Complaints about NBN connection at Acacia Gardens, but Blacktown family enjoys fast speed

THE internet at Sarah El-Akkad’s Acacia Gardens home is so slow she is forced to use her mobile phone much of the time.

Milan and Gwen Terzic are well connected but not all households experience the same fast speed.

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THE internet at Sarah El-Akkad’s Acacia Gardens home is so slow she is forced to use her mobile phone much of the time.

The 20-year-old pharmacy student said the internet at her home was so poor she was forced to stay long hours at her university where the internet is fast, or use the data on her mobile phone.

“It’s hard for me because uni courses now depend so much on the internet. You need to be able to constantly check emails because they might need to let you know if the time has changed for an exam. ”

She is one of many Acacia Gardens residents frustrated by national broadband network delays.

Kings Park, Parklea, Quakers Hill and Marayong are just some of the other areas also waiting.

The suburbs appear to be in a black spot, with none of them showing on the NBN’s rollout map.

Ms El-Akkad said her family paid for unlimited internet and had tried multiple phone providers but it made little difference to the download speeds because their home was far away from the telephone exchange.

Opposition Communications Minister and Greenway MP Michelle Rowland said access to broadband was one of the biggest issues in her electorate.

A three-year construction schedule for the NBN shows 5500 premises at Acacia Gardens, Kings Park, Parklea and Stanhope Gardens are at least two years away from fibre to the node broadband being switched on.

Milan and Gwen Terzic have had a more positive experience with using technology at home.

FAMILY MAKES STRONG CONNECTION

Some homes are languishing without the NBN but others have entered a new age of “super connectivity” thanks to fast broadband at home.

A new study, commissioned by the NBN, forecasts that the average household will go from using nine connected devices in the home to 29 by 2020.

At peak times, households are predicted to have 12 simultaneous applications connecting to the internet over multiple devices in 2020, up from the current eight.

The Terzic family of Blacktown have been connected to the NBN since August 2014.

Among the five family members there are two desktop computers, two landline phones, a smart TV, four smartphones and two laptops.

“My husband and our three adult children use the internet for social networking, email, finding information, learning a new skill, reading blogs, watching TV shows or movies and listening to music,” Mrs Terzic said. “I look up recipes from the internet to how to cook.

Online videos are also helping Mrs Terzic, who works as a cleaner, with everyday tips.

On any given day, the Terzic family spend between 30 minutes to an hour-and-a-half using the fast internet.

“Our old internet service was reliable already but NBN allows for a faster connection for more devices to be connected at once,” Mrs Terzic said.

“It gives us all more time to be able to get all our jobs done and to enjoy our interests and hobbies online.”