Transparency needed with NBN sales
A couple of months ago we received a standard "The NBN is now available in your area" brochure in the mail.
Contact your ISP, it said.
"Joy of joys", I thought, now was the opportunity to be at the forefront of digital connectivity once again.
First some history: It's the teacher in me.
I encountered my first computer in 1977 and was an early user of bulletin board services in the 1980s using an acoustic coupler and rotary dial phone.
The company I worked with in the mid-80s had email, via OTC and their Minerva system.
In 1996, I moved from local bulletin boards to Malcolm Turnbull's Ozemail and then a faster Telstra dial up connection.
The World Wide Web had arrived.
I even completed an undergraduate degree, followed by a post graduate degree, all from the comfy recesses of my couch.
In all aspects, these services met expectations of both promised speeds and availability.
Ditto when we had broadband, via ADSL, connected in 2000 and then switched to ADSL2+ as our local exchange was enabled a few years later.
Like many modern households we have now become reliant on connectivity and the internet of things.
At last count; four laptops, two desktops, six handheld devices and a connected television keep this addiction fuelled.
It would be an understatement to say that I was excited.
Finally no more waiting for the slow moving download bar.
All of this relates to the issue of bandwidth, simply put, how fast our devices can communicate with other devices.
The first call to our ISP, Telstra, indicated a two month wait.
The next week our neighbours were connected.
So I called back.
Suddenly it had really become available in our area.
Fast forward to today.
Over 22 phone calls and two missed appointments later, we have NBN service.
Well, I use the term service very loosely.
I was assured by a Telstra operator that the 100/40 plan would deliver me a download speed in the vicinity of 80Mbps to 90Mbps (80-90% of the advertised maximum).
The best I have seen is 39Mbps and the Telstra supplied Technicolor modem currently shows a maximum line rate of 41Mbps.
As my phone is now reliant on the NBN connection, it has been prone to drop outs, something that never happened before.
How can this happen?
It's like buying a V8 that only has three cylinders operating.
As I write, three weeks after installation, many websites now fail to load, usually timing out on a random basis.
My wife's VPN service to her employer in the health service sector will not run at all and our phone line regularly drops out.
A plethora of phone calls had not yielded any results.
It took an email to the senior management team at Telstra, including the new CEO, Andy Penn.
I did receive an email from the Head of Customer Service, Andy Ellis.
He apologised for the inconvenience.
But back to the problems with the NBN: Clearly the speeds being sold are theoretical maximums only.
No guarantees are ever given for minimum levels of service as they relate to download speeds, either by NBNCo or individual ISPs.
According to many technical sources, physical cable distance from the node to the house plays a part.
As does the number of connections and terminations, especially when these are buried in a concrete-and-steel PMG-labelled pit with weather protection consisting of a plastic bag and some electrical tape.
Significant speed reductions are indicated after about 100 metres, limiting the theoretical maximum to well below the 100Mbs being on-sold by the NBNCo retailers.
In addition to the issue of quality of the physical copper phone line, the NBNCo has to deal with the issue of vectoring. Simply put, vectoring allows the co-existence of ADSL and VDSL (the "new" superfast broadband), and is itself problematic.
Vectoring is used to reduce crosstalk between the old and the new and appears to also drastically reduce speed as distance to the node increases.
Add vectoring to ancient copper with poor quality workmanship and the result is the NBN.
Ultimately, the issue comes down to the copper wire laid between the node (the new green box that marks the end of the fibre optic cable) and the household.
This technology dates back to 1875 and Alexander Graham Bell's ground-breaking use of telegraph wires to transmit voice.
Every network is only as strong as its weakest link.
So we have 21st century concepts and technology connected to 19th century infrastructure.
Put simply, it's a little like having a brand new Lamborghini, powered by a coal-fired Watts's steam engine.
It looks great, but sounds terrible and runs even worse.
After checking our line, the NBNCo has stated that it meets the minimum requirements.
Now we're getting somewhere.
Except, the acceptable minimum line speed is only 25Mbps, something I have been unable to find in the fine print.
I am getting 43Mbps line speed that is it.
I will never get more than that with fibre to the node, end of story.
Despite this, Telstra can still sell me up to 100Mpbs.
No need to look far to see who is responsible; the blame solely rests with the Liberal Party and ironically, the guy who gave us the ground-breaking OzEmail service, Malcolm Turnbull.
As Minister for Communications, he announced in 2013 that the original plan of "fibre to the premises" would be replaced by "fibre to the node", using copper for the final mile.
So it would appear that we are stuck with this Frankenstein-ish, cobbled together approach.
Whilst designed to reduce cost and increase the speed of roll-out, it appears that the opposite may in fact have happened.
I don't think this will change in the near future.
What does need to happen is some transparency in how the NBN is being sold.
My contacts at the NBNCo are dismayed that ISPs have staff who state that an end user could expect speeds of 80Mbps and beyond on a 100Mpbs plan, especially given the only guarantee is a 25Mbps minimum.
If you were to walk into a greengrocer and ask for a kilo of apples, you would expect to get exactly that, a kilo of apples.
They are priced by the kilo and you pay accordingly.
However, when you buy internet bandwidth from any internet service provider this price per delivered unit becomes very fuzzy.
How has this happened?
Email, 1 Jun 2016
David Sneddon, Pretty Beach