Sorry to hear that. I hope it’s all insured.
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Some positive and:
Given observed effects of environmental variables on existing frequencies, it will be interesting to see how millimetre-wavelengths perform through rain, fog, smoke, vegetation, etc.
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Very!
26Ghz operating frequency!
Australia/PMG/Telstra deployed a nationwide microwave network as part of the telephone and early communications network expansion. Typical range 50+km line of sight, up to 6GHz operating frequency. These antenna were highly directional compared to the typical FW cell antenna. The basic technology can be very capable, electrical storms etc excepted. In the “proof of concept trial” no mention of weather resilience.
When in Rome do as,
Mortlake might just be a slightly less difficult EM environment than their prior record of 6.5km achieved in Rome.
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Where is the NBN up to with Fixed Wireless speeds?
The ACCC’s view,
The original design of the fixed wireless network has been unable to meet higher take-up rates and changing usage patterns. This has contributed to ongoing congestion issues affecting parts of the fixed wireless network.
Given the nature of fixed wireless, the speed of your service may vary throughout the course of the day and may be considerably lower than your maximum plan speed. You may experience congestion in the form of reduced speeds (e.g. below 6 Mbps), particularly during busy hours (7–11 pm).
Follow this ACCC link for a more comprehensive assessment.
What do the RSP’s have to say?
Just a sample.
ABB
Does Fixed Wireless have a speed guarantee?
nbn™ specifications say that the service will reach at least 25Mbps downstream at least once at any time during a 24-hour period. There are no guarantees for evening speed peaks with this service.
iiNet
NBN™ Speeds:
Typical Evening Speed indicates download speed and is measured between 7pm and 11pm. NBN12 and NBN25 indicate the underlying speed tier that your NBN plan is on and represents the maximum possible speed that is available outside the busy period of 7pm-11pm.
Telstra
Fixed Wireless speeds are variable and can only be determined after your service is activated. Speeds experienced maybe slower and will vary throughout the day, due to factors including the signal strength or obstruction of the antenna’s line of sight to the tower, weather conditions, tower and network capacity and in-premise setup; and actual speeds may be significantly impacted by congestion, particularly during the busy hours (7-11pm).
Telstra also suggests the typical minimum speed on all FW plans is 2Mbps. It’s not satellite!
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Giving an Update, apologys if off the original topic. We continue to have problems with our telstra fixed wireless. The main issue is download speed varies from near 80mbps down to zero ,seems to be around busy times etc weekends and after school. When I ring my wife on our phone line through NBN, my voice will disappear and come back in roughly 5min cycles,I assume when download is zero but I can still hear my wife clearly all the time. We signed up to Prime Video to watch recent Swimming in Adelaide, some stop /start during day but after tea time was hopeless. Again assuming downloads at zero.If I’m in front of computer when this happens I can’t even login to Telstra Speed Test, if I have page ready it will say can’t connect then 5 minutes later show near 80 mbps. When this all happens the NBN wall unit shows signal strength of normally 2 orange lights,sometimes green even when download speed is zero. My last conversation with Telstra I said I would prefer speed back to below 25 mbps as long as it didn’t drop to zero but no good, I’m about to spend a couple of hours on phone talking to them again. Any ideas Please.
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That is a major bad situation you nor Telstra can fix because it an artefact of the LNP’s Multi-Technology white elephant that was supposed to save money compared to a more fit for purpose all fibre system.
If you have a strong and reliable mobile signal and cost is not prohibitive try a mobile internet connection with a datapack. Some modem/routers have USB slots for the dongles, and some use their own WiFi hubs.
Another option is Starlink Satellite service.
Either get you out from under the NBN.
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Thanks for info PhilT, I thought about changing to TPG but if NBN is at fault our problems won’t go away,also looked at 5g but doesn’t seem to be in our area yet.
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Moving your experience to this older topic on fixed wireless should be insightful. I always chuckle at ‘fixed’ wireless, being as it is 
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This suggests a contention issue with the NBN tower you have been connected to. IE more users and demands for data than the tower or your local cell can manage at the same time.
@PhilT has suggested some alternatives.
The following also provides some official sounding advice. Standing up for your rights sounds good, but if one has given up the copper phone line there is one less option. Did Telstra indicate you could keep your copper phone line when offering you your NBN service?
P.S.
We’ve now had NBN FixedWireless for 3 months. Rather than stay with our ISP we went to Aussie Broadband. We’ve kept our other service for now, with copper phone line and ADSL until we are convinced the NBN is reliable and effective. It’s a small extra cost. Note we also approached Telstra re NBN. I’ve a 4G Telstra data modem for travel, which served also as a backup to the ADSL which has been unreliable on old copper. Zero prospect of that being fixed. . It has also served as a useful comparison to the NBN FW service. Unless one is a heavy user of streaming services or downloads we’ve found the mobile data service more than adequate, $45pm.
There are also offers from a number of providers to deliver a more permanent service to your home over the mobile network. There are varying reports on how well these do or do not deliver compared to an NBN service. TPG/iiNet are one using obviously the Vodafone network. My inquiries suggested they would be better than our ADSL2 service but not necessarily as capable as a good NBN Fixed Wireless connection. We are achieving 50-60Mbps down most of the time. Slowest at peak time has been 30Mbps. Upload speeds though have been typically only 3Mbps. 2 yellow LEDs for signal strength.
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When I signed up NBN through Telstra I was told copper would be turned off in 18months, unfortunately just before signing my neighbour damaged the copper line with his tractor so ADSL isn’t an option now.I rang Telstra with my Case Number and was told NBN is working on tower this weekend for 4 nights 11pm to 6am, hopefully to increase capacity with all the new housing developments in the area. Next week I’ll find out if still a problem… Interesting comment by Telstra Rep when he said computer recorded only 4 outages this year, 2 were at 11pm or later, we are asleep then anyway but they must only record outages over a certain time limit of say 10 minutes or so. We had at least 10 stoppages after 7pm while trying to watch Swimming on Prime Video before we gave up.
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One very good reason not to rely on Telstra if at all possible. It’s unlikely that Telstra put that in writing in such a way it could be relied upon.
Your account now on the NBN is arguably a bet gain/benefit to Telstra. At the same time Telstra is also rewarded by not having to maintain your copper line.
The obligation on your neighbour at that time would have been to pay Telstra for it’s repair. It seems most unusual that was not the outcome.
As you say it is now all in the past, and one more point to consider in deciding on who to trust with your future custom.
There is sufficient in previous posts from this topic to enlighten all on just how poor service over the NBN FW can be, and how limited the remedies.
Fleeting hopes for the future include,
1. Expanding full-fibre access for a further 1.5 million homes and businesses, including up to 660,000 more premises in the regions.
2. Upgrading fixed-wireless to make speeds of 100 mbps available to all users, with up to 85 per cent having 250 mbps access. This will benefit an estimated 755,000 premises.
Part of a $3.5B pre-election spending promise.
No mention of how this will addresses backhaul restrictions or tower cell capacity limits. Something that should me apparent in any revised and updated NBN Strategic Plan.
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That is odd, I was told that FW was one connection that allowed you the option of keeping copper. Not that would want to as mine has had many mishaps with tractors etc. Once a neighbour was digging a post hole with a tractor attachment and found it was fouled. He checked and found wire wrapped around it. He untangled it, pushed the mess back down the hole and moved the post to the side. Whenever it rained it was a tossup if the phone would stay on.
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A quick update,my neighbor who dug up our common copper wire,it was his first ever tractor ie learning and was digging on my side of fence so I could have been hit with bill,I had NBN coming anyway so left it as is.
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Every neighbour presents a learning experience.
You mentioned 5G as an alternative previously if it became available. There’s a long discussion on the 5G alternative/s at,
‘Will 5G Push Fibre Aside?
And
‘Tests show 5G wireless potentially 60 times faster than NBN
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If one has an inadequate FW ‘service’ 4G would seem an improvement, depending on signal / locality / availability as a replacement for FW, or just as a backup to stay online when necessary.
There are modem/routers with that automated capability.
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Choice was penned a good article on 5G verses the NBN which would be better than reading some long threads:
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Yes, It depends. Telstra 4G using a Telstra branded (Netgear) mobile modem.
Sample 1, Inner urban Brisbane, weekday 4:12pm, tower just up or down the road.
A sample that demonstrates what the current 4G technology used on the mobile networks can deliver.
The same set up in a rural environment, weekday 5:00pm, approx 6km to tower?
Surprised by the faster upload than download? Purely due to peak loading on the network. I’m more accustomed to 25-50Mbps or better in less busy times.
Having used the same Telstra setup when travelling, inner capitals to remote my feeling is that 4G data connectivity is less of a concern than the speed of the service that connects to the local mobile tower. Many of the less urban sited Telstra and Optus mobile towers are connected to the rest of the world using microwave wireless. A similar issue to that limiting NBN fixed wireless towers.
If looking at this option vs NBN, it may be useful to find a way to try before you commit. EG prepaid data sim swapped into your mobile with good signal strength might be one way to trial. Local signal strength, try a few locations around the house, and data slow down in the busy evening times if that is important.
P.S.
I had the impression Telstra provided NBN for FW came with a router that had 4G fall over?
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You seem to be saying that FW is always not up to standard. I accept that there are users on some nodes whose service is poor but on some is just fine, right now I am getting 23.9/4.5 on a 25/5 plan, the ping is 61 which may may not suit online gamers but is no problem for me including VOIP phone. I get similar figures any time of day. I have streamed HD movies on two devices simultaneously with no problems. Am I not ‘average’?
It is and is not, depending on which standard one chooses as a measure. Against needs a different answer?
Our FW experience. Shared across 3 adult users.
Average?
Or this Average?
What the time of day average does not show is how the evenings and peak hours vary day to day. Some are better and some are not so good. As low as 2.6Mbps last month.
Our service apparently meets the NBN minimum standard for FW service according to our RSP ABB. My reading of the NBN performance standards suggests that’s correct. Some are more average than others.
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To my inexpert eye the time of day graph looks like bad congestion at peak use time. I don’t get that at all, I suspect that there are only a few dozen users on my tower and the upstream connection seems good.
