Forum voices anger at NBN

ONLY a quarter of the northern Gold Coast is connected to the NBN with some residents at a community meeting complaining about shoddy installation and poor connectivity.

Labor Senator Murray Watt has raised the concerns after hosting an NBN crisis forum at Pacific Pines attended by Federal Opposition spokesperson Michelle Rowland and Labor candidate for Gaven Meaghan Scanlon.

NBN Co has fired back at Labor’s claims, saying their customer feedback had been positive and the MPs had failed to invite them to the Coast forum to address any concerns.

Senator Watt said the event had been organised after local residents and businesses contacted him fed up with the Turnbull Government’s NBN.

The issues raised by Coast residents included:

Buck passing on solving issues between NBN Co and retail service providers.

Lack of coverage, with only a quarter of the northern Gold Coast connected to the NBN.

Missed appointments by contractors. second-rate

Unreliable connectivity on the NBN with some residents working in IT unable to do their jobs.

Snail-pace internet connectivity which is causing Helensvale residents to give up entirely and use the WI-FI on their phones instead.

Shoddy NBN installation which is having to be redone by contractors.

Ms Scanlon said it was unacceptable that nearly threequarters of the residents and small businesses in the northern Gold Coast were still waiting to be connected to the NBN.

“To make matters worse, for many who have finally been connected, they are receiving poor and unreliable internet connection,” she said.

NBN senior corporate affairs manager Kylie Lindsay said it was disappointing not to be invited to the forum, where issues could have been addressed.

Almost 80,000 Coast premises were ready to order an NBN service with a further 61,000 under construction right now, she said.

“Our customer surveys show that the majority of people connected to services over the NBN network are satisfied and enjoying the benefits – we are not aware of any widespread problems on the Gold Coast,” Ms Lindsay said.

“NBN is constantly working with retail service providers to improve the customer experience and is keen to address issues such as missed appointments, but without the details it is difficult to do so.”

Senator Watt said Australia’s internet connectivity rank, under the LNP, had fallen from 30th to 51st, behind Kenya.

TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE, FOR MANY WHO HAVE FINALLY BEEN CONNECTED, THEY ARE RECEIVING POOR AND UNRELIABLE INTERNET CONNECTION