An independent audit of consumer experiences with the National Broadband Network on the Central Coast has turned up mixed preliminary results.
Connecting to the region’s largest single infrastructure investment, estimated to be worth at least $350 million, has been an unsatisfactory experience for one third of survey respondents. However, 40 per cent of respondents said they were happy with their experience in moving over to the NBN. The audit was conducted by Coastal Connexions, the Central Coast’s digital industries group.
Previous calls for an audit fell on deaf ears during the recent Federal election campaign, despite widespread community and media support. “Discussions of the NBN rollout have been a hot topic for years within our group,” said Co-convenor, Mr Tim Willcox. “Our members, by defi nition, rely heavily on top quality broadband to run their organisations. “Many have done very well using the NBN infrastructure, though many have had some equally shocking stories,” he said. The preliminary report focusses on the data collected about the state of the NBN rollout in the region.
The report’s chief coordinator, Mr David Abrahams, said he was pleased with the level of participation by residents, businesses and community sectors. “We have received a large amount of quality feedback about the rollout directly from the community,” he said. “There are both good stories and absolute shockers. “This gives us a unique opportunity to point to the bad issues and adopt the lessons, something that could vastly, ultimately, improve the rollout,” he said.
Some of the base data details presented to the group were:
- 255 detailed submissions were collected across the region;
- 81 per cent of respondents were residential; 17 per cent were business, the remainder institutions;
- 76 per cent had an active NBN connection; and, 24 per cent did not have a connection for a variety of reasons.
- Sixty three per cent of NBN connected respondents had Fibre to the Node connections, 26 per cent had Fibre to the Premise connections, with the remainder using wireless, satellite or unsure.
- Around 22 per cent of connections subscribed to 100/40mb/s speeds, 28 per cent to 25/5-10 Mb/s, and 10 Mb/s the remainder on other plans;
- 44 per cent rated reliability as excellent or very high, while 32% said reliability was either poor or very poor.
- In terms of happiness with their NBN experience, 26 per cent of respondents were very unhappy, while 24 per cent were very happy.
Submissions relating to getting connected from the audit reflected the diversity of experiences, Mr Abrahams said. One respondent wrote: “My entire suburb is connected except our street and cannot get any half decent response from NBN. They blame it on the contractors and know absolutely nothing.”
Digital Industries group meeting of Coastal Connexions
“Our street has been completely forgotten about, and our suburb was connected in November 2015”. Another commented on the lack of internet availability at the Somersby Industrial Estate, which does not have access to ADSL2 or NBN. Further analysis of the data over the summer is expected to reveal important patterns both geographically, managerially and technically. “The Central Coast is effectively the broadband laboratory of the nation. “We think there will be important lessons that emerge for the NBNCo and their installers across the country,” Mr Abrahams said.
The audit survey was entirely funded/ resourced by local industry group professionals and businesses. No government, agency or ISP funding was received. The full report will be published in the New Year after more detailed analysis and data collection is completed.
The Preliminary Report can be downloaded here.
Media release, Nov 29, 2016 Tim Wilcox, Coastal Connexions