Here’s the experience of four different Aussies on four different NBN technologies

HOW is the bitter politics of the NBN reflected in the experience of those already connected? We spoke to four Aussies to find out.

NBN chief executive Bill Morrow at NBN rollout site, Mount Cotton, South-East Brisbane. Photo credit: Adam Hollingworth.

THE National Broadband Network is the biggest and arguably the most important infrastructure project in our nation’s history.

A different preference in the technology used for the rollout between the major parties has become a bitter political battle that is front and centre in the upcoming federal election.

But how is the acrimonious politicking reflected in the experience of those already connected to the NBN on the ground?

News.com.au spoke to four different Australians connected to the NBN via four different technologies and found that while we’re all mostly better off, some of us are getting left behind, creating a digital divide in Australia.

FIBRE TO THE NODE (FTTN)

Fibre to the node is how a majority of Australian premises will be connected to the NBN. Fibre is run to a box on the end of street corners and the established copper network owned by Telstra is used to make the final connection to the home. FTTN offers speeds of 25 Mbps to 100 Mpbs.

James Kilpatrick runs a water sports shop in Newcastle with the help of his wife. Their business was connected to the NBN via fibre to the node about eight months ago.

Mr Kilpatrick will often upload and download promotional videos to the work computer and says the speed difference when performing such tasks “is definitely significant”.

Connecting to the NBN has allowed him and his wife, who does the accounts for the business, to carry out the day-to-day running of the shop in a much more efficient manner.

“My wife will use remote desktop access and when she used to do that we pretty much couldn’t use the internet at the same time,” he said. Since switching to the NBN, that has no longer been a problem.

He says the increase in speeds has “definitely increased our productivity. It’s improved efficiency in terms of time and not having to wait for things to download or videos to buffer.”

James Kilpatrick on the computer at his shop in Newcastle.

In terms of his business needs, Mr Kilpatrick said the network provided by the FTTN connection was “definitely sufficient.”

“But we’re close to the node here so it makes it quite fast. We’re able to get speeds of about 95 Mbps a second.”

Such speeds are at the very top end of what FTTN connections are capable of but he says the same technology hasn’t proved to be as successful at their home.

The FTTN connection enjoyed by he and his wife at their residence doesn’t quite reach the same speeds and Mr Kilpatrick says the difference is noticeable.

“We’ve also got a fibre to the node connection at home and it’s not as fast,” he said. “At home is where we do a lot more downloading and streaming Netflix and stuff like that, and I definitely feel like we could do with more speed at home,” he said.

FIBRE TO THE PREMISES (FTTP)

Wendy Chamberlain moved from Southbank, Victoria where she was using ADSL 2 to the suburb of Parkville where most homes are connected to the NBN with the superior fibre to the premises rollout.

FTTP runs fibre optic cables all the way to the home and provides speeds of up to 1 Gbps.

Ms Chamberlain works in real estate and is a buyer and vendor advocate for a firm called Amalain. She is extremely happy with her internet and said compared to was she was previously dealing with, “it just doesn’t compare.”

Ms Chamberlin said after initially having to go to the ombudsman to expedite the installation process “because it was taking three weeks to dig a trench out the font of our house” during which there was no internet connection at all, the network performance has been great.

“To give you an example, to download an episode of a TV show ... it would probably take four to six hours in Southbank,” she said. “Now it takes probably 15 minutes. It flies.”

Ms Chamberlain works from home and prior to her and her partner moving to Parkville in September 2014, they deliberately looked for suburbs that were connected to the NBN.

“We’re talking about the original NBN, not the one that’s watered down,” she said, referring to Labor’s initial commitment to FTTP.

Being able to have access to FTTP was a major reason why they moved to Parkville. Ms Chamberlain said if she was to move again, she would “absolutely” look exclusively at suburbs where homes were connected to the NBN via fibre to the home.

“(FTTP availability) would determine where we move to if we choose to move again,” she said.

Installation of the National Broadband Network.

FIXED WIRELESS

Andrew Sincalir is a software developer living in Bream Creek, Tasmania with his partner and two kids.

His household switched on to the NBN network via fixed wireless technology about nine months ago.

Prior to the NBN rollout his internet connection was so “completely useless” that he came up with a pretty drastic solution.

“I went to quite the extent to build my own microwave network that linked me back to Hobart,” he said.

While he believes the speeds offered by the NBN fixed wireless are comparable to that of his previous microwave network, the NBN offers a much simpler solution.

“I had my doubts (about the NBN fixed wireless) and kept my microwave network in place for a little while but to be honest it’s been pretty good actually. I haven’t had any real problems with it. It’s been quite reliable through all sorts of weather and plenty fast enough for me to do my work.”

Originally Mr Sinclair’s household was switched on to a 50/20 trial period providing download speeds of 50 Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps but the NBN has since switched that service off and the household is now receiving speeds of 25/5.

“So I’m hoping that’ll come back on sometime soon,” he said.

Even still, it has proved good enough for him to do his work while the kids watch Netflix on different devices in the house.

“They refuse to watch the same thing at the same time,” he joked. “One’s playing computer games while the other one’s watching Netflix and we’re still able to do the things we want to do. I can’t say we’ve had any bandwidth slowdown issue that I’m aware of.”

Satellites and fixed wireless technology account for about seven per cent of the rollout.

SKY MUSTER SATELLITE

The real losers of the NBN rollout are those in the most remote parts of the country. Due to the difficulty and high cost of servicing those living in far flung rural areas with fibre or even fixed wireless, they’re stuck with being serviced by the NBN’s sky muster satellite which offers the lowest speeds and the smallest data packages.

Andre Toulon lives in the rural Western Australian town of Manjimup and was connected to the NBN via satellite three weeks ago.

Despite the technology offering the lowest bandwidth, he is perfectly happy with the download speeds because it has been a far greater improvement from anything he had in the past.

“The NBN Sky Muster has enabled us with far higher speeds. The speeds quite frankly are fantastic — don’t have a problem with that at all,” he said.

But it’s the small data allowances that come along with being connected via satellite that has him so upset.

“The plans that come with it allow an absolute maximum of 150 gigabytes of bandwidth a month and that can be split in many different ways but the most suitable one is really the most expensive,” he said. “It cost $200 a month and gives you 60 gigabytes during peak hours and 90 gigabytes off peak.”

After switching over to the NBN Mr Toulon was shocked to see his bandwidth allowance evaporate so quickly.

“After a couple days I get a message that says more than 50 per cent of my data allowance was gone. I went for a plan 35/65 (on peak, off peak) and after two days I found out I’d already used up more than half of my 35 in peak.”

He would like to work from home but is unable to due to the prohibitive data allowance. He says others in his area in a similar position, which compelled him to start a petition calling for an end to the digital discrimination of rural Australians.

Australia’s outback communities “deserve a better deal than the one they are getting on NBN satellite plans,” the petition reads.

He is not optimistic of a change any time soon, but believes the Sky Muster satellite is insufficient for his needs, and the needs of his neighbours, going forward.

Andre Toulon, right, want rural Australians to receive a fairer go with internet allowances. Picture: Change.org.