I'm normally a very calm and patient person, but my patience is running out and I'm appealing to those who might have had similar experiences with Australia's new "fangdangle" National Broadband Network (NBN).
For those not in Australia and are interested, the NBN is essentially a VDSL2 network which the Australian Federal Government is rolling out to replace the aging analog, ISDN and ADSL networks around the country. But as you can guess, the people who sign off on the money to build this network are morons and refuse to listen to voice of reason and experience. So in many areas, rather than running fibre optic cabling to the home (FTTH) to replace the decaying copper lines, they're going with a 'fibre to the node' (FTTN) solution (or a hybrid fibre/coax if you live in an area with cable).
Now onto my gripes...
I'll spare the nitty gritty details and generalise a little: I built a new house on a vacant block. The block had no services running to it (naturally) but the NBN was here! Hooray! NBN Co. kindly came out and ran a brand new copper lead-in from the street to my house at no cost to me (previously, to get a new line installed by Telstra would have cost me about $300). No dramas there.
Since the service was connected, I've had nothing but problems...
1. The length of the copper line between my house and the NBN node is about 800 metres; I can't get line sync at more than 6Mbps (I should be getting 25+Mbps).
2. I've had two "open circuit" line faults which required an NBN contractor to come out and join the wires together again somewhere up the street.
3. Line sync drops out continuously, usually several times a day.
And it's not just me, both neighbours on either side of me have similar issues.
I've been onto my service provider (Telstra) and logged fault after fault after fault after fault... each time they just flick it to NBN Co. who sends a contractor out. All the contractors do is test for line voltage and continuity. Nothing more. Of course there is bloody continuity! I've even had contractors tell me themselves that the lines out there in the street are so brittle that it literally falls apart in their hands when they attempt to re-jumper it.
I've explained the situation to my service providers 1st level support, who have spoken to their team leaders and made endless notes on the system.
I've lodged a complaint with Telstra -- That complaint/fault still sits in their system to this day as "open", they acknowledge there is a line fault but nothing is being done.
I've been through 3 modems.
I've lodged a complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudman; Nothing.
I've spoken to the NBN contractors and asked them to push the issue up from their end... nope, they "can't".
I've e-mailed the office of the Minister for Communications... no reply yet (not expecting one).
Above all, I'm not a moron and worked in a data centre years ago. I know a thing or two about cabling and I even had to fix NBN Co's last attempt at wiring a socket!
The problem is out there, in the street. It's the shitty bloody copper lines than can barely hang on to a connection (if I do manage to get sync on the line).
Telstra says it's NBN Co's responsbility. NBN Co. contractors just shrug and look at me like an idiot. The last call to Telstra even recommended that I call ISGM directly (the company contracted to do Telstra's cabling work) but get this: I might need to pay for the repairs myself if I do that.
Who on this earth do I need to speak to for them to make a decision to replace the old, corroded copper cabling?Honestly, can anyone suggest something else because I've run out of options. I've been polite, I've been patient, I've laughed it off with the Telstra customer service person on the phone about how shit the NBN is... enough is enough. I'd be happy with a crummy 3Mbps connection if it meant the damn thing worked and was stable!