Technology & Social Media ArgghhH!!! NBN Woes....

Woo hoo! NBN came out (about 2-3 weeks ago) to hook up HFC at mum's place. Said the place was already serviced by a working Foxtel cable (not inside the house as she's been there for about 20 years). Said I needed a TV tech to run a cable & termination where I wanted it.

Tech came out, said it was Foxtel cable & he couldn't touch it.

Called Foxtel to remove the cable - advised any cabler could do it (So I got another bod to remove it).

NBN tech came out today, asked where I wanted the cable . He ran it, installed a wall plate & outlet & terminated the other end.

Came inside, installed the modem & router. Programmed the router. All working (from their end at least). The carrier is already telling me that I haven't hooked up a computer.

Now I just have to get mum's computer to talk with the new modem, wait for the phone line to transfer (& pray).

 

Anyone know anything about external antennas for 4G Wireless Modems? We're currently scraping by with a Spintel account on a 4G Huwei Wireless Modem but it's throttled at 12Mbit up and I think about 1 down. Mind you, we're in a hole so best we ever get is 3-4Mbit download and don;t even bother trying to send an e-mail as upload speed is close to zero.

Optus have just launched a new wireless internet plan, I just got off their live chat an they tell me they are not throttled.

At the moment I pay $40 per month for 250gb capped with Spin-tel throttled at 12Mbit (3-4 real life).

Optus new plan is $65 per month for 200Gb capped but not throttled and I can use the Huweai modem I already have from Spin tel as it's the same model Optus supply anyway.

Both are not locked into a contract.

We're sat right in the middle of 4 cell towers, Optus chat checked and told me we should have excellent coverage at our address and to call the tech line if we are getting such low speeds (our mobile speed is also dreadful, I generally have to switch the phones to 3G to get any kind of stable connection and I've never managed better than 4 to 5Mbits download).

I'm guessing, as we 're in a bit of a dip and surrounded by trees, that's probably our issue. If I can get a good external antenna for the Huwei that won't break the bank I could switch to Opus mobile broadband for now until NBN sort themselves out.

Emma lost her job yesterday, totally out of the blue (that's a story for another day, what a bunch of idiots she worked for) so we're on emergency rations just now so I don't want to throw massive dollars at an antenna unless I know it's going to work.

Cheers.

 

I understand the Telstra Speedtest is powered by Ookla so interesting results there @wylie.

I don't believe anything about the speedtest against the NBN plan. Too many variables such as type of connection, condition of line, distance from NBN pit, rats have chewed cables. Plus the moon is in the seventh quadrant or the pet mouse isn't running hard enough to spin the little wheel to power the thing.

 

@Propagate - that's a bummer (the +1).

Confuser works (when you put in the correct password), the old Telstra line was migrated this morning to the new carrier. I only found out as I called her first thing worked perfectly. Popped over, no dial tone (in the state of being ported across to the new carrier) so shifted her handset & answering thingy next to the NBN/Router & plugged it into the phone outlet. Woohoo! it dials out. Still waiting for the dial in to be ported (this must need someone who is too clever by half to flick the other switch ).

What is she paying for - the cheapest/slowest service or the 50/100Mbs plan?

 

@Propagate - will any of these fit your bill?

Mast antenna
Mobile antenna
Handheld antenna
New router

Check out mobs like Jaycar (mailorder or instore).

 

Just checked her phone - answering machine is now talking to me so even the dial in works. NBN issues Pfffft!!

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

Thanks for the links @Scott No Mates seems a bit of a black art though as you can easily lose more in dB losses in the cable connecting the modem to the external antenna than the gain from the antenna.

I'm going to get up on the roof at the weekend and see what speed my mobile gives compared to in the house, then I'll throw a long extension cord up there, take the wifi modem up and try that too. If I can get close to maximum speeds then I might look at getting a specialist mob in to put an antenna on, could be a decent option if I can get a decent speed.

Away from the house I can get close to 40Mbits on my 4G phone, that's way more than enough for us. If i can get 20Mbit from a wireless modem on an antenna I'll be happy.

I'm at work just now, we have Fibre to the Premises. Ookla speed test shows a download speed on my phone vie wireless to the NBN router of 46.4Mbts and upload 18.5

Turning off the phone wifi and ran again on Optus 4G cellular Ookla gave 94.6Mbt download !!! and 31.8 up. Bloody hell, they must have upgraded the local towers, I thought cell data was fast last time ai tried it and was getting low 40's.

This makes things more interesting, if I can get that sort of speed from a roof antenna at home then I'll go for Optus 500Gb cell plan for $65 per month with no lock in.

 

Use better quality/shielded cable. One of those links has a spiel on the situations where high or low gain was better.

Raise the house?

Some of those antennas are car/4WD models - so a gutter/roof mounted omni or bracketed yagi on the TV mast may be sufficient to boost your signal.

AFAIK, speed is also dependent upon how far your computer is from the wifi router (or how many walls in between). Have you tried plugging the computer directly into the router - this will provide the fastest connection?

 

Cheers @Scott No Mates

Haven't tried pluging direct to the router as yet as even when the phone is connected to the router via wifi and I'm stood next to the router we're still around 3Mbts, plus the phone itself when on cellular data rarely breaks 5Mbts download, so I'd say it's definitely an issue with picking up signal from towers?

 

This is just getting silly, just logged into the toolbox to see if there's an update and saw this just posted....

24 May 2019 08:46AM - by Residential SD
----------------SD TASKING----------------
INC000011759850 - Service Request
NBN Network & Service Operations
23/05/2019 13:08 AEST
Hi April,
We apologise for the inconvenience.
This Service Request is currently being investigated by our Copper Team.
Please allow two business days for a response to be provided.
Regards
nbn
-------------------------------------------------
Defer for NBN update

Why is the copper team investigating a missing fibre DPU issue? And back in the 2 business days queue again.

I'm off to the Otpus shop now for their new Huawei 4G wireless package, I got 22Mbt download on my phone stood on the roof last night, new modem, sim and Ariel on the cards I reckon. Stuff NBN.

 

Right, I'm the proud owner of another Huawei 4G modem and a month-by-month 200GB Optus Wireless Plan.

Chap in the shop said I can bring it back for a refund if I don't get a decent speed once home.

I've set it up at work and got overt first hurdle (they hadn't activated the sim). 20 minutes on Live Chat has sorted that out.

Here are some OOkla speed test numbers for those playing along at home:-

iPhone XS on 4G with Optus sim - 78.7Mbts down and 10 up
iPhone WiFI on the office router which is on fibre to the premise NBN - 46.8 down and 18 up
iPhone WiFi on the new Optus Huawei wireless modem in the office - 73.8 down and 22 up

So, if I play about with placement and home and maybe an external arial I could have a genuine contender for NBN replacement. If I can get north of 20Mbts down and 10 up I'll bump the plan up the the 500GB for $80 a month and let NBN get on with.

What a waste of money the NBN debacle has been if we're seeing speeds of 70Mb + on 4G and plan prices coming down to fixed line levels. If the wireless tech continues to improve the whole NBN network may essentially become completely redundant, and we haven't seen 5G roll out yet!

 

Works great until you get 1000 homes onto the same tower

 

Indeed, fortunately the other 999 homes already have NBN installed ;-)

 

Well, I'm cautiously optimistic.

I'm getting between 8 and 29! Mbts down and 10-11 up on the Optus wi-fi modem.

I've set up my old Ubiquity Unifi extenders and I get full coverage around the whole house.

So far, it's exceeded what I could have hoped for. We'll see how the weekend pans out. If it looks good and I get no further info on NBN after 4th June I'll go ahead and order an external antenna.

 

Well, don't think I even need to bother with an external antenna as yet.

I was cruising at 35+ down and 20+ up Saturday & Sunday afternoon. I've been Ookla'ing all weekend at various times of the day and not gone below 12 down/10 up all weekend.

That's plenty for us to have had a couple of HD streamed movies, (although one of them was Aquaman so I almost went and pulled the sim card out myself - there's 2 hours I won't get back), e-mails, general surfing, Youtube etc. All weekend no issues with drop outs or speed delays and it's cheaper than the NBN package we'll be on, (if we ever get connected).

Don't get me wrong, I'll still be pushing them to get the NBN sorted, but at least I can relax a bit with a respectable level of internet access for our-needs in the interim.

Meanwhile, we've just gone up to Level 2 escalation, (which is exciting if there's only 2 levels, less so if there's a 100).....

27 May 2019 09:16AM - by Residential SD
Lodged a new SR
INC300000032661 - Service Request
27 May 2019 09:15AM - by Residential SD
----------------SD TASKING----------------
INC000011759850 - Service Request
Status Closed at 27/05/2019 04:13 Australian Eastern Standard Time
- No update and resolution
- Sending Level 2 escalation

 

@Propagate - I'd be watching the 200MB cap closely - apparently "homework" for the kids chews up heaps of data to the extent that I'll see 2-3GB being chewed up between midnight & when the kids get up in the morning (& everything is supposedly 'turned off' ).