I write in response to the letter, “Region held back by inferior internet” in the Bendigo Advertiser on March 22 by Ms Lisa Chesters MP.
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As a household on the outer fringe of Bendigo which has connected to the NBN in recent weeks, we can certainly vouch for the positive results of the NBN fixed wireless network.
The improved speed and much higher data allowances for relatively similar costs compared to the old 3G “USB stick” is sensational.
And we were lucky to be able to operate on the 3G stick – some are too far out of range for even that.
So it intrigues me that Ms Chesters appears critical of the rollout sequence of the NBN.
She states that “there is still no rollout schedule announced for bigger centres including Bendigo”.
Within the boundaries of Bendigo proper, households have the luxury of ADSL and ADSL 2+ over their phone lines.
Anyone greater than five kilometres from their Telstra exchange is not so lucky and neither are those within the five-kilometre radius of an exchange which has fallen behind the times and is unable to cope with the additional capacity.
It is only logical that those without a current service be prioritized over those that already do.
In fact, as an outlying household, we would all be pretty annoyed if those with ADSL already available were hooked on ahead of our slow and inferior service offering.
So how about we allow the time for the NBN to be rolled to those that need it most in the first instance, and only then start the shenanigans of, “Why not to the bigger centres?".
After all, if you have only one pie left in the pie oven, do you give it to the bloke who hasn’t eaten all day or do you give it to the MP who has had three meals today?
Logic before political mud-slinging please.