Bullied to buy a woefully inadequate service

After nine days with no internet or landline phone, we have finally got our Wi-Fi back. But only after we made a formal complaint.

For more than a week we’ve been unable to use the internet and, more worryingly, unable — while we’re at work — to contact my very elderly and ailing father who lives with us and on whom we need to check constantly.

The problem began when a cable came down over our road. Ausgrid was called and rolled the cable away; and the internet went down. In the morning we called Telstra, our internet provider. They logged the call and told us they would send the ticket to NBN. We should have known then it would be the start of an internet blackout — we, like so many other dissatisfied customers, have nothing good to say about our NBN service.

When NBN came to Avalon, on Sydney’s northern beaches, we had no intention of switching. We moved here just a year ago and were surprised to find that, while only ADSL was available, it was faster than our broadband service in our previous home.Then NBN arrived. First we were wooed with encouraging emails and letters about its superiority to broadband, its faster speeds. Then the bullying started. We were told that if we didn’t switch, we would be cut off, have to pay a reconnection fee and wouldn’t be allowed to keep our own phone number.

We gave in and moved to NBN in January, buying a medium package that gives us 500GB for $90 a month. Our bundle is described as “fast” but it doesn’t tell us just what fast means; and to be honest, we didn’t check. But from the start, the service has been snail slow, constantly dropping out and only really workable in the living room, where the router is situated. We had to buy a booster for the bedroom, which is directly under the living room, and other rooms in the house are internet black zones.So imagine our delight (hollow laugh) when Telstra told us last week that the NBN would be responsible for reconnecting us.

We stressed that my father was at home alone during the day and we need to be in touch with him, and we were told someone would come to fix the problem on Thursday — four days after we logged the problem. It was bad enough having to wait for four days, but Thursday came and went with no one arriving to fix our connection. When we called Telstra, we were told NBN were working on it but it was too late now to send anyone.

In an hour-long call on Friday we were reassured NBN was still working on the problem.

Finally on Monday we went up the line for a formal complaint. A check showed that while our calls had been logged, there was no evidence of any action being taken by NBN over the past eight days. Eventually we were promised compensation and an urgent fix. Finally we are back in touch with the world, if at the same snail’s pace we’ve suffered for the past three months.

A check while I am writing this shows our download speed has dropped from 19 megabits per second (allegedly fast) to 6.8 (slow). Previous experience tells us it will get no faster than this until morning. Our already minimal faith in the NBN has been reduced to nil after this experience. If we could cancel our account without losing hundreds of dollars, we would.