number/line - or some such...).

 

The only fly in the ointment is the fact our Internode monthly rollover date is the 2nd. So from midnight 2nd of Jan to 2.30pm 4th of Jan  - Internode will charge us the full months fees. I wonder why I ever left.....

Edited January 14, 2020 by zippi

[Tweaky]

The NBN has been very recently cabled in my area, but still not available as yet.

I had a email from iiNet that FTTB was available to me a few months back, I finally decided to take it up on Thursday, had the new modem delivered to me the next day, and got connected on the Tuesday.

Now getting a average of 89mbs instead of the 9mbs via ADSL2+, and that's in a old 60's built building with not the best of copper wiring.....I opted for the VOIP for a extra $10 PM, so that save me $100 a quarter from Telstra landline payments.

 

Only bummer with the whole thing was having the tech sorting it out.

 

I don't know if he screwed my PC up, or it was a unfortunate coincidence.....a bit of both me thinks.

 

Prior to him arriving I had been surfing the web and answering emails without problems.

Once he went and switched things over from ADSL2+ he returned and asked if he could use my desktop to sort it out, things went down hill from there.

 

He got the WIFI working OK and stayed to see that it was working with my iPhone, problem is 99% of my gear is wired up, I tried getting that working but it wasn't happening, he said sorry I have to go and see another client and basically ran out the door.

 

I was peeved at this, but I can usually sort things out, so I tried to do it myself.

I don't know what this guy did, but my main Desktop PC just wouldn't connect to the internet, and just froze.

 

Eventually I tried turning the new modem off then on again, which worked, but the problems were bigger.

 

It's a WIN7 Pro PC, it just so happened that their were updates trying to install when he decided to turn my PC off and start it up again...[Don't let strangers touch your PC is the lesson to be learned here] that froze the PC, and eventually made the C drive invisible to the OS , so WIN7 wouldn't load.

It took me over 10 hours to finally get my PC working again, and that's only because I build my own PC's and had the OS Disc to load off [I had to rip out all other HD's from the PC as a last resort] before it would work, and that was after several hours of Microsoft trouble shooting trying to fix the problem.

 

I'm just glad it's over and thankful that I'm on holidays and had the time to fix it.

[Guest vagabond]

On 20/12/2019 at 3:44 PM, vagabond said:

Aussie Broadband called me, NBNCo have told them I am being connected on 17th January.

 

How we laughed!!!!

Can't wait for tomorrow! That's when NBNCo change the proposed connection date, it's always fun to move to the next lie.

[cafe67]

Day 1 on being on nbn = epic fail

"Hi Dave,

We understand that this has been an ongoing issue and we are working with the network provider through feedback processes to get this escalated.

It looks as though there was an issue having NBN recognise the presence of a fault which we have now resolved and are awaiting updates from NBN to provide us with further information.

Our faults team are monitoring this."

 

Bare in mind i lost adsl 10 days ago due to " a break in the line" and " telstra wont fix the break because my street now has NBN"  and had no choice to go to NBN

 

edit 

 

nbn techie came out today firstly to our house lots of ohh wow , then off to the node apparently not far away, then came back, but more wowing. Then on to the phone to iiNet, conversation included what are you doing, why is this taking so long. Then all done. 
 

Spoke to techie, he said you were never connected to the nbn in the first thats why it didn’t work. 
 

now to get voip working 

 

edit 

 

it it took until last night 23/1 to get VoIP working even then   I have to use the default answer location of nsw , if I select wa in modem property, VoIP drops off. 

Edited January 24, 2020 by cafe67

[Guest vagabond]

On 20/12/2019 at 3:44 PM, vagabond said:

Aussie Broadband called me, NBNCo have told them I am being connected on 17th January.

 

How we laughed!!!!

ABB tell me I have a new connection date of 31st January. They claimed this was a good sign, because many people are now being shunted to the end of June.

 

[Guest vagabond]

On 22/01/2020 at 9:39 AM, vagabond said:

ABB tell me I have a new connection date of 31st January. They claimed this was a good sign, because many people are now being shunted to the end of June.

 

So, on 31st January, ABB called me and said we can be connected. They express posted the NCD out, I connected it last night and it all works as promised.

 

Happy now.

 

 

[rantan]

1 hour ago, vagabond said:

So, on 31st January, ABB called me and said we can be connected. They express posted the NCD out, I connected it last night and it all works as promised.

 

Happy now.

 

 

Gotta love ABB. They are the best company that I deal with on a continual basis.

[Guest vagabond]

We had internet for one week, we have had no internet for 9 days since. NBN have scheduled then changed the time on which they are coming to fix it 5 times. ABB have been pretty good with the communications and hassling NBNCo, but their hands are pretty much tied.

 

I've dealt with some shocking companies in the past who had no clue about providing the service paid for by customers. NBNCo are the worst I've ever encountered, even though, thank the Lord,  I've not had to deal with them directly.  It took them 18 months to finally deliver a connection and now that isn't working and they seem to have no problem with not fixing it.

 

They are total ****, worse than Telecom at their peak awfulness.

[aussievintage]

2 hours ago, vagabond said:

They are total ****, worse than Telecom at their peak awfulness.

Truly frightening

[Indrid]

Moved into a recent housing development with FTTP. When viewing the unit 2 of the duplex, I asked the agent about the NBN. She said yes, it has NBN. I saw an NBN box near the front door. So, we took the place.

 

So, it’s been two months now and no NBN. After Telstra and NBN trying to figure out what’s going on, it turns out the people in unit 1 didn’t go through the NBN address verification process and simply took the entire property as their own, meaning they should have had their ISP set it up as Unit 1 number 7 BLahBlah Street, instead just got their connection as 7 BlahBlah Street. Long story short, Unit 2 will never have any telephone or NBN services. Of course, there’s no copper or ADSL, there’s just nothing. Real Estate agent won’t help. Telstra won’t help. NBN won’t help.

 

Moral of the story, do your due diligence.

[Guest vagabond]

On 20/02/2020 at 9:23 AM, vagabond said:

We had internet for one week, we have had no internet for 9 days since. NBN have scheduled then changed the time on which they are coming to fix it 5 times. ABB have been pretty good with the communications and hassling NBNCo, but their hands are pretty much tied.

 

I've dealt with some shocking companies in the past who had no clue about providing the service paid for by customers. NBNCo are the worst I've ever encountered, even though, thank the Lord,  I've not had to deal with them directly.  It took them 18 months to finally deliver a connection and now that isn't working and they seem to have no problem with not fixing it.

 

They are total ****, worse than Telecom at their peak awfulness.

Now two weeks without internet. We had, and I quote, "a firm booking" for tomorrow morning. Needless to say, they aren't coming tomorrow and can't say when they will.

 

Useless. May as well close this topic now because I can't see it getting much better in the short term.

[Addicted to music]

3 hours ago, vagabond said:

Now two weeks without internet. We had, and I quote, "a firm booking" for tomorrow morning. Needless to say, they aren't coming tomorrow and can't say when they will.

 

Useless. May as well close this topic now because I can't see it getting much better in the short term.

Time for you to lodge a complaint to the Telecommunications Ombustman...  don’t put up with the BS....  it’ll go on and on and that’s going with  ABB... 

As great as everyone saids about ABB,  I reserve my opinion of them, yes they are better than the average Jones and Telecom, but when it’s not happening and you’re told and promises are never delivered, go direct to the Ombustman, is amazing how quickly I had an a speed issue resolved after i lodge a complaint with them, I have a thread here on my journey with a speed  issue.   

[gator2310]

Yes you must complain officially to the ombudsman and copy in Telstra. It wont improve what is a broken system (the whole thing is badly conceived) but it will hurry Telstra into action. I find the service in our area to be pretty average with download speeds variable and communication from Telstra inconsistent to say the least.

 

We were plagued with issues from the NBN connection in late 2018. I signed up to Telstra platinum to avoid the hours of waiting on the phone - it costs but it was worth it at the time. However it wasnt until I made a formal complaint to one of the Platinum techs that an investigation was launched.

Things proceeded more quickly - but of course I was made to take time off work to wait for the techs - this was now December that we had a visit from the first tech - and this was when things got confusing. Telstra and NBN have separate territories and although the systems are supposed to be integrated, a tech from one company will not touch anything designated to the other. After all the waiting around and hours on the phone , the Telstra guy looked the modem and connections over and decreed all was fine-  although our connection had been dropping out for days. He then said we needed to book an NBN tech. That was when I flipped and wrote to Telstra and the TO. A week later I was assigned a local case officer from the complaints dept. and then given a date for the NBN guy to come. It was early January (about 36º) and this very unhappy guy arrived - looked at the NBN box, and then went under the house. No wonder he was grumpy-  because his job had been repairing dodgy cable connections - many (like ours) that had been incorrectly housed and were receiving regular bouts of water damage when it rained...many of these connections had been made either by Optus or Telstra, years earlier.

I'll leave the implications of all of that in the light of the NBN rollout to you.

Just recently we had a total dropout. To cut this story short, after several hours and checking the outage listings I rang platinum , was made to retest my hardware and then eventually told there was an outage in the area. They hadnt listed it and this had gone on for hours.....strangely my connection miraculously came good good while I was on the phone............who knows!!

 

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by gator2310

[proftournesol]

I found this concerning article on The New Daily

Quote

Broadband tax: NBN Co accused of ‘sneakily’ slashing regional spending

Isabelle Lane Journalist

1:00am, Feb 26, 2020

 

NBN Co boss Stephen Rue is under pressure to explain a $200 million reduction in fixed wireless spending. Photo: NBN Co/AAP/TND 

NBN Co has been accused of “sneakily” slashing $200 million in spending on regional Australia, while simultaneously pushing for a new regional broadband tax.

The tax of $7.10 per month per non-NBN fixed-line broadband user will come into effect on July 1, if the Regional Broadband Scheme Bill passes the Senate as expected, with the funds to be used to prop up NBN Co’s loss-making fixed wireless and satellite networks in regional and remote Australia.

• Read more: Cost ‘blowout’: NBN won’t be finished on time or within budget, telco experts say

The broadband tax comes as experts continue to call for a royal commission into the $51 billion taxpayer-funded network, citing transparency concerns. 

The missing $200 million

In 2019, the NBN Co quietly reduced its spending on fixed wireless technology – which is used to connect homes in regional and remote areas to the NBN – by $200 million.

The firm did not announce the funding cut, which was only discovered when a table outlining NBN Co’s spending by technology type was found to have been omitted from the firm’s 2020 corporate plan.

NBN Co has been accused of quietly cutting funding for fixed wireless. Photo: WhistleOut

NBN Co was then forced to release the missing data in response to a ‘Question on Notice’ submitted by Labor senator Anne Urquhart in September.

The data revealed that funding for hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) – a heavily criticised technology that researchers last year revealed has been used to connect 40 to 60 per cent of homes in the nation’s three biggest cities – had been increased, while funding for fixed wireless had been reduced.

NBN Co did not initially deny that it had slashed its fixed wireless spend, instead telling IT News that it had been reduced because the number of fixed wireless premises had been revised down due to inaccurate maps.

This explanation was walked back a day later, with an NBN Co spokesperson telling IT News that the money had been spent on HFC and FTTC instead.

This explanation was contradicted by NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue in a Senate Estimates hearing.

“There was no $200 million directed away [from fixed wireless],” Mr Rue said.

“We didn’t take $200 million out of fixed wireless and decide to spend it somewhere else.”

Mr Rue claimed the funding cut had nothing to do with a reduction in the number of fixed wireless premises, but that the money had been shifted forward four years, from FY19 to FY23.

However, for Mr Rue’s explanation to be correct, it would mean that NBN Co had originally planned to spend $0 on its fixed wireless network in 2023, despite fixed wireless networks requiring regular maintenance and capacity upgrades.

Last month, Mr Rue’s explanation was contradicted by NBN Co’s chief development officer for regional and remote Australia Gavin Williams at a Senate hearing.

In response to questioning by Senator Urquhart, Mr Williams conceded it was implausible that the NBN Co could go a year without investing any capital in its fixed wireless network.

“My opinion: I can’t see it,” Mr Williams said.

“There’s maintenance [capital expenditure] required on some of the equipment.”

Mr Williams later asked to take on notice the question of “where the $200 million is”.

When questioned by The New Daily, an NBN Co spokesperson refused to explain the inconsistencies in its public explanations of the missing $200 million in fixed wireless funding, instead pointing to the statement issued by the firm in October.

“NBN Co remains committed to the $1.6 billion Fixed Wireless capex budget outlined in the Corporate Plan 2019-2022,” the statement said.

“The variance in FY19 capex numbers purely relates to the slower build and activation activity in fixed wireless in that financial year and is not related to footprint dilution. We could have been clearer on this point.”

A spokesperson for Communications Minister Paul Fletcher repeated the NBN Co’s claims.

However, Labor communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland said the government had misled regional Australians.

Why is the Morrison government introducing a $7-per-month broadband tax, while sneakily cutting regional funding at the same time?’’ Ms Rowland said.

“Whether it’s broadband or energy, the Coalition are driving up prices, playing politics with technology, and misleading regional Australians.”

Mark Gregory, an associate professor in network engineering at RMIT University, slammed the NBN Co’s failure to spend the $200 million on upgrading its “underperforming” fixed wireless network in regional Australia.

Fixed wireless is underperforming and continues to have unacceptable congestion during peak periods,’’ Dr Gregory said.

“The $200 million CAPEX allocated in FY19 should have been used to improve the performance of the fixed wireless network.”

Dr Gregory called for a royal commission into the NBN rollout.

The only way we’re going to find out if the $51 billion has been spent in a reasonable way is through a royal commission,” he said. 

‘Poorly designed’ tax will leave regional Australians with ‘second-rate’ internet

The broadband tax will result in regional Australians continuing to “suffer” with “second-rate” internet, according to telco OptiComm.

In its submission to last month’s Senate inquiry, OptiComm said the “poorly designed narrow targeting of the tax” on non-NBN fixed-line services will allow bigger telcos including Telstra and Optus to bypass the NBN with mobile and wireless plans and “avoid paying the tax, therefore distorting competition and allowing them to avoid contributing their fair share to regional Australia”.

OptiComm said the tax “fails to provide adequate and sustainable funding” for regional Australia.

“Regional residents will continue to suffer with second-rate services as NBN Co will not be able to provide and update adequate infrastructure/capacity while it is paying for 95 per cent of the cost itself,” the firm said.

“The large cost of delivering good regional infrastructure without adequate funding will be unsustainable.”

Watch The News in 90 Seconds

 

[Addicted to music]

10 minutes ago, proftournesol said:

I found this concerning article on The New Daily

 

I’d say NBN can get stuffed! 
let’s see what Elon puts on the table 

 

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7967875/amp/Elon-Musks-ambitious-10billion-plan-fix-Australias-terrible-internet-getting-closer.html

[Guest vagabond]

On 24/02/2020 at 5:10 PM, vagabond said:

Now two weeks without internet. We had, and I quote, "a firm booking" for tomorrow morning. Needless to say, they aren't coming tomorrow and can't say when they will.

 

Useless. May as well close this topic now because I can't see it getting much better in the short term.

They fixed it late yesterday afternoon - the technician spent an hour or so in the pit, and the third replacement NCD worked. Good to have it finally done, but they can't expect me to be happy with how long it took to get out here.