Warnervale residents, and business owners of Wyreema Rd, met with Shadow Minister for Communications, Ms Michelle Rowland, on Monday, August 21, regarding their slow connection to the NBN.
Wyreema Rd is being serviced by ‘micronodes’, which are deployed when NBN’s fibre-to-the-node connection can’t deliver minimum speeds. Despite the Government promising that these residents would be connected from February, they are still waiting. Ms Rowland said micro-nodes are sitting around the country collecting dust. “Micro-nodes are the Government’s band aid solution for when their se
Despite the Government promising that these residents would be connected from February, they are still waiting. Ms Rowland said micro-nodes are sitting around the country collecting dust. “Micro-nodes are the Government’s band aid solution for when their second rate fibre-tothe-node connections won’t deliver minimum speeds,” Ms Rowland said. “Labor has been asking questions about these micro-nodes for a long time, and I was shocked when NBN Co confirmed that of the 1,423 micronodes deployed by July 2017, only 16 were actually in service,” she said. “In NSW, there are 329 micro-nodes, including this one on Wyreema Rd. “Only nine are operational.
“So, this is one of 320 micro-nodes sitting here doing nothing. “Labor has been forced to bring media attention to this nationally, because otherwise, the Turnbull Government will keep ignoring the problem. “They simply have no commitment to consumers.” Federal Member for Dobell, Ms Emma McBride, said the NBN technology was plagued with problems. “The residents and businesses in Wyreema Rd can’t even get an ADSL connection, so it’s incredibly frustrating for them to know that their suburb has been live for a long time and they are still waiting,” Ms McBride said. “When I raised this issue with NBN and the Minister, I was promised that the micro-node would solve the problem, but it hasn’t,” she said. “Fibre-to-the-node is a second-rate technology and there are problems with it. “Slower speeds, drop outs and connection problems are all part of this flawed technology,” she said.
Source: Media release, Aug 21 Heather Robinson, office of Emma McBride