With the NBN Co not getting to our islands until 2019 - 2010, there could be an underlying benefit for islanders.
The roll-out of the new internet technology across Australia has been hit by many issues including technological glitches and cost overruns.
The good news for islanders, however, is that being one of the last to received the NBN, most of the technological problems will have been resolved by the time it gets here. (Installation Australia wide is currently just over 50%)
We have been previously told that we will be receiving two types of installation, Fibre to the Node (FTTN) and Fibre to the Curb (FTTC).
A recent article in The Australian by Anthony Klan, has been recognised as the most accurate account yet of the NBN its difficulties, and how it will work.
The essence of the article is that it is not the technology and the performances that are the main issue.
It is affordability.
It seems the majority of householders do not want to pay for the high priced top speeds and 83 per cent of people are purchasing the two slowest speeds being provided by the NBN which, it seems, is not much different to what we are receiving now.
The four speed tiers being sold by the NBN Co are 25mbps, 50mbps and 100mbps
Issues that have been identified include still poor connectivity and results, particularly at high peak times of use.
Anthony Klan says in his article this is not the fault of the NBN System, but can be attributed to the Telcos selling and providing the NBN packages to customers.
“Telcos are not buying enough bandwidth (a two-lane highway as opposed to a four-lane highway) because it is expensive and they found people are not willing to pay more than $80 a month or so for internet.”
Because of this area of neglect by the Telcos, some NBN users have seen their peak-time speeds slump to as low as 1mbps, even if they have purchased the highest 100mbps package
It is clear that further adjustments and changes are coming.
In recent days NBN Co offered Telcos new top-speed packages which tie the bandwidth to the speed package, so Telcos can’t scrimp, with discounts of up to 27 percent.
This has come about because internet users are used to prices coming down, not increasing.
It is possible that even more adjustments will be made on pricing, roll-out and technology.
By the time it gets to our islands, we are likely to receive the best possible NBN Co connection to the internet.
The Friendly Bay Islander has been able to learn in recent days that our assumptions of a superior NBN service for our islands are correct.
In response to our questions, the NBN has advised that Fibre to the Curve will be in a higher proportion on our islands.
We asked the NBN what proportion of the island installations would be FTTC as opposed to FTTN?
The reply we received stated: “It is hard to give an exact proportion on Stradbroke, Russell, Lamb, Karragarra and Macleay, as they have not entered the construction phase yet.
“However, our initial planning maps show a significant amount of FTTC being delivered on Stradbroke, Russell, Coochiemudlo and Macleay alongside FTTN in other areas.
In a major development, the NBN spokesperson stated: “Karragarra and Lamb Islands look like being solely FTTC connections.”
Many of the major technological decisions will not be made until the crews get to the islands ‘on the ground’.
The NBN told us: “The access technology chosen will always depend on the situation on the ground at the time – the most appropriate technology will be chosen for each individual location.”
They also said that our suggestion that our islands will likely receive the best possible version of the NBN, was a ‘reasonable assumption’.