Who has NBN? What do you think?

I just did the Ookla speed test to see if there was any difference. It looks the same as the one I've already done.

Ping 14
Download 8.37
Upload 0.85

If I keep going I'll be back to the stone tablet and chisel.

 

Just was on the phone with Optus. She asked me to turn the modem off and on, then turn off the wifi and run the test again. This time I got

Download 7.10
Upload 0.65

She's sending a tech this week so hopefully I'll get some improvement.

To be honest, I don't find the loading of pages very slow, but sometimes I do get a "hung page" where I'm waiting longer.

Perhaps I'd notice more if I was downloading movies? I can watch things on iview with no issues.

 

I went to a shopping centre today and spoke with a chap at the NBN information stand. We punched in my address and he confirmed we will have access to non Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC).

He confirmed we won't have to rely on the ageing copper in our street that caused me such grief when I tried to move from cable a while back.

I learned today that we will have to ditch our landline phone and move to VOIP. That's ok except that we have a back to base alarm that uses the phone line.

I called our alarm company who can convert our system to work over the 4G network so we will look at the costs to do that (once they email them to me).

I had no idea we wouldn't be using our normal phone handsets and assume that is the same for everyone, or is it just because we are going to HFC?

He also said for our usage (just two of us, one at a time using internet, catch up TV on the net, Netflix) we should be okay with one of the the lower packages.

For a family with several devices or if we had sons still here gaming, or streaming content on Youtube or downloading movies he said we would likely need more.

He said if we sign up with the lower rate package and need more speed, we can upgrade.

He couldn't tell me which provider to go with. I will (of course) pick the wrong one and get a crap service.

I've printed out your long post @Paul@PFI and will read it again but I'm thinking of avoiding the bigger players. The guy today said to find out who will be servicing our area and then google to find reviews for them in different areas where they will have a track record (good or bad).

 

For someone without internet, I'm guessing they keep their telephone and old copper. Just thinking of my mother-in-law.

But I'm wondering about if she lived in our street and had to deal with our copper line that was so old and brittle it wouldn't support a telephone line for us.

There must be plenty of older people in very old suburbs who might have issues with old phone lines going forward.

 

Thanks for that answer @Scott No Mates.

So my mother-in-law will lose her landline 18 months after NBN comes to her street even though she doesn't want or need internet?

There will be a LOT of little old ladies (and men) in older suburbs who are going to be absolutely devastated and won't sign up for any sort of internet because they don't want it nor understand it.

I just read this on nbnco.com.au and it seems my mother-in-law is going to have to learn new tricks when she is 90. She is 88 now and NBN is coming to her about April next year. I guess she can hold off for 18 months until she is 90...

Will my existing phone and internet services really stop working if I don’t do anything to switch to the nbn™ network?
Yes, this is the case for the 93% of Australian premises connected to the nbn™ network via a fixed line technology. You can see where fixed line technologies have been installed in the nbn™ rollout map. We recommend you migrate your services over to the nbn™ network well before they are switched off, which occurs 18 months after the nbn™ network is switched on in your area.

When ordering an nbn service in Satellite or Fixed Wireless areas, have a discussion with your service provider about your existing landline. Consider keeping the service active if you rely on the landline in emergency situations.

 

Thanks @Scott No Mates. I'll talk to her so that when she reads about it she won't have a panic attack and think she's going to have to buy a computer.