Dropped my NBN modem in the recycle bin

[glend (Glen)]

I was so sick of the ever deteriorating NBN service, where I was paying for 50 down and 20 up, but getting 20 down (If lucky) and 2 up, that I cancelled it and threw it in the recycle bin. The network provider blamed the copper lead in cable, not so, it's a cop out. In off peak periods, like the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, it was great (so stop blaming the cable section). No the problem is congestion, all these work from home people, businesses hogging bandwidth, and providers giving bandwidth priority to big payers. It comes down to lack of sufficient network capacity, load shedding, and Mux programming decisions.

So i scrapped dealing with any NBN related service. This is after trying out my 5G phone as a Hotspot. Good 5G coverage in all the places I go, why not go wireless. Even on the phone hotspot my performance was wonderful.

So during the Boxing Day sales I bought (from the Good Guys) a dedicated multi device Hotspot, the Inseego Mifi 5G Pro. I can report it is a wonderful device and does everything I want, runs simultaneously everything I have, including 4k streaming services. Speed test reveal over 90 meg down and 50 up, with four devices working, during the daytime. Battery lasts all day in constant use, and recharges quickly. Obviously, performance can vary, and I live in a regional area, but for now it was a good choice.

You will need to get a 5G SIM to stick in the Inseego, but there are cheap work arounds, depending on your area, for example: I am currently using a Boost pre-paid SIM (which uses the Telstra network), which i had in my backup phone. It runs 5G, because that is what Telstra is using in my area, elsewhere it might default to 4G, but I need to test that.


PS, the Inseego will have paid for itself ($399) after four months, which includes the refund I got from Aussie Broadband for cancelling. Longer term I will move to a Telstra 5G SIM which gives me data sharing feature between my phone and the Inseego.

[By.Jove (Jove)]

We were NBN'd 14 months ago, and like you it was a disaster.

5G unfortunately isnt available at my place... over the past 12 months I tried 4G modems from Vodafone (terrible) Optus (about as bad) as NBN and Telstra (works OK most of the time). On Telstra note though there is a data cap - the largest being 600GB and with a family it's possible you'll hit it.

If you have a house with a good view of the sky and somewhere to put the disk on the roof, Starlink could work for you - the monthly cost was half what Telstra charge for 4G with 600GB/month. The latency is longer which might or might not matter, and I got 90Mbps when it could see a satellite. Ultimately though I sent the Starlink box back for a refund as I dont have enough sky to make it work properly, and stuck with 4G.

NB one thing i found helped a lot with 4G was to add a little 12dbm antenna outside, on the end of a cable under a fly-screen. Getting 100Mbps down and a solid 2-4Mbps up.

[Crater101 (Warren)]

For what it's worth...I've lived for the last 12 years in a rural area outside of Bathurst. Mobile internet is hit 'n' miss at best, as is the phone signal, because there's only one tower a lonnnng way away.


The landline exchange is at the end of the street, less than a block away. And it's rated to ADSL-1. No, that's not a misprint.

[By.Jove (Jove)]

We are 200m from the telephone exchange at the end of our street, and NBN is useless. I gather our neighbours all experience the same.

[dikman (Richard)]

One of the potential problems with 5G is as more and more people start using it then it too will become congested. We were sold a turkey with the NBN, courtesy of Malcolm Turnbull and the Libs. Fibre to the premises (the original intention) was a winner but switching to using the copper cable network (cost saving!) was never going to be a good idea. Amongst other issues is that when Telstra "sold" the copper network to NBN it did not include all the maps showing pit locations and cable details. Plus many of the pits had asbestos in them which NBN then had to remediate. Up to a couple of years ago they were still sending out contractors without knowing where pits and joints were located. Many of the joints were perfectly adequate when the phone system fed 48V DC down the line but as soon as you went to very low voltage /high data rates they just couldn't handle it.
It has cost NBN far more in trying to maintain an aging copper network, and push its use far beyond what it was ever intended to do, than if they had run in fibre everywhere as was originally intended.

And we won't mention the "technical ability" of some of the contractors......

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

Great Idea ....hmmm, says system requirements include Win 10 /11 ....I'm running Win 7 Ultimate 64 Bit

https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/insee...o-5g-100249974

Good way to go I reckon ...will look into this.

Thanks Glen

Col....

[glend (Glen)]

Originally Posted by FlashDrive

Great Idea ....hmmm, says system requirements include Win 10 /11 ....I'm running Win 7 Ultimate 64 Bit

https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/insee...o-5g-100249974

Good way to go I reckon ...will look into this.

Thanks Glen

Col....

My WIN8 system will not connect to the Inseego box via wifi, but I believe it mayl be ok on the Ethernet cable port ( yet to try that out). My Dell Optiplex micro computer, running WIN10 connects via wifi just fine. So maybe try the Ethernet port first.

[toc (Tim)]

Well to highlight the digital divide - I was lucky enough to get Kevin Rudd's Fibre To The Premise NBN (I was in an area that was a second release site) so I have 1 gigabit download speeds, and extreme reliability. Came into its own when working from home that is for sure!

My experiences with the NBN have been unbelievably positive and it still depresses me no end that we are in this situation.

5G will definitely go down the tubes as more and more people get on to it, so enjoy it while it lasts.

[Sunfish (Ray)]

I have had a Telstra modem for NBN in my home office for years. It does help the exchange/mobile tower is 1.5k away and the NBN node is 500m and on the main road.

Works fine and has a 3/4 g backup which automatically connects if the cable is interrupted. Works seamlessly with four of us working from home with a wireless extender uploading GB of work files.

Two problems I have had over the years is the Sol Trojillo update cable connection in the street pit outside which was repaired promptly at no cost and the short cable into the building first point from below the floor. Paid for that one but it worked and was cheap. TBH it did look pretty ratty being 30 years old.

So if you have old cables get them fixed at the building entry and if you have an NBN modem , demand one with a 4g backup in case you accidentally unplug your cable. Yep works then too as I found out just before Christmas.

[AdamJL]

People voted for this! NBN should have been done right from day 1. Fibre all the way. Every eligible household.