Mountain communities demand better NBN connectivity

Senator Deborah O’Neill and Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch, meet with Mangrove Mountain residents concerned over poor NBN access

Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch, and Senator Deborah O’Neill have joined with Mangrove Mountain residents to demand better internet connectivity for the area.

Dr Christine Wade from Mountain Medicine said the surgery had been getting mailouts from various service providers telling them the area are NBN ready, which was welcome news with uploads failing and speeds dropping.

“We have a worse service than we had at the beginning of the year and our back-up preservation of data was threatened by poor internet speed,”, Wade said.

“But when it came time to connect to the NBN, techs were unable to connect us.

“The position of the tower is atrocious – on the downward side of a hill on the very fringe of the community, as close to a fire zone as you can get, surrounded by trees.

“The techs advised us there was no line of sight for fixed wireless and were unable to connect us via the tower.

“Extensive investigations have revealed that only one person in the area has been able to connect.

“We were presented with two options.

“The first was a satellite, which we were advised against by out tech support team as it was not fit for purpose.

“The second option is to construct our own aerial/antenna.

“This is virtually making your own wireless tower to amplify the 4G signal and I have been told the cost would be between $6,000 and $10,000.

“What’s really galling is that in some areas they are rolling out faster speeds and we can’t even get connection.”

Wade and other community members attended a meeting on September 30 with Tesch and O’Neill, who have taken the Federal Government to task over the issue.

“Residents 76km from the Sydney CBD are being forced to pay thousands of dollars more than their city counterparts in extra bills and installations to get low quality or non-existent internet,” O’Neill said.

“This neglect is having a terrible impact on the businesses, the educational and health outcomes and the peace of mind of these constituents.”

Tesch said she was horrified by the long-term ongoing failure to deliver quality phone and internet services, which was also impacting students and seniors.

“Labor will always fight for better public services and as we enter this new digital age almost no service is more important than broadband.”

O’Neill said she would host another community meeting in Mangrove Mountain during October.

An NBN Co spokesperson said the company was working with residents to find a solution.

“NBN Co is aware of concerns raised by a small number of Mangrove Mountain residents about connecting to the NBN,” the spokesperson said.

“We are working with them to identify a solution as quickly as possible.

“A combination of fixed wireless and satellite technologies are available to connect homes and businesses to the NBN network at Mangrove Mountain.

“These technologies were chosen for Mangrove Mountain based on several factors including geographical location, existing infrastructure, population density, and the cost and time to build.”

Terry Collins