NBN no upbeat answer
ALMOST half of all households connected to the National Broadband Network have suffered problems during the transition, according to a new study released yesterday, with reliability and slow speeds their top complaints about the $ 49 billion project.
Two in every five households reported delays when connecting to the network, the survey conducted for iSelect showed, and almost a third still report buffering issues when trying to stream movies using the next- generation network.
The research arrived as NBN Co revealed a new plan to win over Australia’s internet users, with the first successful trial of fibre- to- the- kerb technology in Victoria.
The technology could deliver download speeds faster than fibre- to- the- node connections when it is deployed early next year.
The survey of more than 1000 Australians conducted by Galaxy Research showed NBN Co had many dissatisfied customers, with as many as 1.3 million NBN users experiencing issues while connecting to the network, including installation delays, technical problems, and slow speeds.
Only 44 per cent of NBN users said the network had met their expectations and their greatest frustrations centred on delays and service interruptions.
iSelect telco commercial manager Tegan Webster said reasons behind the high dissatisfaction rate included a lack of education about what to expect and how to select the best NBN plan.
“A good connection depends on many varying factors, from when NBN technicians are in your area to how many nodes are available and to the retailers. It’s not as straightforward as it might seem,” she said.
Many users, she said, chose their broadband plan on price alone and overlooked speed tiers available at 12, 25, 50 and 100 megabits per second.
“If you’re on ADSL 2+ and you go with the slowest NBN plan, it will be slower than what you’re getting with ADSL,” she said.
NBN Co revealed a new ploy to win over users with its first trial of fibre- to- the- kerb technology that extended fibre optic cable to a property’s boundary and relied on copper wire for the connection to the home.
The FTTC connection could deliver a top speed of 100 megabits per second, NBN estimated, and would cost $ 1500 less to install than fibreto- the- premises but $ 600 more than fibre- to- the- node and pay- TV cable connections.