Fuck Telstra, Fuck the NBN, and Fuck Abbot. (Fuck Australian Internet)

[Deleted member 48434]

First, a short history lesson.
Back in 2007, when Labor was elected in Aus, they put forward a plan to have a majority of premises in Aus hooked up with fiber internet, called the NBN, to replace the aging copper network monopolized by Telstra (The biggest ISP in Aus) with a future proof one.
But the Liberals (The Aus rightwing party, for those Americans unaware) complained about the price, so when they were elected with Abbot as leader in 2013, they gutted the NBN and planed to make it majority fiber to the node (And then copper to the premises).
"It's fast enough!" They tell us.
I don't know a single young person not still pissed off about this.
Even right wing young people are pissed off about it.
I know of an Alt-Right type who would otherwise vote right voting left solely because of the NBN.


While I'm having difficulty remembering when it happened, eventually my household was switched from ADSL2 to Fiber to the node (VDSL).
The speed increase was underwhelming. I can't remember too well how it was before, but It's about 5MB a Second now (Maybe about 3MB before), which is at least enough for 1080p streaming.
Oh yeah, and one more small, tiny detail...

It now consistently drops out multiple times daily, for periods between 5 minutes up to an hour if unlucky, and an entire night if very unlucky. It happens way more in the evening.
Based on what I've heard from my family, it's apparently like this for the entire node.
And has been so for well over a year, maybe 2 (I am really having difficulty remembering when)

It's. Fucking. Bullshit.
And I can't do much about it, because I'm not paying for it, my parents are.
Hell, I doubt there is anything that I can do, unless someone from Telstra or NBN Co were to get off their fucking ass and fix it.

 

[Deleted member 25600]

First, a short history lesson.
Back in 2007, when Labor was elected in Aus, they put forward a plan to have a majority of premises in Aus hooked up with fiber internet, called the NBN, to replace the aging copper network monopolized by Telstra (The biggest ISP in Aus) with a future proof one.
But the Liberals (The Aus rightwing party, for those Americans unaware) complained about the price, so when they were elected with Abbot as leader in 2013, they gutted the NBN and planed to make it majority fiber to the node (And then copper to the premises).
"It's fast enough!" They tell us.
I don't know a single young person not still pissed off about this.
Even right wing young people are pissed off about it.
I know of an Alt-Right type who would otherwise vote right voting left solely because of the NBN.


While I'm having difficulty remembering when it happened, eventually my household was switched from ADSL2 to Fiber to the node (VDSL).
The speed increase was underwhelming. I can't remember too well how it was before, but It's about 5MB a Second now (Maybe about 3MB before), which is at least enough for 1080p streaming.
Oh yeah, and one more small, tiny detail...

It now consistently drops out multiple times daily, for periods between 5 minutes up to an hour if unlucky, and an entire night if very unlucky. It happens way more in the evening.
Based on what I've heard from my family, it's apparently like this for the entire node.
And has been so for well over a year, maybe 2 (I am really having difficulty remembering when)

It's. Fucking. Bullshit.
And I can't do much about it, because I'm not paying for it, my parents are.
Hell, I doubt there is anything that I can do, unless someone from Telstra or NBN Co were to get off their fucking ass and fix it.

Click to shrink...

Question: Do you have multiple phone ports in your house?

I had very frequent dropouts when FttN was installed and it turned out that extra phone ports coming off the main line drain voltage and make the connection unstable. Had a sparky remove the extra ports and it's been rock solid since.

 

[Adventureracing]

This fuck up basically cost Australia 10s of billions of dollars and the liberal party basically get a free pass. Politics is such a weird thing.

 

[Deleted member 48434]

Question: Do you have multiple phone ports in your house?

I had very frequent dropouts when FttN was installed and it turned out that extra phone ports coming off the main line drain voltage and make the connection unstable. Had a sparky remove the extra ports and it's been rock solid since.

Click to shrink...

I do, I might have to look into it.
It's still using the same port we used back when we had ADSL.

 

[earthsucks]

i still have ADSL2, but i think it's getting disconnected in february? if so it will be a pain in the ass because i'm moving house in april or so and don't want to set up NBN for two months.

 

[ShadowAUS]

Question: Do you have multiple phone ports in your house?

I had very frequent dropouts when FttN was installed and it turned out that extra phone ports coming off the main line drain voltage and make the connection unstable. Had a sparky remove the extra ports and it's been rock solid since.

Click to shrink...

I do, I might have to look into it.
It's still using the same port we used back when we had ADSL.

Click to shrink...

Had the same issue with bridge taps causing havoc with the NBN's stability, get it checked out.

Also, fuck the NBN.

 

[ravn0s]

It's all Labors fault.
/s

My parents started getting a lot of drop outs after their Telstra cable was transitioned over to NBN.

 

[Subpar Scrub]

Fuck the NBN, fuck the libs. Making it fiber to node only was a waste of time and money.

 

[l2iv6]

yeah mine drops out constantly too, I'm actually using my 4G right now because of it. it's total bullshit, and has been such a huge waste of money and time

 

[dragonbane]

FttN allows 10 MB/s and up for quite a few people in cities using vectoring, but I assume you are too far away from the node. 50 mbps is already pretty great tbh, many Americans are stuck way below that lul

Sucks it's unstable for you though. FttN in Germany runs just fine, sounds like a rushjob was done with the infrastructure

 

[Rendering...]

It's wildly fucked that millions of people's internet quality is tethered directly to political bullshit.

The internet should be a public utility. It should be fast and cheap everywhere, it's so central to modern ways of life.

 

[Midnight Lunch]

Not about quality but we're renting a brand new house and we have to wait to have NBN connected because we can't afford the $300 first connection fee right now that we have to pay as the first people to live in the house. Messed up.

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

It could be a bad tap that is causing the drop outs.

 

[EatChildren]

No! The Libs saved us money! They saved us! This is all Labours fault!

 

[Jaaake]

Maybe in 30 years we can get something better haHAA

 

[Chaofahn]

Yeah we haven't even connected our apartment's NBN service - been relying on my 4G and hotspot tethering using my iPhone.

The mind-boggling thing has to be that my 4G is somehow more reliable than my neighbour's NBN, who regularly runs into speed issues and overall reliability. Not sure if it's FTTP, FTT Building or whatever, but whatever it is it sucks donkey balls.

 

[Koukalaka]

Interestingly, Openreach (infrastructure arm of the privatised BT) here in the UK went the same way in terms of choosing Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FFTC) instead of a full fibre rollout years ago.

We're only starting to see them pick up the pace on the rollout of full fibre, and that's because they had a kick up the arse from alternative providers putting in their own fibre/ducting.

 

[NTGYK]

Find me one great telecom or ISP in the world that isn't horrible anti-consumer shit at its core and I will buy you a lap dance at Brandi's.

 

[eZipsis]

I was lucky when I built my house it was part of the rollout of Fibre To The Premises and got put in before that whole election fiasco.

I've got 100/40 and I never experience drop outs.

Sorry OP but I remember having to put up with 28.8k for a long time before I got 56k. I feel like I deserve decent internet now.

 

[VideogameVices]

I hate that the internet in my house is so slow when uploading anything. I work for myself and I need the uploads to be quicker. I tend to use Mobile data to upload shit if I need it in a hurry.

 

[Hey Please]

Is it true that residential connection speed is limited to 100mbps in Aus?

 

[ShadowAUS]

Is it true that residential connection speed is limited to 100mbps in Aus?

Click to shrink...

On FttN at least it is. And you're lucky if you can get that because of how awful our millennia old infrastructure is.

 

[Mavis]

We should be getting it in March. I'm not holding my breath as they've already put us back 3 times, been waiting over 2 years now. The problem like much of Australia is with the last stretch of copper, ancient pits that get filled with water, corroded lines, patched up to last until next time. If they were shit on ADSL they'll still be shit on FTTN. We're about 30 meters from the exchange so I'm thinking of seeing how much it is to pay for FTTB or asking a Telstra engy to do a bit of weekend work.
On the bright side the bushfires are only 8km away and heading this way so they may take out the whole fucking lot and they'll have to replace it with stuff that works.

 

[Goldenhen]

This video explain why our coalition's NBN is terrible.

 

[Freestyler]

Meanwhile across the ditch in NZ we have FTTP and they're about to upgrade the bulk of the network from 1Gbps to 10Gbps.

It boggles my mind how badly your (Aussie) government fucked up the NBN.

 

[Psittacus]

It boggles my mind how badly your (Aussie) government fucked up the NBN.

Click to shrink...

It's not that hard to understand. They did it on purpose.

 

[Cup O' Tea?]

Watching my liberal voting boomer of a boss freak out at telstra over the shittyness of the NBN is one of the few upsides to this clusterfuck. I would tell him he did this to himself but I want to keep my job.

 

[Cup O' Tea?]

Meanwhile across the ditch in NZ we have FTTP and they're about to upgrade the bulk of the network from 1Gbps to 10Gbps.

It boggles my mind how badly your (Aussie) government fucked up the NBN.

Click to shrink...

The NBN was deliberately sabotaged by the liberal party to serve their donor rupert murdoch who was fearful a full fibre rollout would destroy his cable monopoly. Its corruption, not blind incompetence.

 

[Paz]

Watching my liberal voting boomer of a boss freak out at telstra over the shittyness of the NBN is one of the few upsides to this clusterfuck. I would tell him he did this to himself but I want to keep my job.

Click to shrink...

These people never connect the dots and it infuriates the fuck out of me.

 

[Poimandres]

I'm lucky. Bought a house a few months back with FTTP. I'm on a 50/20 plan with Super Loop and am very satisfied with the speed even during peak times. If you want reliability and decent speeds during peak (without getting totally reamed by the pricing) go with Aussie Broadband or Superloop.

 

[Cup O' Tea?]

These people never connect the dots and it infuriates the fuck out of me.

Click to shrink...

Regardless of the nbn, people like him would sooner light themselves on fire than ever vote Labor.

 

[Vilix]

I've played with some Aussie folks on PSN and XBL and they do get dropped from time to time. Must be infuriating. 😒

 

[YukiroCTX]

I remember reading about it at the time NZ were upgrading to fibre it was just strange. No need for paying for connections. I'm pretty sure the demerging of Chorus/Spark likely also benefited NZ. How much do people currently pay for those plans is it even unlimited?

 

[Freestyler]

I remember reading about it at the time NZ were upgrading to fibre it was just strange. No need for paying for connections. I'm pretty sure the demerging of Chorus/Spark likely also benefited NZ. How much do people currently pay for those plans is it even unlimited?

Click to shrink...

Installs are free except in very rare circumstances (eg. a farm with a super long driveway). Chorus pays for them (and then gets refunded/subsidised by the government I guess). In some areas, it's not Chorus but another company (which is still free). It's all pretty tightly regulated which has been awesome.

For $98 NZD (approx $94 AUD, $65 USD) per month we can get 1000/500Mbps (1000 up/ 500 down) with unlimited data.

Starting in Feb 2020 it'll go up to 4000/4000 and I expect the price will be similar after the first year or so. From there I guess they'll keep increasing the speed each year or so to keep up with 8K video streaming etc.

 

[A Strong Latte]

I lived somewhere in the fttp rollout footprint (the Labor one) and it was pretty awesome. It's a damn shame it didn't go through as originally planned. I'm currently in HFC which is ok but the fttp was way better.

My parents are Ina fixed wireless area- now that shit is ass.

 

[Thordawgg]

I feel like as 5G gets rolled out nationally and adopted over the next few years it'll make the NBN redundant and outdated. The whole debacle has been an expensive fuck up and it annoys me how much of a free pass the LNP gets for it

 

[Hamchan]

I'm hoping we see an investigation or some sort of justice for this. These people have deliberately crippled a whole country's internet infrastructure for decades, at the cost of 10s of billions of dollars, probably at the orders of Rupert Murdoch and to line their own pockets.

 

[Soj]

It's an endless frustration and I wish nothing but the worst for the people responsible.

 

[Window]

Telstra doesn't have much to do with this anymore tbh. From the sounds of what you're describing though I think you have in home wiring issues. My parents house has the same problem. FTTN sucks.

 

[Window]

Meanwhile across the ditch in NZ we have FTTP and they're about to upgrade the bulk of the network from 1Gbps to 10Gbps.

It boggles my mind how badly your (Aussie) government fucked up the NBN.

Click to shrink...

NZ already had FTTN (cabinetisation) when the government introduced their UFB plans so they had a leg up. NBN definitely could have handled things better though.

Watching my liberal voting boomer of a boss freak out at telstra over the shittyness of the NBN is one of the few upsides to this clusterfuck. I would tell him he did this to himself but I want to keep my job.

Click to shrink...

Then he'd be wasting his time as NBN is a totally seperate company than Telstra. Checks out that he doesn't realise that I guess.

 

[Deleted member 20284]

My advice is to check if you can get 5G internet where you are, replace your shit NBN. It can be a little weather affected but probably way faster and less frequent with issues than your NBN node/experience.

 

[ShadowAUS]

I'm lucky. Bought a house a few months back with FTTP. I'm on a 50/20 plan with Super Loop and am very satisfied with the speed even during peak times. If you want reliability and decent speeds during peak (without getting totally reamed by the pricing) go with Aussie Broadband or Superloop.

Click to shrink...

Been with both Aussie and (currently) Super Loop and can they've been the best ISP's I've ever been with both from a speed, reliability and support standpoint. Their pricing is also about as good as you're going to get in Australia so I highly recommend both as well.

 

[Caz]

Obligatory Tony Abbott post:

 

[spider]

our internet is so embarassing tbh

bleh

feeling your sentiment, op~

 

[partyhat]

I feel like as 5G gets rolled out nationally and adopted over the next few years it'll make the NBN redundant and outdated. The whole debacle has been an expensive fuck up and it annoys me how much of a free pass the LNP gets for it

Click to shrink...

This is a sad thought to have as mobile internet shouldn't be competitive with a fixed line service, especially 5g since it doesn't really work through walls or trees. Maybe in ten years but I guess we will still be stuck with the same shitty nbn in that time too. LNP is so damn short sighted and it's going to absolutely fuck our economy once the coal export demand decreases.

 

[jey_16]

The wide range of technology that they ended up using really screwed some people over. I ended up with FTTC (Fibre to the Curb) and luckily it's been quite good. Constant 80 down/30 up but the main thing is that's it's so much more reliable then my old ADSL2 connection which used to drop out all the time

can't imagine how good FTTP would have been though

 

[CosmicPanda]

Damn Australia got screwed 😡. You guys could have had one of the best broadband networks in the world. Well at least your shitty network can keep Americans and Canada networks company.