Just had a NBN tech here 2 days ago to fit Fixed Wireless gear, he used harness, brackets screwed to roof, witches hats and sign around ladder, stud finder to miss any wall wiring and then had to photograph all of these steps to submit with his statement to receive his payment. One gripe I have now is the Telstra handbook for me to setup Modem etc mentions activation may take awhile, nowhere does it say 24hrs to 48hrs as online Telstra told me. I have registered a Care Alert Smart Dialer for my 88 yrs old Motherinlaw, I was told that would make us priority, 46 hrs later we have nothing, landline was turned off over 40 hrs ago, not Happy.
3 Likes
Reality is that registration simply puts you in the priority queue to get it fixed, whatever that means. Fixing it ASAP? Nothing ever happens before it is possible. Anything done âASAPâ can be meaningless. If your MIL is in an area with good mobile coverage the answer, as with everything important per the NBN itself, is to always keep a fully charged mobile for emergencies.
Consider an upgrade, they obviously know the problem.
Operates via the mobile network
1 Like
1 Like
A work in progress.
If you were the NBN where would you put a Fixed Wireless tower in the Glass House Mountains?
It is still to be cabled and fitted out including microwave connections. Most of the towers in the area are interconnected by Wireless to the NBN. This introduces a second point of congestion and increases latency compared to a tower that is connected to fibre.
The galvanised beauty of the tower contrasts with the uniform drab green, brown and grey of the pine trees. Not yet mature they reach between 30 and 35m in height. The tower is taller by a bit, so it should have a great view of the surrounding forests on three sides, or the three nearby residences in the other direction.
The customers it will serve are typically more than 1,000m distant, immediately on the other side of all those lovely pine trees. The only alternate logic for the location of the tower is to complete a microwave link to the other NBN towers in the area?
2 Likes
If they are covered by the ACMA Priority Assistance requirements (PA), which Telstra for fixed line phone service may mean they are still obligated then that says the complainant should have their issue addressed within 24 hours if in urban & rural (not remote) areas and 48 hours in remote areas.
https://www.telstra.com.au/consumer-advice/customer-service/priority-assist
It may be worth @wj.ca raising the issue if they havenât already with Telstra on the phone numbers in the Telstra link (13 2203 (faults on your existing line) or 1800 331 286 (new line connections)) & if they have raised the issue with Telstra then a complaint to the TIO:
2 Likes
Raising a complaint for non-compliance does not get a line up. Therein lies a problem with âguaranteesâ. If they fail there are penalties but a penalty does not help the aggrieved.
Back to an NBN problem for most of âusâ needing alert devices and the upgraded CareAlert looks like a no-brainer.
3 Likes
I agree that going to the mobile Care Alert system is the safest option.
But the PA requirements also allows them to discuss a possible short term alternative with Telstra so they do have some connection to some telecommunications as per the Telstra page:
âTelstra may also offer the customer the use of a temporary interim service if we think we will be unable to meet the PA timeframeâ.
2 Likes
At first glance I read that as âA Pedant that cannot be accidentally activatedâ⌠oh yes I can!
4 Likes
If it is an old school alert depending on a PSTN dialler capability, what would that be?
1 Like
Agree it will not meet the needs of the Alert system, but the problem of not having any telecommunications could be somewhat alleviated in the meantime. Nowhere near a good answer just a poor stop gap that may help a bit. Landline MIA at the time of @wj.caâs post was 40 hours & thatâs outside urban & rural PA requirements per ACMAâs statement on it.
1 Like
Updating we had our NBN Fixed Wireless up and running after 52hrs offline when it was escalated. I think because I was able to quote my NBN reference number for our registered Care Alert Smart Dialer pusded it to a higher level.One odd thing from the phone discussion for fixing connection was when I was told the Modem was plugged into wrong socket of NBN wall box, it was in 1st socket ,told to use 3rd socket only, I know with Routers it doesnât matter which socket you use, no matter, it works well now with speedtest showing around 21 downloads. I think they were confused about my Smart Dialer as its a stand alone unit,if my mother-in-law presses emergency button it rings 3 of family first before 000, they were stressing over checking with Dialer Call Centre, All good now so far.
3 Likes
Each line on the wall box has a dedicated identifier. They enable at the other end only the lines to be used so if plugged into x socket instead of y socket the system just doesnât listen to any traffic on the x sockets circuit and of course y socketâs circuit is working from their end but seeing no traffic from your end. Some routers can lock sockets to certain addresses so that only traffic from permitted IPs is sent through those sockets, a set of Cisco routers in a building I help out on have dedicated sockets for certain traffic (several of which are for dedicated VPNs).
Very happy to hear that you got your system up and running properly and things have been working as they should.
2 Likes
Thanks for reply Grahroll, sometimes you wonder if you are having your leg pulled when all the problem was they forgot to turn you on,cheers.
2 Likes
Given the level of perfomance in general, the thought of NBN erasing premises from the database doesnât fill me with confidence.
Added to what theyâve deleted previously, the total must be approaching the million mark.
1 Like
Anybody who has to plan on a large scale has to rely on statistical data collected by other organisations. I have a never-ending battle with organisations who accept that the official postcode map reflects reality. Other maps are also fanciful.
I had to deal with the Rail Track Authority about closing a level crossing. They were concerned that if they closed it stock might be trapped by rising floodwaters. During the discussion of the chance of this happening and what might be done about it I realised they were reading off topo maps and assuming that the things marked âdwellingâ or âroadâ were an actual dwelling or road. It took a while to convince them that several roads on the map were just that, they did not exist and never had and that some went through lagoons or across the river and were not feasible paths for moving stock.
Short of sending out people to eyeball the area and report back organisations will be mislead by these problems. I would not jump to the conclusion that the existence of phantoms in the NBN database is their fault.
1 Like
I wouldnât blame the NBN Co either.
Although Iâm aware of at least two properties nearby with two independent and separate residents or businesses on the one lot. The NBN Co only counts these as a single service, (as Telstra only ever originally provided a single copper line). That is exactly what the NBN Co offers to provide. Any second connection is a 100% new line at $$$$. Hopefully this is not typical of the rest of the nation. There might be a need to reassess those outcomes and up the count again?
In the light of history, I doubt their capacity to determine whatâs real and whatâs a âphantomâ.
My point precisely. Erasing records from the database elevates the apparent rate of progress in connecting remaining addresses. Iâve seen many cases where there are multiple residences on a property, but NBN⢠would only provide one service. I know that there are still cases outstanding, awaiting allocation of additional LocIDs.
1 Like
Cynics might suggest that like the federal government and budget the NBN also has itâs ulterior motives to reconfigure the results. Sale or no sale!
One recent set of figures for the NBN satellite and fixed wireless services had the total approaching 11% of all potential customers for the NBN, in those coverage areas. In simple folk speak, âmore than ten percent ofâ! It sounds so much less alarming to say âless than ten percent ofâ. Also a likely outcome of the rejigging of the data.
True there are many rural blocks with no dwelling, however it seems a little difficult to accept that the NBN Co did not have a reasonable handle on which had occupied or connected dwellings. After all one of the main purposes of the NBN project was to bring the internet to all Australians. Theyâve had more than ten years to do the count of the customers they were intended to most connect. 
2 Likes
They can also get fairly accurate data sets from census data about numbers of residences, locality and even if internet tech is connected (though it may be mobile so not entirely accurate). They donât just rely on antiquated data provision.
Of course it is all anonymised and de-identified as per the Census Act (except they do keep it intact if you answer yes to keeping the dataâŚof course they always remove the no onesâŚno one for sure).
3 Likes
That turned out surprisingly well for NBNâ˘. One might say suspiciously well, but I wouldnât be so mean. 
2 Likes
