Sessions to provide independent information about NBN

Elderly residents will have the opportunity to learn about and share their experience of the NBN at meetings held by a computer support business in Ettalong this week and next.

Woy Woy Computer Support owner Ms Judy Holmes said she hoped the free sessions would help senior members of the community understand the impact that the NBN.

Ms Holmes said she had had enough after dealing for months with telecommunication companies, the NBN and the Telecommunications Ombudsman on behalf of elderly Peninsula residents.

"Since early February, I have been helping local residents with an array of problems with both telephone and internet services," Ms Holmes said.

"I have had customers call me in tears and now I just want to get some independent information out to our elderly residents," she said.

Ms Holmes said one consequence of switching to the NBN that very few consumers were aware of was that they were waiving their rights to customer service guarantees.

She said this could mean disruptions to vital medical services provided by phone communication.

Clients who had Telstra Priority Assist services were the only exception.

The customer service guarantees ensured that if there was a service fault, the consumer was entitled to compensation for any time they were without a service.

She said that, since the Peninsula became NBN-ready in February, there had been a dramatic push by telecommunications companies to encourage their clients to move across to the national broadband network.

Ms Holmes said she believed the Peninsula had one of the highest rates of technical problems with NBN connections in Australia.

"I have even been out with Telstra linesmen and looked at the nodes," she said.

"Connecting the new infrastructure with the old copper is like trying to make a bullet train connect with a rickshaw," she said.

"One 87-year-old Umina woman had always had a home phone with Telstra and no other services.

"Now she is paying for the whole NBN setup and she doesn't need it.

"I want our elderly to know they don't need to be tricked by phone calls from their telecommunications providers.

"I have got case logs a mile long and I can tell you it is a complete and utter mess," she said.

"Seniors are so confused," she said.

Ms Holmes said her information sessions would be held on Friday, June 17, from 10am to 12pm at the Ettalong Scout Hall and on Monday, June 20, at the Ettalong Senior Citizens Centre.

She encouraged those attending to take their NBN letters with them and any other information about their services.

"The information that we will be providing is from first-hand experiences that we have encountered during this trial roll-out of the NBN along with extensive personal research and expertise," she said.

"We are providing this information free of charge to interested or concerned members of our community to try and better educate people about the NBN and how its service delivery is very different to that of the existing copper network.

"This may mean significant changes or costs for them.

"We feel that the current information available to people is confusing.

"There are lots of different agreements that need to be read and understood including the customer's agreement with NBNco and their providers.

"There is a need for these to be summarised so people can better understand what is happening," she said.

Ms Holmes said she had helped at least 50 elderly clients who had switched over to the NBN without fully understanding the consequences.

Then, as a result of ongoing technical difficulties with the NBN roll out on the Peninsula, those elderly clients have found themselves without a phone connection, in some cases for up to a week.

"Elderly people have been receiving calls from their current telecommunications provider telling them they are in danger of losing their phone and internet services if they don't change over soon because the copper network is being cut off.

"They mostly offer free connection and modem if you change over now.

"They most likely have also received a letter from the NBNco in the mail which will have a designated date for their copper wire disconnection," she said.

Ms Holmes said the copper wire network will not start to be switched off on the Peninsula until June 2017 so residents do not have to rush to convert to the NBN.

"We will explain what is actually going to happen according to the existing roll-out of the National Broadband Network in our local area."

Media release, 9 Jun 2016

Interview, 9 Jun 2016

Judy Holmes, Woy Woy Computer Support

Reporter: Jackie Pearson