Internet connection

tullfan

Member
2018 Sabbatical
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Location
Sydney
I want to get the net for Netflix but do not have a phone cable to the house.
Are there reliable solutions to this issue as the local electricians are charging at a rate of $500/ hour.
Any help much appreciated
 
You will need to apply for an internet connection with an RSP (Retail Services Provider). I am personally with Aussie Broadband, very happy with them. No phone line, no email accounts, just fast internet all the time at a good price and no contracts.

Depending on the NBN technology in your area, this is provided via Fibre Optic cable, or plain telephone cable (across two distinct technologies, one good, one terrible), or possible HFC Cable (aka Pay TV Cable).

You simply need to pay a once-off connection fee of $300 I believe. They should install it to where you want it (within reason) if there is no existing telephone cabling or outlet in your house.
 
@Monsta_AU ta_au how do I know what is available at my address and whether it’s good?
 
nbn™ Fibre to the Node (FTTN) has been used in your connection to the broadband access network.


So I am assuming this is no good?
 
nbn™ Fibre to the Node (FTTN) has been used in your connection to the broadband access network.


So I am assuming this is no good?

It is better than satellite or "Fixed-Wireless" - but the lesser of the other technologies. You service quality will be determined largely by how close you are to the relevant node and the condition of cabling between.

Basically fibre optic cable connects to the nearest node, and then the existing copper lines connect to the primary telephone wall socket in your house. The maximum speed potential for this type of connection is allegedly 100 download and 40 upload. This varies greatly though depending on the distance from your house to the node.
 
nbn™ Fibre to the Node (FTTN) has been used in your connection to the broadband access network.


So I am assuming this is no good?

all depends on the quality and length of the copper from the node to your premises. If this has deteriorated over time then the connection will be rubbish, if new copper has been laid in a newish neighborhood then it may be ok
 
nbn™ Fibre to the Node (FTTN) has been used in your connection to the broadband access network.

So I am assuming this is no good?

It's not ideal, no. FttC would be better. It's what I got and it has been rock solid so far.

FttN is a large box on the footpath you will see in some neighborhoods. Telstra added a heap of them in the NBN rollout. They are basically a branch exchange closer to the homes. It shortens the copper line length which increases speed. One 'Node' might serve around 150 homes.

FttC takes it a step further. Fibre is run through the pits out the front of your home, then connected to a small box that lives in the pit. Usually there are 4 homes connected per box in the pit, but sometimes an 8-port version is used. You end up having very short copper lines. Mine is about 7m line length past the boundary, and maybe 25m length total. The only issue is that we need to power the box back through our phone line (48v applied to the line from the house end).

As @StratMan says, if the copper is old then your connection is likely to be crap on FttN with dropouts, slow speeds for no reason etc.
 
Last edited:
There is also Fibre to the premises, but that is mostly limited to Tas. I had it at my old place. Now I am in the country and have fixed wireless.

The FW has actually been ok. Doesn't seem to drop out and speeds are usable. It was pretty bad when we first moved in but was upgraded about 6 months later. The teenage boys might disagree when they are gaming inline, but I pay the bill.
 
There is also Fibre to the premises, but that is mostly limited to Tas. I had it at my old place. Now I am in the country and have fixed wireless.

The FW has actually been ok. Doesn't seem to drop out and speeds are usable. It was pretty bad when we first moved in but was upgraded about 6 months later. The teenage boys might disagree when they are gaming inline, but I pay the bill.

There is also some FTTP in CBR. From just a moment ago-

JZ6HY1cl.png


The upload a little slow, not sure what others in the house are doing, normally 36-ish on my 100/40 unlimited plan. Trying to convince work that I REALLY need the Launtel 250/100 ...
 
its always worth having a look at options outside of the NBN, especially if your only NBN options are FTTN or fixed wireless.

Dependant where you are located, there are more and more independent fixed wireless networks operating (and growing a lot thanks to being a better option than the NBN).
Over on this side of the world (WA) there are two that I know of, Node1 and Pentanet.

I have been with Node1 for a couple of years, I honestly wouldn't have NBN if they were giving it away free. I have a small sat dish on my roof that has 'line of site' to a Node1 tower...and thats it.
Im on an older (grandfathered) plan now, $89 per month, unlimited downloads/uploads, at whatever max speed I can get.

I currently average out at around 170Mbps down and 140Mbps up, with a ping of around 10ms (24hrs a day, every day, no peak hours congestion...ever, even with so many people currently working from home). In the past couple of years I can count the amount of dropouts Ive had on one hand.

My address is serviced by NBN FTTN - that wouldnt even come close to what I get now.

Local company, local support, great service and fantastic internet.

Dont just follow the sheep and go down the NBN route. Have a look at what else is available. Its sometimes a far better option.
 
Last edited:
its always worth having a look at options outside of the NBN, especially if your only NBN options are FTTN or fixed wireless.

Dependant where you are located, there are more and more independent fixed wireless networks operating (and growing a lot thanks to being a better option than the NBN).
Over on this side of the world (WA) there are two that I know of, Node1 and Pentanet.

I have been with Node1 for a couple of years, I honestly wouldn't have NBN if they were giving it away free. I have a small sat dish on my roof that has 'line of site' to a Node1 tower...and thats it.
Im on an older (grandfathered) plan now, $89 per month, unlimited downloads/uploads, at whatever max speed I can get.

I currently average out at around 170Mbps down and 140Mbps up, with a ping of around 10ms (24hrs a day, every day, no peak hours congestion...ever, even with so many people currently working from home). In the past couple of years I can count the amount of dropouts Ive had on one hand.

My address is serviced by NBN FFTN - that wouldnt even come close to what I get now.

Local company, local support, great service and fantastic internet.

Dont just follow the sheep and go down the NBN route. Have a look at what else is available. Its sometimes a far better option.


Good point to make!

My FiL is in Orange in regional NSW and currently has a pretty solid and reliable ADSL2 connection. The NBN offering is fixed wireless and reports are it is ordinary in the area, especially in storms!

The copper switch off seems to be no happening in areas served by fixed wireless so he is keeping his phone and ADSL2 for as long as he can.

On the other hand I've gone from ADSL1 on a RIM to FTTP at home and flaky ADSL2 to FTTB at the office - so I've lucked out with the NBN.
 
its always worth having a look at options outside of the NBN, especially if your only NBN options are FTTN or fixed wireless.

Dependant where you are located, there are more and more independent fixed wireless networks operating (and growing a lot thanks to being a better option than the NBN).
Over on this side of the world (WA) there are two that I know of, Node1 and Pentanet.

I have been with Node1 for a couple of years, I honestly wouldn't have NBN if they were giving it away free. I have a small sat dish on my roof that has 'line of site' to a Node1 tower...and thats it.
Im on an older (grandfathered) plan now, $89 per month, unlimited downloads/uploads, at whatever max speed I can get.

I currently average out at around 170Mbps down and 140Mbps up, with a ping of around 10ms (24hrs a day, every day, no peak hours congestion...ever, even with so many people currently working from home). In the past couple of years I can count the amount of dropouts Ive had on one hand.

My address is serviced by NBN FTTN - that wouldnt even come close to what I get now.

Local company, local support, great service and fantastic internet.

Dont just follow the sheep and go down the NBN route. Have a look at what else is available. Its sometimes a far better option.

I'm with Pentanet (know the owner of the company) and their service is top notch, fixed wireless. Can't fault it. Always good knowing that if I need tech support I'll be speaking with someone locally (another friend works for them also)

Fuck NBN Co
 
There is also some FTTP in CBR. From just a moment ago-

JZ6HY1cl.png


The upload a little slow, not sure what others in the house are doing, normally 36-ish on my 100/40 unlimited plan. Trying to convince work that I REALLY need the Launtel 250/100 ...
Here is my Launtel 250/100 connection stats.

2ApCy2ol.jpg


NOTE: Taken on my laptop, over wi-fi, while both the daughter and wife are streaming their respective shows.
I upgraded in anticipation of having to work from home; which proved correct.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of congestion on work's side. So, the experience of remoting-in still isn't what it should/could be.
 
Here is my Launtel 250/100 connection stats.

2ApCy2ol.jpg


NOTE: Taken on my laptop, over wi-fi, while both the daughter and wife are streaming their respective shows.
I upgraded in anticipation of having to work from home; which proved correct.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of congestion on work's side. So, the experience of remoting-in still isn't what it should/could be.

Oh that is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sweet

I just cannot justory the extra $60 per month really ...
 
Oh that is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sweet

I just cannot justory the extra $60 per month really ...

I wouldn't do it except:
a) lots of people streaming at home,
b) I spend a LOT of time remoting to other desktops (several layers deep),
c) and it's a big tax deduction for me.

If people just want a sweet gaming or Netflix experience, 100Mbps is fine for now.
Though, that's just by Australian standards. My connection is quite slow by (city) US standards.
 
I wouldn't do it except:
a) lots of people streaming at home,
b) I spend a LOT of time remoting to other desktops (several layers deep),
c) and it's a big tax deduction for me.

If people just want a sweet gaming or Netflix experience, 100Mbps is fine for now.
Though, that's just by Australian standards. My connection is quite slow by (city) US standards.

Totally get it for you - would be a luxury for me :)

As opposed to my brief stint as a college student living on campus in the US midwest in 1999 (yes, last century) where the dorms all had T1 connections (1.544 Mbps) which I thought was AMAZING compared to my new super fast 56k modem ...
 
I briefly had a gigabit connection with Launtel at my previous house. It was insanely quick.

Launtel discourage people signing up to Fixed wireless with them due to the poor network performance. So I am now in Aussie BB. I took the minimum spend option seeing as the performance is pretty bad anyway.
 
its always worth having a look at options outside of the NBN, especially if your only NBN options are FTTN or fixed wireless.

I honestly wouldn't have NBN if they were giving it away free.

My address is serviced by NBN FTTN - that wouldnt even come close to what I get now.


Dont just follow the sheep and go down the NBN route. Have a look at what else is available. Its sometimes a far better option.

all depends on your nbn connection type, i have Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC) which uses the existing foxtel connection. after some initial teething issues concerning the hubs and connection points from the street and to the house, my nbn delivers as much speed as i want to pay for an is rock solid, no dropouts.

@tullfan If you are looking for a provider i would also second @Monsta_AU recommendation of aussie broadband.. if it were not for the English Premier league and wanting to match fetch tv boxes i would of def gone down that route
 
Top