Our speaker Wally Ballout is a community ambassador for the NBN and gave a very cheery and thorough presentation about the NBN.
Some of the matters discussed by Wally included:
- NBN are the wholesalers with separate organisations like Optus and Telstra being the service providers.
- The target was to complete the roll-out by the end of 2020 but with the Covid -19 restrictions it is expected the completion date will be in the early new year
- Be careful of scammers - make sure you sight an NBN security badge if a NBN technician calls at your home.
- On the technology side of things there are seven different cabling options, eg fiber to the node etc. So bear this in mind when speaking with friends, as they deliver different experiences. The choice of connection is made by the provider, not the householder.
- When looking to sign up for the NBN, look at your usage requirements to help determine which plan is best for you.
- How do you tell if the computer or landline is running slowly? Wally recommends doing a speed test on the input- using "speed test by Ookla". The peak content is between 7pm and 11 pm at night, and a nominated speed range of 12-25 Mbps can drop to ~15. When interviewing a provider, ask "What is your evening peak speed" so you know what will be the minimum rate for access at this time.There are four tiers of speed available, 1-12 Mbps is free, but Wally thinks this is unacceptably slow. 12-25 is suitable for working from home and downloading movies in a 1-2 person household, 25-50 for families with game playing used and >50 for business.
- Some new technology is going to be available next year so all customers should be able to achieve higher download speeds.
- If your system is constantly dropping out, report a fault and get a ticket number from your ISP, as this should not happen.
The members were very appreciative of Wally's straight forward style of presenting and of course the subject matter was one that everyone has an interest in.
Thanks Wally