NBN to boost speeds by up to 20 times as 5G rolls out
Internet speeds up to 20 times faster could be on their way to some Australian homes soon as NBN Co ups its game to compete with a new lightning-fast mobile service.
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Data-hungry South Australians soon will be able to access National Broadband Network speeds in their homes up to 20 times faster than currently available on the market.
As the 5G mobile phone network, which also promises super-quick internet, rolls out across the country, pressure is on the NBN to deliver for the modern Australian household.
NBN corporate affairs boss Tim Saul said fixed-line internet was still the answer for SA homes, where data consumption had grown by about 25 per cent a year.
“Homes are embracing videostreaming and subscription services and connected devices like never before, while businesses continue to embrace smart technologies like video conferencing and connected equipment,” Mr Saul said.
From May, NBN will offer retailers plans that can deliver speeds of 1000Mbps – about 20 times faster than download speeds on the most popular 50Mbps plans.
The plans initially will be available to about 88,000 homes and businesses that have NBN fibre-to-the-premises technology. It will then roll out to an estimated 200,000 additional homes and businesses with fibre-to-the-kerb connections.
Across metropolitan Adelaide, about 93 per cent of homes and businesses can now connect to the NBN network. Households and businesses in remaining suburbs, focused mainly in parts of eastern and southwestern Adelaide, will be asked to switch from the traditional copper network to NBN by the middle of this year.
As the rollout nears its end, the NBN is also boosting household speeds to keep pace with consumer demand.
But there is pressure on the company to deliver as the mobile 5G rollout, facilitated by major telcos such as Telstra and Optus, also continues across the country. The 4G mobile network has not been widely used to connect to the internet at home. But the 5G network is now promising to deliver wireless internet coverage competitive with the NBN in terms of price, speeds and data allowances.
Mr Saul said there was no doubt 5G was a great development but there remained a misconception that it was in competition with the NBN.
“We believe that 5G is quite complementary to the NBN,” he said. “About 90 per cent of all downloads are on a fixed-line network and about 10 per cent are on a mobile network. That is because a fixed-line network is designed to carry those large data volumes.” He said the average NBN user in SA was using 240GB of data per month, compared with 65GB in 2016. Federal Adelaide MP Steve Georganas said the NBN rollout had been dogged by cost blowouts and delays.
“Every day while we’re transitioning to the NBN, continuously people are telling us they’re getting misinformation and buck-passing,” Mr Georganas said.
“It’s not NBN’s fault, it’s the telco’s fault. It’s not the telco’s fault, it’s NBN’s fault.”
Mr Georganas has held four NBN forums with the company’s SA manager Jill Bottrall to address the concerns raised with his office. “Elderly people are trying to deal with it who are not up to date with IT,” he said.
“(Ms Bottrall) tried to answer as many questions as she could and she did take up cases individually.”
NBN a boon for some, bane for others
On a typical day in the Route family’s Pasadena home it is not unusual for Paul to be working in the home office and his wife Karyn working on her laptop from the couch.
Nine-year old Angelique is probably streaming back-to-back episodes of Fuller House while Ethan, 8, plays Halo 5 on the Xbox.
Paul and Karyn, who both work in IT, have used the NBN to full advantage.
“There is about 60 devices that connect to the Wi-Fi – from telephones and lap tops to smart speakers to play music and smart light bulbs,” Mr Route told the Sunday Mail.
“I can even water the garden from anywhere in the world.”
Mr Route often works from home
He said the technology is so good he can do a video conference with what looks like an office in the background, or even a beach on a tropical island.
“I can connect back to my office network, like I am in the office, I don’t really notice the difference,” he said.
The family have had very few issues with their ‘smart home’ powered by the NBN.
“It just copes with all that you throw at it,” Mr Route said.
But the story of the Routes, is not replicated by everyone.
For semi-retiree Richard Burford, working from his North Adelaide apartment is a source of frustration.
The IT consultant with more than 40 years’ experience in the technology industry faces NBN connection dropouts up to 13 times a day.
“For people who would be streaming Netflix there would be an irritation because maybe the picture would stop for a short time,” he said.
But Mr Burford relies on a permanent online connection to work with his clients on cloud-based computing systems. “Doing analysis or taking online orders, this is an incredible frustration,” he said.
The dropouts of up to two minutes began in November last year and are believed to be an infrastructure issue.
“The customer I have in North Adelaide has completely disconnected their NBN system and are actually relying on a 4G wireless connection, which is far less than perfect,” Mr Burford said.
“It (NBN) is just not providing the basis for our future technology.”
Mr Burford plans to raise the issue with his service provider once he has built on the evidence.