Mr Clare, who visited Bendigo on Friday, said the federal government wanted to install a lesser system than the one put forward by the previous government.

“Bendigo was supposed to be one of the big winners out of the NBN,” he said.

“Bendigo was supposed to get the real NBN and get it in the next few years, now we don’t know what’s going on.

“Under Labor, Bendigo was going to get the real NBN, the super-fast fibre to the home system and get it now, get it in the next few years.”

Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters said the government did not have a plan for rolling out the network in Bendigo.

“The cable should have been going out as we speak,” she said.

“Construction should have been started.

“Instead, we’re still waiting.”

Junortoun resident Tom Luke said he was concerned by sub-standard communications in general.

“We have intermittent broadband and it drops out,” he said.

“We only live 5.8 kilometres from the city.

“We need (the NBN) badly.”

Quarry Hill resident Jayd Davis said he recently built a new house and waited four months to have phone and internet connections installed.

“There’s no infrastructure in the area,” he said.

But a spokesman for Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government’s NBN would be delivered quicker and cheaper.

“The Coalition Government will deliver the NBN to all Australians sooner, cheaper for the taxpayer and more affordably for broadband customers,” he said.

An updated roll-out plan for the NBN is expected from NBN Co mid-year.

Mr Turnbull said on Wednesday NBN Co would prioritise areas identified as having poor service, which he said would see services installed two years sooner on average.