Lives were put at risk because of NBN farce: gym owner tells joint standing committee

A public hearing into the rollout of the NBN on the Central Coast today heard nightmare stories from frustrated businesses and residents.

Central Coast Start IT’s David Abrahams at the NBN rollout launch in Gosford.

A LACK of National Broadband Network (NBN) services had the potential to endanger lives for members of Anytime Fitness in Lake Haven.

The fitness centre was left with “intermitted” phone and internet services for five months last year after switching to NBN, with the duress/panic button unable to send signals to the security company.

Franchisee Mark Beatson said the duress button was “vital” for the 24-hour gym if a member was in danger or had an accident, and it was “just lucky” nothing happened.

The revelation came at a public hearing into the rollout of NBN on the Central Coast today. Members of the public, local businesses and community advocates addressed the Joint Standing Committee of the NBN at Mingara Recreation Club at Tumbi Umbi.

The committee heard from business owners who recorded losses of more than $50,000, as well as residents who were without the service for four years. The ongoing problems have left people unable to work from home, students unable to study and endless phone calls between service providers and the NBN which have gone nowhere.

The Joint Standing Committee on the NBN holds a public hearing at Mingara Recreation Club today.

Mr Beatson said he spent more than 90 hours on the phone trying to resolve the gym’s issues, as well as countless hours waiting for NBN technicians.

“There were days and days where I was sitting there between the hours of 12 and five and no one showed up. You can’t be compensated for that lost time,” he said.

“Our 24 hour CCTV monitoring kept dropping out so there were major security concerns for us. When you lose phone and internet, you lose everything.”

Tascott’s Michelle Loaney was told NBN was rolling out in her suburb in November 2012.

“Our option back then was dial up so we were so excited,” she said.

The mother of four said the finish date kept getting pushed back with ongoing delays and works to be done by NBN technicians. The Loaneys were finally connected in February 2016.

“During those years, it cost us a bomb as far as wireless connection went,” she said.

“My husband would climb on the roof to put up a 3G antenna. He works from home so there were holds ups for him and also with the kids school work. It was just a nightmare.”

Central Coast resident Barry Egan said service providers had adopted the attitude “don’t come near us, it’s an NBN problem”, while Gary Jackson said it would make sense for NBN and service provider technicians to collaborate.

Labor’s spokesman for regional communications Stephen Jones said the committee had heard heartbreaking stories from businesses “neatly going to the wall” and residents who just wanted their phone and internet to work.

Mr Jones said many recommendations had been made to the committee and “action was needed from the Government”. He described the ongoing blame game between the NBN and service providers as “NBN ping pong”.

“The problems are at all ends; with NBN and phone companies,” he said.

“The Government needs to put in laws for companies to work together to solve problems.”

He said outdated copper technology had led to slower speeds and more faults.

“All of the problems with the fibre-to-the-node technology can be seen playing out here,” he said.

Dobell federal Labor MP Dobell Emma McBride said Wyong, Toukley and Gosford were identified in the top 10 suburbs with the most NBN complaints in the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsmen (TIO) annual report.

“We were one of the first areas rolled out in 2012 and we have had six different types of technology being tested,” she said. “With the latest micronodes technology, of the 329 across NSW only nine are active.”

She said her office had received more than 400 calls from frustrated locals in the past year.

“We want it fixed. It’s critical infrastructure. It’s really distressing to hear from elderly people or people with medical conditions who are without a phone line, or that blame is being shifted between NBN and their retailer.”

David Abrahams, from Central Coast Start IT, said the NBN had been a great success in many parts of the region with call centres moving to Gosford to enjoy benefits of the service. He said a dedicated Central Coast NBN agent would be beneficial so they could see first-hand the issues across the region.