NBN - Are they all slow?

[Batty]

I have been offered up to 250mbps, I cannot understand why I would need this speed atm, the 100mbps is more than adequate.

 

[LogicprObe]

 

I have FTTH and they just dropped my upload speed from 40 to 20 unless I pay extra! 

[Guest DrSK]

On 03/10/2020 at 10:25 AM, Batty said:

I have been offered up to 250mbps, I cannot understand why I would need this speed atm, the 100mbps is more than adequate.

 

I'd take it if I could get it, but use the cloud for all work files. And get over waiting for stuff to open at 104Mbps over NBN.

 

That is after getting used to 250Mbps on wireless 4GX near the city. Keen to check out 5G.

 

But at least ABB's 100 plan I'm on runs 20Mbps faster than Telstra's 100 plan and is $20 less than Telstra. 

[Wimbo]

I had the NBN connected the beginning of last year I think and I am with Aussie.

I had all the weird scenarios happen, even helped the first NBN tech who came out pull through the fibre as it wasnt in my part of the street.

Got around 80 metres of rope out of that.

Anyway, I had joined the 100/40 unlimited with Aussie and it's been great, until a cable broke in the house and I was advised by the Tech to get a Netgear Nighthawk wireless router with 4 of the matching Dongles and use that in the meantime until I got someone to go through the house and find where the break was.

So I did that. Now I have 100/40 wireless. I thought that was amazing seeing we are a gaming family with 4 computers throughout out the house plus Telstra TV via Roku in my bedroom and my eldest son's bedroom. I can do a speed test anytime and get figures in the 90's download and the 30's upload. No extender's and I'm about 30 metre away from the Wireless router. This is on 5 G .

So, for me it worked out well. Happy as.

Edited October 6, 2020 by Wimbo

[sloper]

We had NBN connected last month, FTC

Every time we do a  speed test it comes back with 90-92Mbs, very happy with that.

Hasnt dropped out, so for the moment it seems all good.

 

l do think the modem Optus gives you is crap, so we just use it as a gateway and let our TP link do the DNS and wirless work.

 

regards Bruce

[Anthony John Colbert]

My bigpond cable got disconnected in February so i had no choice but to go with NBN. I chose aussie broadband based on a couple of word of mouth recommendations. Been very happy with them so far. We are on the 100/40 tier and my speedtest results are usually between 100 and 108 mpbs down and 37-38 upload.

 

Regards Tony

[parrasaw]

In the Coffs Harbour area, we were one of the first places in the country to get connected to the NBN - all FTTP. before the FTTN crap came in.

While  I personally don't need the download/upload speeds which some others would like, I am not happy that Australia lags so far behind most comparable economies. Many Australian individuals and businesses could really benefit with the speeds which are available in other countries.  In a global economy, this matters.

 

In December 2019 we ranked 32 out of 34 OECD countries (and 68th globally), with average download speeds of 41.78 Mbps, while the global average is 73.58.

We had average upload speeds of 18.77Mbps, compared to the global average of 40.39.

New Zealand  ranked 14 OECD, and 24 globally with average 103.38 downloads.

 

In the August 2020 Speedtest Global Index, we came in at 61 globally with an average 54.55 Mbps for fixed broadband.

Singapore, ranked 1, had 218.07 average. Hungary 156.66 (10th), Andorra 129.69 (21), Barbados 95.36 (39) etc.

Global Average 84.33 downloads,

At least our mobile speeds were better - 68.23 Mbps (ranked 9).  Singapore at 113.01 was first.

Global average 34.82 Mbps download (mobile).

 

Labor had planned 93% FTTP, compared to the hybrid shambles we have ended up with, at a cost which will be similar to what could have been achieved with mostly FTTP (as the cost of such has dropped considerably in the last 4-5 years globally, as was predicted would occur).

 

To add to the good news, today's Sydney Morning Herald reports that

*  More than 850 employees at the NBN are paid above $200,000 p.a., with three quarters of the NBN workforce earning 6 figure salaries.

*  110 are paid between $300,000 and $400,000.  34 receive over $400,000 before bonuses,

*  Between February and June, at the height of the CV pandemic, NBN Co spent $265,000 on entertainment and function expenses.

*  Figures provided to the Senate committee .....as of September 9, 4859 0f the 6300 employees are paid in excess of $100,000 pa, including 733 employees on salaries of $200,000 to $300,000.

*  On Tuesday NBN Co received an additional $4.5 billion in the Federal Budget for an upgrade by 2023 to improve the speeds available.

*  CEO Stephen Rue received a $1.7 million salary package in 2019 and an extra $828,000 in short term incentives.

 

So, that's our NBN, and that's how we stand when compared to other countries.

 

Overall conclusion?   "Can do better"!

 

 

 

[parrasaw]

Couple of quick things to add:

1. Other sites such as webfx report different average speeds per country.  Rankings remain similar.

2. Has any SNA members looked at TasmaNet?   Interesting speeds etc.  May be worth a look?

3. Bahnhof in Sweden is offering "Sweden's fastest broadband in city networks; Speeds up to 1 Gbit/s".

A couple of years ago there was talk of up to 10 Gbit/s from Bahnhof, at around 50USD per month or similar.

 

We have a way to go down here.

[Hytram]

6 hours ago, parrasaw said:

To add to the good news, today's Sydney Morning Herald reports that

*  More than 850 employees at the NBN are paid above $200,000 p.a., with three quarters of the NBN workforce earning 6 figure salaries.

*  110 are paid between $300,000 and $400,000.  34 receive over $400,000 before bonuses,

All this information about what people earn in the NBN is useless unless it's compared to the same jobs in other telecommunications companies 

 

I haven't seen a massive chur of jobs to the NBN over the years so I don't think they are paying above average on the most part. 

 

Pay peanuts, get monkeys 

 

Very easy to earn 6 figures these days of you are qualified and work OT in the telecommunications sector (don't even need the OT) 

Edited October 9, 2020 by Hytram

[2Brix]

My NBN is fortunately FTTP (i suspect there must be some pollies living nearby ) and has been relatively glitch free.  Originally  went with 50/20 but i moved it up to 100/40 at the very start of the WFH 'iso' time.

 

Very occasionally i do run speedtest and it has always been around 92/36 ..so pretty close.  A few weeks ago however when i randomly checked it was running around 54/30 ...WFH or WTF? ...so i sent a pointed email.  Tech responded next morning saying it looked good from their remote test, and when i checked it was now running at 102+ ...better than it ever has...happy days....yo, man, i guilted them good XD

 

Checked again tonight, still all good 100+ sweeeeet

 

Cheers

Ticc

[parrasaw]

6 hours ago, Hytram said:

All this information about what people earn in the NBN is useless unless it's compared to the same jobs in other telecommunications companies 

 

I haven't seen a massive chur of jobs to the NBN over the years so I don't think they are paying above average on the most part. 

 

Pay peanuts, get monkeys 

 

Very easy to earn 6 figures these days of you are qualified and work OT in the telecommunications sector (don't even need the OT) 

I put in a few points from the SMH article only because it was public information which was made widely available yesterday.

 

After leaving school in the early 80s, our oldest son did a Telstra apprenticeship ( when Telstra was owned by, and returned an annual profit to the taxpayer).  He worked for them as a  highly skilled techie for more than 30 years.  I have nothing but respect for the knowledge and work which is required for installation of the NBN network, and agree with you about the money that is paid to those doing that work. - for their knowledge, experience and skill levels, they are certainly not overpaid.

 

Not so sure about the salaries and bonuses which paid to some of those at the highest levels in some of our largest corporations (but that is a separate discussion).

 

The other information about broadband speeds which are available in other countries is a concern though, I think.

For the public investment (more than $51 billion and counting) we should have access to a system which provides better.

As I said, I don't need more than I can access, but it would be useful to many businesses and individuals if they could access better, and that was the main purpose behind my contribution.

 

 

[TomAus]

18 hours ago, parrasaw said:

3. Bahnhof in Sweden is offering "Sweden's fastest broadband in city networks; Speeds up to 1 Gbit/s".

A couple of years ago there was talk of up to 10 Gbit/s from Bahnhof, at around 50USD per month or similar.

 

We have a way to go down here.

Interesting, Paul. I've just had a look at Bahnhof and the 10 Gbit/s plan (10 up/10 down) has now been made available to customers. Cost is approximately $65 per month. Very impressive, at least at first glance.

[keinesorge]

I'm finding a bit more initial latency compared to my adsl connection.

Once things get going its not slow.

 

I am also finding it diffcult to fully enjoy my NBN connection as it comes with a AR129 "huawei" business gateway.

It does not even allow for the SSID to be hidden.

 

My 10 year old netgear has this functionality.

[davewantsmoore]

On 04/10/2020 at 6:11 AM, LogicprObe said:

 

I have FTTH and they just dropped my upload speed from 40 to 20 unless I pay extra! 

Who is "they"?......  Note: That (the upload) is actually the bit that costs ISPs money.    On the internet you have to pay to send data places.

[davewantsmoore]

On 09/10/2020 at 5:59 PM, parrasaw said:

Overall conclusion?   "Can do better"!

Indeed... but it will only be a long term shambles if the political will to keep upgrading the network goes away (ie. if it gets sold without sufficient regulation).

 

The copper parts of the network will be capable of quite high speeds in the medium term..... many 100s of mbps for most of the current FTTN network..... and many any gbps for anywhere with nodes close to homes (eg. FTTB and FTTC.... and most of the curretn FTTN once the 2023 upgrade is done).

 

People are quick to call it a basket-case because of the technology or rollout decisions used..... and I agree there were bad decision...... but the real meat in the sandwich is the ownership and/or regulation..... and right now the mentality of the people is generally "government can't be trusted to NBN... so selling it wil be fine".

 

.... but that is the trap.    Sell it, maybe... but be very very careful about who controls the future (ie. you shoud get a vote about it and the policies should be designed to help you..... not a money for old rope corporation).

[davewantsmoore]

On 09/10/2020 at 6:36 PM, parrasaw said:

2. Has any SNA members looked at TasmaNet?

Yes... They are local here... and I have been a business customer (server hosting, etc.)

 

On 09/10/2020 at 6:36 PM, parrasaw said:

3. Bahnhof in Sweden is offering "Sweden's fastest broadband in city networks; Speeds up to 1 Gbit/s".

A couple of years ago there was talk of up to 10 Gbit/s from Bahnhof, at around 50USD per month or similar.

You can nearly get that here (1gbps) .... well for double the price.

 

~90% of households will have access (or at least speeds which are close) by 2023.

 

 

[Greg Orr]

In the federal treasurers seat I get constant 100mbit download speeds via nbn HFC

Edited October 13, 2020 by grorr76

[LogicprObe]

On 13/10/2020 at 1:35 PM, davewantsmoore said:

Who is "they"?......  Note: That (the upload) is actually the bit that costs ISPs money.    On the internet you have to pay to send data places.

 

Aussie Broadband.

[Steffen]

6 hours ago, LogicprObe said:

 

Aussie Broadband.

Same here. They told me that they’re going to cut me back from 100/40 to 100/20, or charge an extra $10 per month.

[LogicprObe]

7 hours ago, Steffen said:

Same here. They told me that they’re going to cut me back from 100/40 to 100/20, or charge an extra $10 per month.

 

This was the fastest plan available to me at the time but the new faster plans are a big jump in price.

Even though it's my business connection, it's hard to justify paying 50% more.