NBN digital frustrations irk residents

TABLELANDS residents are fed up waiting for reliable internet with NBN appointments nowhere in sight.

Atherton resident Cath Till said she had no option but to hotspot her devices using mobile data for the past two years since she first signed up for NBN in May 2019.

She said she had tried changing service providers but the issue lay with NBN which weren’t providing activation appointments.

“In some cases, no appointments are being made available at all,” read an email from NBN provider Aussie Broadband.

Ms Till said the issue affected the majority of people on her street as well as others in the region.

“I’m just desperately waiting for an activation appointment … until I get the appointment nothing is going to happen,” she said.

She said she wasn’t able to connect her smart TVs or do tasks that required excessive data at home due to the “unreliable and sketchy data” in the area.

“It’s a bit ridiculous, especially with cyclone season here you’d like to have some sort of (reliable) communication.”

Aussie Broadband service delivery general manager Leigh Markham said telcos nationwide were experiencing issues with NBN appointment availability but that the issue was worse in regional areas.

“The number of technicians available is generally lower,” he said.

“There’s also a greater distance to travel between jobs.

“For example, if a regional area is covered by three techs and two are unavailable due to illness or leave, that means two thirds of capacity is instantly gone,” he said.

Mr Markham said NBN had acknowledged the issue was due to a process and system issue as they transitioned to a new ‘workforce operating model’.

An NBN spokeswoman said the company was working through technical difficulties with a new scheduling program.

She said NBN apologised for the delays and cancellations of appointments.