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Old 29-06-2020, 05:16 PM
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The ongoing joke that is NBN

We have had regular "by end of [insert month/date]" news about the NBN where we live for 3 years. Last pushback was till June 2020, and with it rapidly coming to an end, I checked status on NBN and Telstra.


Lo and behold, it says Ready to Connect (FTTC.... GRRRR). So, I start the change-over, and up pops "Due to COVID 19 we have significant delays and we strongly recommend you do not attempt to join the backlog queue" or something like that. So, I gave up again.


We shall suffer 6.9Mbps up, 0.28down for probably another months I guess.
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Old 29-06-2020, 05:21 PM
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We had similar issues at the start but worth it when it finally arrives!
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Old 29-06-2020, 05:31 PM
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For us about the same speed as ADSL and drops out at least twice a day. The Telstra modem / router periodically refuses to connect to http sites (as opposed to https) which needs a reset to fix. Utter rubbish.
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Old 29-06-2020, 05:38 PM
Xeteth (David)
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Sucks Lewis, I'm lucky to have a great connection but a mate of mine has suffered on a worse than dialup connection for about 5 years and has also been waiting for NBN. They've delayed it at least a year from initial forecast... don't think there's much you can do

A quick tip for those out there who are on Telstra since it's relevant. If you're having issues with your service (NBN, phone, whatever) - when you call up to try to get help make sure you lodge a complaint. Literally say the words "I would like to lodge an official complaint about this issue" and do not hang up the phone until they give you the complaint number.

Once that's done, you should be assigned a case manager - generally someone who doesn't just read off a script and can actually provide assistance. I've been navigating the woes of Telstra for a good 15 years and this is the best method I've found. Also feel free to ask your case manager for compensation for any issues you've had. I reckon I've had at least $500+ removed from my bills over the past 2-3 years through doing this.
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Old 29-06-2020, 05:39 PM
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Agree Richard. Telstra informs us we cannot get over 44 Mbps with the NBN due to the FTTC technology.


Why they won't even offer us NBN Satellite...yet a mere 10km away they have it.
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Old 29-06-2020, 05:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Xeteth View Post
Sucks Lewis, I'm lucky to have a great connection but a mate of mine has suffered on a worse than dialup connection for about 5 years and has also been waiting for NBN. They've delayed it at least a year from initial forecast... don't think there's much you can do

A quick tip for those out there who are on Telstra since it's relevant. If you're having issues with your service (NBN, phone, whatever) - when you call up to try to get help make sure you lodge a complaint. Literally say the words "I would like to lodge an official complaint about this issue" and do not hang up the phone until they give you the complaint number.

Once that's done, you should be assigned a case manager - generally someone who doesn't just read off a script and can actually provide assistance. I've been navigating the woes of Telstra for a good 15 years and this is the best method I've found. Also feel free to ask your case manager for compensation for any issues you've had. I reckon I've had at least $500+ removed from my bills over the past 2-3 years through doing this.

Yup, been doing just that since moving to Canberra. We've been waived 3 months of fees, given 2 new modems gratis (including one with the backup 4G ability), and most recent was $270 credit for ongoing issues.

Most pathetic thing is the Defence business hub literally spitting distance from us has had NBN for the past 3 months yet the last 50 metres seems to befuddle Telstra no end. The wiring etc was done 2 years ago right to our house (we were slated for FTTP, now its FTTC), and then...nothing. And still...nothing.
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Old 29-06-2020, 05:57 PM
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Originally Posted by LewisM View Post
Agree Richard. Telstra informs us we cannot get over 44 Mbps with the NBN due to the FTTC technology.


Why they won't even offer us NBN Satellite...yet a mere 10km away they have it.
28 down, about 9.6 up for us. I could maybe get a bit more by tidying up the cabling to the house (old screw terminal) but Telstra said that they can't do a lot better in our location and offered me a lower plan which would give the same speeds at less cost. Not what was spruiked a few years ago.
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Old 29-06-2020, 07:47 PM
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Our NBN service on the Sunny Coast is great. FTTP, 100 up and down, never missed a beat...
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Old 29-06-2020, 08:04 PM
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Lo and behold, it says Ready to Connect (FTTC.... GRRRR)

I would not complain about Fibre to the curb, those of us on fixed wireless would love to get that. Beautiful timing for them to cut three quarters of our upload speed for an almost indiscernible improvement in download speed, just in time to start working from home under COVID conditions. if 5G ever appears out here (All of an hour form the Melbourne CBD) and pricing is comparable, the NBN will shrivel and die in the FW footprint.
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Old 29-06-2020, 08:21 PM
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Agree Richard. Telstra informs us we cannot get over 44 Mbps with the NBN due to the FTTC technology.


Why they won't even offer us NBN Satellite...yet a mere 10km away they have it.
I am surprised that you can't get more than 44M for FTTC, I was able to get more with FTTN back in WA.

All satellite connections are restricted as the user rate goes up the maximum speed goes down. So there have to be strict guidelines. It will be interesting to see what Starlink will offer. Plus satellite is expensive. We could never use it for working at home. Why it goes down, I am not about to show the math even though it is one of the simplest engineering math it is still boring for most people. As an RF & Satcom engineer, I think that would be better left alone.

I am potentially looking at urban living but need to get more information on Fixed Wireless as South Australian regional towns are flooded with FW.
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Old 29-06-2020, 08:40 PM
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FW is lucky dip download wise.

Unfortunately they several months ago cut the maximum upload speed, initially it was supposedly to 5mbps, now it is 10 apparently, but I have not seen anything as "Blazing" as 10meg up in months, before when it was 20meg up we used to normally see about 15, now I am lucky to see 6. Digital divide firmly entrenched here.
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Old 29-06-2020, 08:44 PM
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Originally Posted by The_bluester View Post
FW is lucky dip download wise.

Unfortunately they several months ago cut the maximum upload speed, initially it was supposedly to 5mbps, now it is 10 apparently, but I have not seen anything as "Blazing" as 10meg up in months, before when it was 20meg up we used to normally see about 15, now I am lucky to see 6. Digital divide firmly entrenched here.
Yep as expected, this is the famous user rate goes up the speed goes down issue. I would like to know more about the technology they are using to determine whether they can upgrade or whether it is a case of steer clear of FW areas.
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Old 29-06-2020, 08:47 PM
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Originally Posted by LewisM View Post
Agree Richard. Telstra informs us we cannot get over 44 Mbps with the NBN due to the FTTC technology.


Why they won't even offer us NBN Satellite...yet a mere 10km away they have it.
Friend is on FTTC via TPG and is on 100/40. Biggest rate limiting step for FTTC is the copper link between your house and the curb. If it’s old and dodgy, you won’t get good speeds. It can be replaced. Telstra don’t want to have that argument with customers so don’t let you ask for anything above 50/20.

Satellite has latency of ~600 msec. I occasionally connect to a remote observatory via NBN Satellite (when the 4G link is down) - useable, but only just. Download speeds are ok, but it takes a while to wind up the rubber band. They use the satellite for data backhaul.

DT
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Old 29-06-2020, 08:49 PM
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When it was 50/20 a tower was not considered in need of upgrade until users were getting less then 6mbps down in peak times, urgent was 3. Now it is “Up to” 100meg and it is fine so long as you can get 25meg download at ANY time of day. 25.01 mbps at 3am, all good.
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Old 29-06-2020, 08:55 PM
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When it was 50/20 a tower was not considered in need of upgrade until users were getting less then 6mbps down in peak times, urgent was 3. Now it is “Up to” 100meg and it is fine so long as you can get 25meg download at ANY time of day. 25.01 mbps at 3am, all good.
This is where good management of your data transfers can help. Planning for uploading and downloading at specific times usually takes the strain of the system.

Towers usually only affect people at longer distances, it is as you said upgrading to 50/20 it where it really starts to play an important role. Although as more users go up the distance for good reception goes down as well. So much to consider, but as long as they continue to upgrade there is a chance for me.

Curious does FW have unlimited accounts like Fibre plans in the Urban areas?
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Old 29-06-2020, 09:57 PM
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Why do we use FTTC instead of the correct FTTK?

Here in Oz we spell the edge of the road as KERB, not CURB!

Just saying...
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Old 30-06-2020, 06:02 AM
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This is where good management of your data transfers can help. Planning for uploading and downloading at specific times usually takes the strain of the system.

Towers usually only affect people at longer distances, it is as you said upgrading to 50/20 it where it really starts to play an important role. Although as more users go up the distance for good reception goes down as well. So much to consider, but as long as they continue to upgrade there is a chance for me.

Curious does FW have unlimited accounts like Fibre plans in the Urban areas?

You can't plan your uploads when teleworking though. And to be honest, performance that is really hurting me (Upload) is a plain vanilla roughly 6mbps all day, every day anyway. The decision (Rooted in the idea that it is all about download, showing how little the people making the decisions actually understand) to cut the upload rate stymies work from home to a large degree. I have to work locally, log in to the companies VPN only when vital, and log out of it again when it is not. Unfortunately it means a lot of apps which take ages to open (GIS apps mainly) and work best via a remote desktop rather than VPN (By keeping the bulk data transfer inside the corporate network) fall over every time I need something that requires VPN. Not only does it take a long time to sync and upload, I burn another 5 minutes re opening programs every time I have to do it. Those lucky enough to be on just about any other tech sit on the VPN all day and use a citrix remote desktop within that for the really data hungry stuff.


PCH, we probably imported whoever did the naming.
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Old 30-06-2020, 08:07 AM
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As the real estate guys like to say, location, location, location. I have no issues with NBN performance at all, but I live within 100m of the fibre node box, even though that last 100m is over copper probably installed over 40 years ago when the area was built up. My area is still classed as rural, but ping response to say a Sydney router is less than a few ms. Download speed tests consistenly provide lowest of 12mb, but usually 20mb, and that is fine with me. I am on a budget plan with TPG. I am retired so I don't have to work from home or fight the Netflix bubbles that seem to happen each evening as workers get home, or fire up The Handmaid Tale.
Best time of day is anytime after midnight till dawn, haha.
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Old 30-06-2020, 09:14 AM
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We still have a bit over 200m over copper in my area but I still get 40/10 on a good day, 20/5 on a bad one. I went from dialup in the mid 90s to ADSL1 then ADSL2 and finally NBN. When ADSL started it was quite fast but slowed down dramatically with the rising number of connections. NBN is a lot faster than anything else we've had but it does slow down occasionally early evening when everybody's streaming on it I guess. When I download 30MB in a few seconds I remember setting up the dialup modem at 18:00 and check in the morning again before going to work. That's about how much you could download over 12h if there was no disconnection with ozemail at the time.
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Old 30-06-2020, 09:27 AM
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We've had NBN here in the upper blue mountains for two years now and it has been faultless, really can't tell the difference to the old ADSL. The phone works perfectly well. Just done a speed test and the results are shown in the attached image.
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