30,000 Households disconnect from the NBN | Dirt Report

[@TechManPat]

Did you just get connected to the NBN? Looking for great prices and local support? ► Sign-up to Launtel with code "TECHMANPAT" and receive a $25AUD credit. ► residential.launtel.net.au/residential/referral/TECHMANPAT

[@mrsrhardy]

4G/5G, StarLink ~ Im with vodafone, have 5 plans with shared data over 3 mb sims and 2 data sims with 20% savings! Bought a couple of used 4G modems for $20ea but if Starlink do a NZ half price plan and ill add it to my mix

[@BillRen-k3z]

There needs to be a real investigation into the NBN particularly into hiring ie who was hired and why. It was a cash cow haven for all sorts of senior level rorters since its inception

[@stewartcash555]

NBN is soooo yesterday, we have the NDIS now

[@kizzjd9578]

No different to Downer the current defence contractor. Big scam.

[@grobbosixtyone]

@@geesehoward7261 Yes and see how much cheaper our utilities have become since they were privatised

[@littlefurrow2437]

The minions of the private sector were the saboteurs, dude.

[@michaelmcclown5593]

@@geesehoward7261 We would still be on dial up if we would have.

[@xchazz86]

This is why you dont privatise utility companies into profit seeking cost cutters.

[@michaelhoggett3195]

Every utility already is. NBN is a private company with the government being a shareholder.

[@davidhunter9282]

But Australia is American and British company

[@andrewkerr5296]

The Free Market is making NBN Obsolete FoR pRoFiT cOmPaNiEzZ have made NBN redundant

[@j-1159]

All Australian government state or federal are private corporations so not much hope there 😎

[@rogerramjet6429]

​@@davidhunter9282rubbish. It's not an American company, which shows you have no idea.

[@michaelhoggett3195]

Ran my own WISP from 2017 - 2023 in Kooralbyn Community Broadband- happy to chat about some of the crap NBN pulled over those 7 years if it’s of interest.

[@paulzagoridis5785]

I’m up for a chat. Looking at a 32 apartment site

[@TechManPat]

Hey mate, I would be keen to hear, would you be able to send me an email ? It’s in the channel description

[@michaelhoggett3195]

@@TechManPat - sent to you via messenger. All the best

[@flytoday]

I got out of the vISP business in 2014 because the NBN was just too fucked up to make that business work.

[@Paradoxical124]

I am sick of the nbn’s 3rd world country internet speeds for 1st world prices.

[@hanksyflamework]

some 3rd world countries were already on fibre before australia even got an adsl1 rollout

[@woopimagpie]

That's the down side of having an extremely large area with a comparatively very small population. Our population density is one of the lowest in the world with only 3.5 people per square km. There are many advantages, but internet cost and speed isn't one of them.

[@t288msd]

Makes the 1000Mbs down 200Mbs up in my little UK village seem like light speed!

[@MrTewaka2]

I now live in Indonesia on a street with pot holes. My internet is 5x fasted than any time in Australia, for $30 a month.

[@joelkalpram]

Wow 😮

[@woopimagpie]

Indonesia has a population almost ten times that of Australia, in an area only one fifth of the size. 150 people per square km versus 3.5 people per square km. Hardly a fair comparison.

[@MrTewaka2]

@@woopimagpie that's my point congestion. Should make it worse not better

[@woopimagpie]

@@MrTewaka2 That's flawed logic. You're not considering the cost of outlay. Australia only has 15 million tax payers, that's less than 2 people per km of cable to be laid. Melbourne to Brisbane is a distance of almost 1800km, and that's just the lower east coast. Do the maths. The FTTP network in Australia is actually pretty good considering how little money the Government has to play with by comparison to Indonesia. Like I said. It's not a fair comparison at all.

[@scod3908]

@@woopimagpie the average wage in Indonesia is also reportedly

[@RyanG-ks9ev]

I got rid of home internet years ago. I get 180 GB on my phone plan for $70 which is more than enough to cover my needs. Easy enough to set up the phone as a hot spot when I'm home. I get that it won't suit everyone, but it's perfect for me, and $70 is quite affordable when you consider it's both my mobile and my home internet in one.

[@continental_drift]

I did the same, NBN was unreliable and too expensive. In fact dialup was better.

[@the.parks.of.no.return]

@continental_drift when I was installing it some techs were using scissors to cut the fibreglass bevause it was quicker. The speed of the connection was then checked , as long as the connection had a % of a top speed the installation passed. It means the speed of the connection was probably caused by the installer.

[@kiqueenbees]

I get 2 gigs a month from our telstra. That plus phone costs me $130 aud a month.

[@smellbag]

@@the.parks.of.no.return...and the submarines will suffer the same fate - outrageous cost blow-outs.

[@the.parks.of.no.return]

@@smellbag 500 billion dollar project

[@vicrigg9390]

The choice between putting food on the table, paying the mortgage or rent, energy bills, child care. The Internet is a luxury some people can't afford that's if they have somewhere to live.

[@boydwyatt]

Yup , were in rural NSW. Our steam powered sattelite skymuster thingy was $139 a month with lotsa drop outs and 5 mbps most times. Hopeless for anything but email. Then cames Saint Elon of Starlink , 150 mbps or better on average with standard router, no drop outs even in stormy weather. Huge download allowed. Complete game changer. The bush is no longer remote, were all teched up now and can do businesses we never dreamed of before. We have NBN in our sons town house, average 25mbps. Outages and still expensive. Thankyou Elon, you changed our lives and thats not an overstatement.

[@Fanta....]

Elon is a garbage human being, but even garbage can do good things and i'm grateful for that.

[@SuperMegaWoofer3000]

Same experience with Starlink. Skymuster is a joke.

[@josephj6521]

Shame. City folk are also hard done by. We live 10km from the city centre and have no fibre to the home and we cannot get uploads greater than 40mb/s. Joke. The rest of the world gets 1GB/s uploads at a lower cost than 20mb/s upload!

[@HotClown]

elon didn't do anything you absolute goddamn rube lmao

[@juliebeans7323]

40mbps.....?? that's huge....try living in western subs. I can't even get the quoted 25mbps.

[@markc6714]

The cost is insane, especially for pensioners

[@JohnZornig]

When I'm at my home in rural Italy I use a 4G mobile phone as a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth router. It costs 7.99 euro per month (A$13) for 150GB and I can turn it on and off on a monthly basis as needed. There is gigabit fibre connection available for 25 euro a month, but the 4G works fine for Netflix/Amazon Prime on the TV and general internet access. Here in Australia I'm paying $66/month for NBN + $25/month for mobile and I can't easily turn either on/off so I pay for 12 months a year even If I'm away half the time. So Internet in Australia is 17 times as costly for me.

[@mikewheeler9011]

Some companies do a 28 day month, so you pay 13 times a year. Amaysim mobile does this, but it's cheap/good for us and uses optus

[@newsgetsold]

I think you can get a much cheaper mobile plan in Australia. Try Coles, Woolworths or Catch. I paid $99 for a whole year with Coles.

[@GMCRaptor]

Most things are more expensive in Australia, we are suckers here

[@larion2336]

@@mikewheeler9011 My Optus plan (cheapest) is every 21 days I believe. It always annoyed me because it feels like you're getting ripped off for not even a months service - I barely use my phone, but need it for the occasional call.

[@woopimagpie]

Considering Italy's population density is 56 times that of Australia, your internet cost only being 17 times more expensive is actually a good deal when your consider the ratio of taxpayer to km of cable length.

[@AdrianPatten]

NBN should have been a “Not for Profit” - Can still achieve the same thing (financial and deployment wise)without the high costs and ongoing price rises. But hey, people need 2nd Holiday homes 😅

[@professornuke7562]

It was. Blame Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, and the money grubbing LNP.

[@RealisticAlternatives]

@@professornuke7562 Almost; Blame Murdoch for telling them to hamstring it so it didn't threaten his investment in Foxtel and/or newspapers... and them being so gutless and craven as to do what they were told.

[@Neil-yg5gm]

@@professornuke7562 Nope. NBNCo was set up by Rudd to be off-budget which means it has to charge enough to cover costs and make a profit.

[@josephking6515]

And *NINE YEARS* of a corrupt COALition do nothing govt didn't change anything except hobble to roll-out and deliver a farked infrastructure. If not for the State Premiers COVID-19 would have been a worse disaster like it was under trump in the US.

[@It_wasnt_me_dude]

​@@Neil-yg5gmcorrect. I don't know why all these people seem to be blaming the LNP. Then again, some can't remember what they had for breakfast.

[@wheelbarrow01]

New Zealand watched NBN closely and learned how NOT to build a fibre network. We now have fibre to the door for almost 90% of all homes and businesses nationwide. Every single one of them can get the 1000/500 plan for less than $100 a month from a number of RSPs, with 50/10 plans starting from $50. And Hyperfibre is now available at the majority of premises too - symmetrical plans of 2gbps, 4gbps, 8gbps and 10gbps. Most for less than $200. The competition from the various 4G/5G mobile operators plus the likes of Starlink is forcing the 4 main fibre network owners to keep their CPI price increases as low as possible. New Zealand has also started to withdraw copper services (expected to be completed nationwide by 2033) so the average user speed will continue to soar - we’re currently ranked around 20th fastest in the world (Aussie is 55th).

[@bigsiegee]

Australia was truly a master class in what not to do.

[@musicalneptunian]

Your revenge for the underarm delivery is complete. Your internet dismisses Oz for 3 runs before the first drinks break.

[@Mcwhi0]

It's a lot easier to serve a nation/population that small

[@stormblessed2673]

While you’re absolutely right that we bungled it and you guys in NZ did a great job with your net it’s also not a great comparison. Australia is a huge continent with its population sparsely spread, and NZ is smaller than a single state here. Even with good management there is no situation where Australia could have provided high speed nbn as efficiently and affordably as NZ did.

[@Paradoxical124]

Kiwis just have to try and make everything about them since nobody gives a shit.

[@davidandrew3187]

I went starlink because, after 6 appointments from NBN techs, 2 of which showed up, we still get 4 hr disconnects every time it rains, which would then require a 3 hr phone call, and stay home for a day, only for the weather to have dried off and the issue be gone. As a couple working from home, 20min from Hobart CBD, this was not acceptable. Starlink is not perfect, occasionally we get packet drops, that last a second or 2, and self heal. This coupled with being on the end of a copper run, meant we generally only got 12mbs anyway, so the plans didn't make sense. Yes we pay for starlink, but it is reliable and fast, not cheap and flakey

[@xpusostomos]

That's wild that you're happier with a satellite than a cable

[@alf699]

NSW, Mid North Coast. We were on copper and got no better then 3~5Mb/sec, if the weather was good. In the end we cut over to Starlink. Our area is middle to upper middle class and I am seeing more and more Starlink dishes on the roof. I was an early adopter and have the round dish, while the others around me have the rectangular dishes. I am a just retired Comms Tech with 35+ years in the field including Fibreoptic installation and performance diagnostic/fault finding. NBN are going to loose an absolute ton of customers in the near future as starlink is now fairly bullet proof, even in more hilly and wooden areas as the constellation is getting denser all the time with more of their satellites. Even my wife said that should NBN come in the near future with fibre to our street, we would not hook back up to them. I have removed the copper wiring and we are now clear of their mess.

[@Shigbeard]

I can tell you right now your problem is likely an improperly sealed pit. We used to have the same issue where I live, turned out a copper pit on our street would pool water in it whenever it rained and it'd short some exposed copper in that pit, killing our connection. You could arguably fix it yourself, but then you'll have Telstra/NBN breathing down your neck.

[@metaidentity]

FYI if you are willing to pay for 100mbps for just a few months, you get a free fiber installation.

[@8BitShadow]

@@metaidentity yesn't. Not every place is applicable (very few actually are), also you can request the free fibre upgrade the moment you start your service with an ISP that supports the free upgrade policy - you don't need to be at any specific speed for any amount of time. Unless they changed that, but even then I doubt places where it's applicable have grown much.

[@Tunnelrat6666]

NBN was the biggest cash cow for the right people this country has ever seen.

[@peteregan9750]

I was paying $25 a month for ADSL:2+ Unlimited, Then the NBN came along with thier $49 limited , Then unlimited. Stupid high price for really no better service! SOME ONES MAKING A LOT OF $$$$ OUT OF THIS!

[@larion2336]

Typical corrupt politics- use tax payer money to build the network, then sell the service at high cost back to the people who paid for it, to rake in more money, while still taxing them ofc. C**ks in every hole.

[@jessedyball9751]

Same for me!

[@monogramadikt5971]

lots of liberal politicians no doubt had some large donations made to their off shore cayman islands private accounts

[@GarthClarkson]

I once worked as the computer support manager at Telstra national office. It was when the word "broadband" was beginning to be bandied about. Their idea of broadband was the incredibly expensive ISDN. Managers of other infrastructure refused to allow it to be used for Internet and there was lots of political squabbling going on. John Howard said that broadband should be a right for all Australians. Telstra said "Screw you" and "who the hell do you think you are anyway?" That was the background to the NBN farce. None of the pollies understood the tech regardless of who claimed what and in the spirit of feathering their mates' nests the tender went to the highest bidder. Of course this was ridiculous. The initial cost was absurd. Everyone debates what topology should be employed but NO ONE addressed the actual issue. The trunks between exchanges were utterly insufficient to support an "information super highway". In REAL terms just upgrading these trunks would give far better performance, even on ADSL2, than either full fibre or FTTK , FTTN or HFC. This is still impacting services. It is NOT always the copper but more often cost cutting at the backbone infrastructure level. All the while the politicians bicker and throw bullshit at each other while the real culprits totally get away with it. Please don't fall for their misleading narrative. It is like having an eight lane highway from the suburbs to the city and from there is a hiking track between the cites, especially if you are in the country.

[@remplante]

As an Ericsson engineer once told me ISDN = It Still Does Nothing.

[@smellbag]

Paid for a Bentley, got a skateboard.

[@geoffv1737]

Will be disconnecting as I get alli want from mobile services , can't afford it anymore

[@alf699]

You are very much generalizing. As a Tech I know and actually talked to the Telstra guy working in one of our pits in the street. He had that many faulty copper pairs that it wasn't funny anymore. Telstra's solution was to install a multiplexer in the pit...LOL. We are about 6+km from the exchange. No amount of wishful thinking is going to get you high speed on copper at that distance. When I had ADSL2, the highest we ever got was 5Mbits/sec.

[@GarthClarkson]

@@alf699 I assumed that people are aware of the appalling performance of copper when it is regularly submerged in water like in Adelaide where it is really flat and in many CBDs like the bottom of Kent St, Sydney or Creek St, Brisbane. There have been many plans by Telstra to rectify these issues and I took it as a prerequisite for attempting anything like the NBN on existing infrastructure. My bad.

[@stephenmanning1553]

We live in the desert of Western Australia and will NEVER get NBN in a fit. We do have dial up NBN ish which will finish in 4 months. You have only confirmed what we were seriously thinking that Starlink is the only longer-term solution. Thank you for a very informative blog.

[@geoffsavage9442]

Amazons new satellite network due shortly will add to the mix and maybe compete with Starlink to further reduce prices

[@awlhunt]

Starlink is absolutely flippin’ awesome. The speed can vary wildly (I’ve had speed tests between 25mbps and 180mbps), but it’s always usable for streaming etc with a house full of kids. Just keep in mind that the Starlink modem/Wi-Fi access point doesn’t have an Ethernet port, so if you want to plug in a Wi-Fi mesh system to cover a larger area, you’re going to need to buy the Ethernet adaptor.

[@bobmarshall3700]

The whole thing pisses me off! I lived in Victor Harbor SA when the system was up graded to fibre right to my home. Three years ago I moved to Jamestown SA where we only had 'fibre to the node" and a supposedly "corroded, obsolete and outdated" copper network to most of the town. So it was surprising to find that my Internet connection here in Jamestown was just as fast, if not faster, than my fibre connection in Victor Harbor.....

[@hifigeek009]

Hard to believe.

[@GarthClarkson]

Does it ever rain enough to flood in Jamestown? It always seemed to be semi-desert to me... No chance for the copper to get degraded through soaking.

[@bigsiegee]

I moved onto Starlink - expensive, but my parents live in my granny flat and I go halves with them so it works out to be about the same cost as a normal NBN connection.

[@adam88099]

What advantage do you get over a normal nbn plan that you could also split in half? I can never understand the attraction. It's not fast and it's not cheap?

[@bigsiegee]

@@adam88099 My mixed wireless NBN plan was $80 a month and I think I maxed out at 2MB/s. Starlink is $140 (which is split at $70 each). My speeds are pretty much a minimum of 6MB/s. Major disadvantage is that it drops out during severe storms - lightning and all that. I guess fast is 'relative', for me it is much faster. I believe FTTN (for the few that were lucky enough to get it) is FAR better and cheaper than Starlink. If you live in the middle of city/surburb that has FTTN you wouldn't touch Starlink with a 40 foot pole. But for the majority of the country that has to suffer through the joke that is mixed-NBN with copper/wifi and you're happy to fork out a little more (or less in my case) it's a no brainer.

[@larion2336]

@@adam88099 For those with FTTN and crap old copper, they can get terrible speeds comparable to old ADSL lines. So, NBN is not worth it. In that case it's worth using Starlink for higher speeds.

[@Reilyreid]

@@adam88099 starlink is fast i was getting max 43 download on nbn

[@gregpennefather3495]

Yep, disconnected entirely from my FTTN service because of very frequent drop outs. Now using iiNet 5G and getting 4x the speed for $10 less per month.

[@leonkernan]

I’ve never used NBN at home, went straight from DSL to 4G and 5G years ago. Been getting 200+ speeds for years now

[@MrPrimeGlass]

My brother lives in Brisbane. His internet speeds are laughable. Australia is 3rd world when it comes to Tech. Starlink is going to put them out of business. What a bunch of idiots.

[@markallen8226]

I'm sorry to say something everyone, or most people in Australia know, we're lagging behind the rest of the world. A couple of previous comments about speeds in other countries is just taken for granted by them, and they get better pricing.

[@dennisbailey6067]

The first clue running land lines through Nbn was a bad idea,is that no power,no phone.Generation ADHD' won't care,but it means no comms in emergencies,times when infrastructure is down.

[@jonh9561]

Correction, the LNP never not claimed that copper was better than fibre as you stated, the decision to use a mix of copper and fibre was purely cost based.

[@ceemills]

It costs more in the long run and adds complexity to the network. Hence why NZ when all Fibre

[@palerider7708]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@ceemills Politicians are never good at the “long run”. The LNP were trying turn down Conroy’s gold plated socialist utopian version to stop the bleeding on their watch and NZ has a “somewhat” smaller land mass over which to roll out such a system, no?

[@adam88099]

Abbott claimed a lot of things. Are are correct. - Claimed that 25Mbps would be "more than enough" in 2013. He was wrong about that. - Claimed the private market would be able to deliver the service faster and better than the government. He was also wrong about that. There was zero incentive to deliver anything at all. The LNP was and continues to be wrong about just about every public service.

[@ceemills]

@@palerider7708 yep and yep. If you going build something. Do it once. Political point scoring doesn't help anyone.

[@H3kler]

And it ended up costing way more than just going fibre.

[@scotthoward5114]

I went to Starlink in rural Queensland. NBN services available were limited and expensive. Starlink was unbelievably easy to set up, the equipment was inexpensive ($199 to rural buyers) and the service is brilliant - fastest I’ve experienced and generally extremely reliable. Thank you Elon.

[@TheMelbournelad]

Not even rural. I’m blessed with fibre to premises and I still got starlink

[@anguslogue3778]

planning on ditching nbn next month, at our last house we were close to a node so i think the speed and reliability was much better, where I am now it is shockingly bad. drops out constantly and the speed fluctuates so much its not worth it. if i had stayed at my old house i would have stuck with it though tbh.

[@plukkaduck8347]

The answer is simple. NBN is too expensive and too slow. Thanks Elon, I love Starlink :D I disconnected my NBN connection :D

[@zamnell88]

Incorrect. Depends what connection you have. If you're lucky, as I am, you can get a 1000/50 for $99 a month with Leaptel which will reach 99% of the time 940/48 with a consistent ping of 3-4ms. At the same time, you could go with Starlink for $139 a month which is $40 more a month and get no where near the same speeds and also your ping will be nowhere near the same as FTTP. All this of course is depending on where you live in Australia but to say that Starlink is overall better/faster/cheaper is factually incorrect.

[@mwkoppe64]

I agree StarLink is awesome and i personally think it is awesome value for money, super fast, super reliable & well worth switching over to if you want reliable internet connection !

[@plukkaduck8347]

@@zamnell88 what I said is correct (for me).

[@davedonnelly8681]

@@zamnell88 I currently have the 1000/50 plan and it’s amazing value but your comment triggered my interest. If you consider “overall” in regards to coverage then star link probably does have a faster average speed then nbn. Most nbn customers are on fttn and pretty average fttn at that.

[@dirtmcgirt168]

As someone who enjoys listening to people justify their purchases despite not making logical sense I agree. It’s $140p/m bro

[@TheWhitde]

price edging up and up every year. Don't need 100 Mb/sec if going to add $15+ a month. Sort of straw that breaks the camels back. $60/month... now $100 a month.

[@partymanau]

Went starlink after 9 yrs of hell with Telstra, I dont care if NBN and Telstra are supposedly separate. Both run in the same shithouse manner with total hatred of the end user. Will go Starlink cell when its offered too.

[@Polarian]

Starlink is AMAZING ! and best of all it hasn't cost us Australian Tax Payers 50 Billion dollars......

[@DarkCellkandor]

Living in NZ I've got a few friends who have thought about crossing the ditch to live but the MAIN reason they haven't is because how god awful your internet is. It's hard to believe us here in NZ have better internet than our big brother Australia.

[@chinogambino9375]

Boneheaded since we were rolling out fibre first then switched to copper. NZ did the opposite and it's paying dividends.

[@osca7c]

I dumped NBN about 18 months ago. Basically is was just too expensive for what was being offered. I changed my mobile plan for an additional $3 and now have unlimited data on my mobile device. I have my mobile auto connect to a router that feeds my premises when I am at home so everything works as though I have a permanent connection. Back then I cut a $70 per month bill out. So as the costs of living rise we will see more and more people look to save where ever they can.

[@mdem5059]

If NBN went directly to fiber it would cost far less now and this wouldn't be such a major issue =(

[@Fanta....]

Yes, but people are dumb little sheep and vote for clowns so here we are.

[@zybch]

Abbott and his scum party were told this again and again. But to appease his mate Rupert, he knowingly wasted $30+ billion on a system he damn well knew wouldn't be suitable for purpose even before it rolled out. But it worked for Foxtel and their fear of competition from amazon/netflix that would have been even more widely uptaken if we have internet that wasn't below Mongilia's net in world rankings.

[@woopimagpie]

That's what Labor's original NBN plan was, but the LNP caved in to Rupert Murdoch and hobbled it on the false premise that it was "too expensive". Albo is quite correct, the NBN disaster we have now rests squarely on the shoulders of Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull. They're madly working to get the whole network upgraded to fibre again now, but because it's being done in pieces rather than a complete rollout (as was the original plan) it's costing far more, which is pretty ironic. By the time they get it completed so many will have left and gone to other networks that it will basically be a white elephant that will never get paid for. Nice work LNP. One of the many reasons we voted them out.

[@mdem5059]

@@woopimagpie I agree, I've been touring this for years, the sheer amount of money and time wasted is insane. And instead of leapfrogging fttn like everybody was shouting at the time.. We dived right in, how sad.. I'm glad we're finally upgrading but it shows the government has little regard for the public anyway. The whole world is only seeking to fill their own pockets and it's very sad.

[@PS-Straya_M8]

I used to have constant disconnections on the NBN then went over to 5G and what a difference!

[@MattExzy]

I've noticed my NBN connection drops every time a garbage truck drives past. Too weird. Probably the dinky copper lines hanging around willy nilly, they flubbed it from the start by scrapping FTTN.

[@richard8181]

Australians are being ripped off, on the world rating we are way down the list for service and price. I have Fibre to the home, the NBN unit has battery backup, BUT the Modem does NOT. So VOIP is not available, hence I unplugged the phone. Can only rely 🤞on the mobile phone.

[@Xantosh82]

one side of my street has FTTP and all the power poles, my side has FTTN and no power poles, as you geussed it my power is strung across the road to my house but no ISP wants to run the FTTN connection from the pit beside the powerpole up said pole and across to my house, yet when i was renting in Brisbane decades ago they happily can cable net to my house across 2 properties via the powerlines!

[@brendancollins6097]

Selling a higher level of service knowing it can’t be supplied sounds fraudulent.

[@SenorNavel]

Luckily I won the NBN lottery and have experienced 100/40 FTTN for the last 6 years. Fibre is being rolled out in the next 12 months. I have done the fixed wireless and it worked great until a tree grew in the way. If I didnt require a low latency I would go for Starlink.

[@Hunty49]

LNP wanted to use copper-to-the-node for cost benefits. If you want fibre-to-the-node, you can pay for it yourself. If you the 100Mbps VDSL plans cost the same as the 100Mbps fibre plans. If you want to boost the Australian internet speeds, don't put the government in charge of it.

[@JeremyHarrison-d9m]

FTTN - a bit cheaper to install than FTTP, a lot more expensive to keep it running. At about 7-8 years fibre has lower total cost of ownership. Do you think we'll still be using the NBN 7-8 years after it was completed? We're talking 2030 here at the latest. The LNP are *terrible* economic managers long term.

[@Hunty49]

@@JeremyHarrison-d9m LNP are usually conservative. They don't like to spend even if it makes them short sighted. I don't think they thought anyone would need greater than 100Mbps speeds for the foreseeable future.

[@JeremyHarrison-d9m]

@@Hunty49They literally stated (Tony Abott) "We are absolutely confident 25 megs is going to be enough -- more than enough -- for the average household," They also completely disregarded the main reasons for the NBN - remove Telstra from near monopoly status, and remove (as much as possible) the divide of services available between metro and other areas by standardising the delivery technology used.

[@smle3033]

While your suppositions are mainly correct Both Fibre & Wireless don't work in North Queensland during floods & Cyclones. The old copper network did seem to work a lot better, and you were still able to ring 000 during emergency's - we asked the Gov to keep the Copper network as a backup but NBN said no ....... the new systems are robust and will continue to work... well they were wrong all coms went out during he recent flood and Cyclone as the power died. Copper would have still worked....... Just thought I point this out....Cheers to all

[@RobMcGrath0]

Isn't it funny how something under ground, like the fibre network, seems to be so much more susceptible to the weather - both extreme heat and rain/thunder storms....

[@TheDeadfast]

@@RobMcGrath0 The problem isn't with what's underground, it's with what's over ground that is the problem. The entire infrastructure relies on batteries for backup. That's fine if the power outage is temporary, not so much in case of a major event such as a natural disaster. POTS (plain old telephone service) was far more resilient in this regard because all you needed was a single generator at the exchange.

[@janetpetersen1938]

Live in FNQ. After recent cyclone we had no communication at all for about a week. Our mobile service is always useless, copper line no longer works as it is not maintained and NBN wireless had a cluster situation that shut it down. We were flooded in with no contact. When finally made it out and could get mobile service, could not get Telstra support to understand that we had no communication at all at home. We have to use the mobile phone on wifi calling always. The cost of going to Starlink would almost double my current cost.

[@woolliehead]

I didnt have a problem with NBN so much as a major problem with Optus and after being with optus fort over 20 years was treated like shit so we eventually moved on to a higher plan at nearly half the cost

[@MariAmmaSar]

did a speed test check just now at 11am peak time, southeastern suburb of Sydney - its 12.5mbps download, 0.75mbps upload on a AUD$70 / month fibre to the kerb plan that is supposed to deliver 25mbps down and 8mbps up. It ought to be half that price for this. What a ripoff !

[@roughas100]

Flip internet do the same 25 MB plan about $10 a month cheaper than Tangerine, that is after the 6 month honeymoon period ...... I can't see myself staying on nbn much longer , my 4G reception is a bit patchy ( no 5G) , might consider Starlink if I can take with me on remote camping trips where there's no mobile reception. Saw one of starlinks satellite " trains " in the early morning sky last November, had no idea their satellites were that close to each other , had no idea what it was at the time

[@Ozvideo1959]

I'm on NBN via TPG. I originally had a FTTC connection at speeds of 70mbits/10mbits, it was too slow. I then upgraded to 100mbits/20mbits, and as our home is a 2 storey house, I purchased a Google Nest mesh wifi system with 2 nodes. After that our connection was fine, I was happy with the speed, even with multiple streams at the same time. Then, recently I get a call from TPG telling me that our connection with be upgraded to FTTP at 100mbits/20mbits. I was told there would be no addition charge for 3 months and after that the cost of the connection would increase from $90 a month to $120 a month. It's bad enough the price increase, but the download speed is no faster than it was, so I'm expected to pay an additional $30 a month for nothing. I'm thinking about jumping ship myself.

[@josephj6521]

TPG are garbage. Go to Aussie BB and you’ll pay around $100 per month for the same speeds.

[@Ozvideo1959]

@@josephj6521 Well, I'm about a month into my 3 months at no cost and the same issues remain. I'll be looking elsewhere by end of February.

[@gregh8720]

im not an NBN customer, but every time they work on the pit out the front of our office our internet is down till they come back next day.... Fkn useless.

[@rogerkant3696]

Disconnected some time ago, retired and got rid of the NBN in favor of 5G based on our mobile phone plans. It was cheaper to upgrade these plans and cut the NBN than maintain both and service was better on 5G. Use a 5G modem and this sits permanently in my home network.

[@Blxz]

My nbn is fixed wireless. I'd be happy enough with ut if they stopped chipping away at it eqch quarter so it gets worse and worse. I've been on 0.08mbps upload for the last week and it's so bad most websites time out before my request goes through.

[@AridersLifeYT]

back in like 2013/2014 my mothers property in a rural town that doesn't even have GAS got the NBN FTTP. Even today the NBN is impeccable on 100/40. her town still does not have Gas, yet the 5 star golf resort that was built was suspected to be reason why the town got the NBN so early.. Move 20km into Town in the new Estate and the NBN is trash, constant drop outs and such.

[@mikerowe402]

Was another +1 for starlink. In the boat you called out could get 40mb from NBN and have crappy mobile reception (Telstra). Cost me more but just amazing experience.

[@link1565V2]

I got the FTTP upgrade a while ago, so comfortably get 1000 down/50 up Apparently there are no consumer plans with better upload speeds 🙄. But I'm able to push about 3 or 4 plex sessions simultaneously without issue so it suits just fine. Due to a deal I'm on, the majority of my bill is credited every month, so I only pay $70 a month.

[@Tutankhamun1333]

I have been using the NBN FTTN for the past five years (with IPrimus) and never had issues with speed or reliability because i live in a END Suburb of my city so the copper cable to the house has not been turned into a dogs breakfast by Telstra and in two days i will be upgraded to full FTTP.

[@wt29]

NBN rollout stopped 300m from my house. They installed SkyMuster at great expense - house has too many trees so 640kg of concrete, 3m pole and 30m of trenching. I subscribed for 1 month, dowloaded about 100mb and its been disused since (4 years). Cobbled up a 18dbi 4G dish (Mikrotik) and Tangerines 500Gb/month/$80 - been 4 years now. I got a technology choice NBN quotes = $26K. Still laughing about that $87/m. One question - what do you NBN will do when SkyMuster sats go EOL? My guess is wholesale something like oneweb. Elon doesn't need to give a wholesale discount to NBN so I doubt that would happen.

[@Hughj87]

I changed from NBN because the connection was terrible, constant drop outs and disconnects, if I wanted to have this resolved I needed to pay $30,000 myself to fix the NBN network, I left and went to 5G, im now getting 240mbps down and about 40 - 50mbps up

[@Smart-Skippy]

I owned 2 vISPs 20 years ago. These days I'm with ABB. FTTC 100/40 business connection and a static IP. $110 p/m I can't fault it. It is perfect. I get 109/38 during peak. Crappy ISPs have far higher contention rates. Aussie is more expensive but you truly get what you pay for!

[@Hipporider]

I dumped fixed wireless NBN. Upload was terrible, reliably below 5 mbps, download 20, sometimes 30 +mbps underperforming than what I was paying for. Star Link definitely worth the extra money. 🇦🇺

[@where_is_my_slippers]

I'm concerned about how reliant we have become when it comes to the NBN. When Tasmania's internet went down because the cable was cut at both ends, we lost access to a lot of systems that rely on the network. Honestly, in worst case scenario's, our entire country could be sent into chaos if a hostile country decided to interfere with the fibre optic network. I think our government has been asleep at the wheel for far too long, and playing the blame game isn't going to benefit our country at all.

[@langdons2848]

Both businesses and government have chosen to push everything onto the I ternet because it's cheap and "easy" (for them). The Optus outage before Christmas was a neat demonstration of just how dependent - and vulnerable - we are. One more reason why the push to get rid of cash is such a monumentally bad idea.

[@jimmyhvy2277]

Slippers : Wait till the Sun sends us an EMP Solar Flare ! Within 1 year , 90% of people will be Dead !

[@langdons2848]

@@jimmyhvy2277 that's one of those "there's nothing at all I can do about it" scenarios, so I don't lose sleep over it.

[@yt.damian]

Every single country is the same.

[@xpusostomos]

Any country will have a limited number of five optic cables between cities. Any country is vulnerable to someone doing something.

[@StevePorter_au]

We went from NBN to wireless last year and the speed difference was amazing. Wireless in our area is 4 times faster. They’ve since put fibre down our street, but I’m in no hurry to change to that.

[@VK4VO]

Maybe a bit quicker but as we all know, Telstra and Optus are good and losing the system,,, plus you can't beat a cable and fibre to your home can fetch 1gbps speeds, something wireless cannot

[@jerryboics9550]

@VK4VO Fibre planes for those speeds can get very expensive and 5g wireless certainly can do more than 1gbs. Ping for online is the issue with wireless

[@jerryboics9550]

*online gaming

[@tyc00n]

tethering from my mobile with unlimited data saves me $1200 a year, and that would be extra

[@seriousjoker8472]

Same reason I disconnected from nbn.

[@Grumpy-sy7wr]

When I was told my ADSL2 was getting the chop, and had to move over to NBN, I laughed. The last 400 or so metres was going to be over the same copper, that needed constant repairs. I've since been using 4G, and getting between 14/6 and 26/12MBPs, which is as fast as I need. I've moved out bush now. Only NBN option is expensive, sketchy satellite, so the 4G is still serving me well out here.

[@paulstubbs7678]

I am currently on 25Mb, I'm 62 and grew up with WAY slower speeds, KZbin etc does not 'buffer' etc. so I see no reason to upgrade. I'm also on fibre to the curb, so my actual fibre connection is two doors down, absolutely zero impact on me. Actually in many cases copper for the last several meters can be better, as it's way easier to move your entrance point to wherever you want. With fibre they kind of insist it be in the closest part of your house to the road, having the NBN gear below my bedroom window would really suck for me, as 90% or my kit, including a UPS is in my study, a ways from the house front. Also, usually the best place for a WiFi router is near the centre of your house, not at the very front, so if your running a minimalist system, no CAT5 etc, just WiFi, then getting that router to a good spot can be problematic. I think I'll be sticking with the NBN for now, I don't want to run my entire digital life through a stupid phone.

[@PabloP169]

This puzzles me as the home end user doesn't normally deal directly with NBN, but with an end user service provider such as Optus, Telstra, etc. SO really the disconnects are likely from a service provider that is using NBN.

[@alanwhite6161]

We moved to starlink, Can only get 50mb from NBN. With Starlink get over 300Mb and everybody now can stream 4K TV(4 people) And being remote Australia, I did ask how much NBN would charge to convert myself to fibre to the home And got a quote of $1.1 million, Which funny enough I said dont worry about it, I will look for other options. Cost was not the problem, Getting the service we required was the problem until starlink

[@Fanta....]

Obviously cost was the problem, or you would have helped the economy out a cool 1.1m by getting fiber to your home.

[@alanwhite6161]

Not really, Can buy a nice house for that, And that's where I put my money

[@IIGrayfoxII]

The copper lines to my home are screwed. two years ago when i had poor speed(12Mbps when plan is 50Mbps) an NBN tech came out and he told me he spent one hour looking for a good pair to connect me too. Last month it happened again, this time the NBN tech said the pits were flooded and the insulation on the copper pairs was all rotten. He did inform me about NBN doing Full Fiber Upgrades but according to their site I am not getting it any time soon.

[@Glathgrundel]

I have a high end gaming PC … with FTTP and an Ethernet cable right to the computer. Dodo did a decent deal for 100Mbps so I’m probably going to stick with it. Only use my phone for the basics anyway (Google, maps, banking, etc) and I get streaming services from my WiFi router cabled straight to my TV. That’s got me covered for now. 👍🏽

[@sandman1989]

the internet in Australia is so annoying, I moved as the NBN was rolling out in WA and when we moved in NBN was ment to be connected a month later but it turned out where I live is connected with the LBN instead of NBN. im currently on a 1GB plan however I never get close to that

[@MrDyhard]

We have FCC. It is TERRIBLE. We both work from home. We discontinued NBN and will have Starlink working in a few days. Starlink will cost $60 more per month. For us, it’s about getting what you pay for. What’s the point of paying less for something which works intermittentl ?

[@markc6714]

The previous government knew using the HFC network would save us a s'load of investment

[@dlanodsknib]

I am 51km from Ballarat which has wired NBN. I am 10km or less from places that have wireless NBN. I therefore had wired ADSL - 6 up 1 down, but I was offered Skymuster which would have been useful to me if I wanted to use the Internet between 1.00am and 5.00am. I now have Starlink and have not looked back - great speeds and no outages.

[@mworld]

Two years ago I had 2 copper lines to my house and got Internode to connect the spare one and it worked fine. We had 2 functional FTTN connections. This year, NBN cannot handle that. They keep changing the connection over to the main line and disconnecting the other line. Very poor. So fiber is now the only way to get more than one account.

[@dirtmcgirt168]

So people are swapping to starlink for $140 a month because the NBN is too expensive? Anne getting higher latency as a side effect, I’m not so sure this checks out.

[@TheDeadfast]

It definitely doesn't make sense from the cost perspective. But it is possible that it provides a better quality of service for some, at least for now while they don't have many users.

[@gregoryellsmore2095]

I live in a regional area - we have no choice - NBN or nothing! Everyone complains about it. At 3.30 pm, when the kids get out of school and start playing games, it is so slow at connecting we give up, and wait for them to return to school. It also cuts out so often, you can't rely on it to pay bills or fill out government forms. If only we had an independent provider.

[@g1598]

the reason I believe for the disconnetions is due to rentals/renters, and family members (young professional kids) returning back to the main family home to save more money with the renters having short term leases around 12 months, people have gone to 4G/5G hotspots

[@acewickhamyoshi8330]

Also GEnX 1970 students like me , did assignments at university , all weeks of term, to me going home,was internet free zone, we did our servitude, we de~disneyed , we defacebooked , also we like to check youtube all day , i dont bank, got no super , the ad about phones pinging each time we got a notification ,, like ,.. glad i dont have a phone , no scammer contacts me , its amazing , plus , no twitter , i watch midnight news...,, 6am cartoons like its 1970 again , i use the internet like 1970s too, just words , no images , yes , people may look like they left , its the next generation who use the new apps in my house , i dont even try anything except youtube ,

[@Preview43]

I've put up with shitty internet speeds, lies from tech support BSing me with accents I can't even understand and and all round crappy service from all the big companies. I've had it with the lot of 'em. This week I took the plunge with $0 upfront 1000Mbps fttp with Leaptel. The experience so far with the Leaptel team has been extremely good so fingers crossed. I know I don't *need* that kind of speed but I think I've earned it. I still have nightmares about 1200 baud dialup.

[@Billthesium]

I'm still on NBN as I'm in a unit block and can't get Starlink. I tried 5G and unless the modem is on the balcony, I didn't get reception. So, I'm stuck on NBN for the time being. Unfortunately, I am one of those customers that cannot get higher than the 50 plan so I am stuck with the price rise. I'm also scared to try and change ISPs as NBNco took almost 2 months to get it connected and kept telling me my address didn't exist even though the last tenant and most of the residents in the unit block have NBN connected. There were 3 appointments that I took off work for the techs to just not bother turning up. The internet in Australia is still a shit show. It's almost like paying for a premium product just to get given the budget one.

[@balazra]

Tldr :- I have the capability of having an NBN connection at my property. I also have a copper wire. I have tried both and comparatively the speed of the two is so close that it makes no sense to pay the additional $ for very little performance upgrade. Due to a $30 bill for “regular” 15-20mbps down and 1-2 up. Vs $80-100 NBN in my area with 15-25mbps down and 2-3 up. Neither get a ping response better than 400ms when out of country servers are used, and in county servers are at 20-40ms.

[@NfCTank]

As one of those 30,000... NBN only gets 25/7 in my area, 35mins away from Perth CBD with no known update Vs when using my phone as a modem i get 125/12, So no reason to keep or even use NBN.

[@newmantm1234]

I live just outside a rural town (about 10km.) There is fibre for the town centre and fttc in the higher density residential area but it doesn't go gown my street. I'm forced onto fixed wireless with sparse and overloaded towers. The service is slow, drops daily and overall poor. Starlink offers me a MUCH faster service as apposed to nbn albeit with some more drops and latency.

[@13firebug13]

Where I live the only option I have for an internet connection is NBN (FTTN) my previous address had cable (iiNET) and it shat all over NBN and was about the same price, the speeds cable had to offer was insane, then I "downgraded" when I moved and had to go with NBN. If for some reason I was able to get cable again, I'd break my phone with how fast I'd be dialling the number to get connected.

[@smilelots4me]

For all Australian's not just for the well off. No ones talking about pensioners or people on the lower incomes who are now at a disadvantage ( Think school children ) that are just priced out. Need low cost slower plans, $10 a month for 10mbps and unlimited downloads would help most people in this bracket.

[@Jasonsadventures]

I don't know many people out here in fixed wireless land (country Victoria) who haven't switched to starlink in the last 18 months and that's accelerating. Being in fixed wireless for five years of suffering ruined me. Very happy to have left about 14 months ago.

[@janners365]

If price is the issue, I don't see starlink being the solution.

[@potaka79]

Shifted to 5G after Optus drop out... Speeds are amazing, never achieved 800mb on the NBN as I was 1.7 km from my node so limited to 25mb. And they wanted me to increase my monthly bill for that 25mb $99😱🤦

[@KT-ki2nv]

No matter what service you choose we are always being ripped off.

[@trudyandgeorge]

The coalition absolutely screwed our NBN. We ended up paying more than the original plan of fibre everywhere 😂🔫

[@JamesHawkeYouTube]

They used taxpayer money to build it then they sold it off to commercial re-sellers who promptly sold it back to us at a premium. Sounds fair.

[@danielcarroll1729]

Agree with your comments, I'm stuck on 50/20 because i can barely sync at that speed. Since I have a 4 unit strata the only options for me to upgrade to higher is to do the MDU upgrade which, will probably cost more than $275 per a unit. Pat, would like to see you do a piece on that as the cost of the MDU Strata upgrades are way more than the $275 quote.

[@JaneFonda-l2r]

I’m confused. I thought NBN was a government infrastructure scheme not a service provider? Do people that are leaving NBN need to get their own infrastructure installed or is it now also a service provider?

[@rogerramjet6429]

Im on the lowest priced plan with my ISP, while paying $87 a month. They cut my other plan of $50 a month. I was recently cut off then had to reapply after being with them for over 3 years. Im not with Telstra, Optus and never will be after the lies and deception they use. Ill stay with my current ISP, even after the plan BS they threw at me.

[@bigred8438]

I know of elderly people who were in areas where the NBN was first trialed. They had a connection, which gave them a landline for phone also, but did not use it for anything else. If they had a mobile phone also and were unlikely to use the NBN landline, they disconnected it. Telstra for example stated clearly, if disconnection to the NBN occurred, you couldn't reconnect, so choose wisely. I wonder how many elderly people in those first NBN trial areas did just this? 30,000 people nationwide is a pissy number anyway.

[@Drasai]

I switched because my ISP incentivised me to switch from their NBN to their Home 5G service. They actively reached out to me via email, post, and eventually cold called me to give me the sell. Cheaper for them, cheaper for me. They offered a free trial so I could verify it was a comparable service.

[@Dilshad-gu7je]

I have never had an NBN service currently my apartment building is serviced by TPG and NBN. I am happy with the service by TPG, I get slightly better service than I am paying for and the monthly cost is on par with competitors.

[@drdoug007]

They did not say that copper was better than fibre. It was cheaper to install using existing infrastructure. They should have left it to the private sector (except for remote areas).

[@jjcoolaus]

If your a gamer or large family you need the NBN and should go for a FTTP upgrade if your on FTTN. Everyone else can go 5G. 5G doesn't work for gamers, I've had this confirmed in multiple locations. Nomads should get starlink

[@alwaysright3718]

Never had NBN and probably never will... Opticomm is my local wholesaler, funny thing is I started up NBN in QLD and worked for them for 5 years...

[@brett7801]

My apartment is FTTB, so a max speed of 100/40. As far as I'm aware, NBN have no intention to upgrade FTTB connections. I did try to get out building onto a non NBN provider (Gigacom) using G.Fast instead of vdsl, but the building management wouldn't allow it. I just want fixed line gigabit, why is that too much to ask?

[@professornuke7562]

What the hell are you doing that needs better than 50?

[@janheinrich1733]

Had FTTN but got sick of daily router resets and the slow downs every night, now have starlink and it it so much more stable.

[@kdegraa]

We gave NBN the flick a couple of years ago in favour of a 5G connection. Why pay $50 more a month for a similar service?