iLoddon Mallee project consultant and former Telstra regional general manager Margaret O'Rourke said Bendigo was experiencing a wave of frustration as the effects were being felt. 

“There's a lot of pressure on the system and that's starting to be really heightened right now with Netflix and the increasing use of a lot of the internet-provided TV services,” Ms O'Rourke said. 

“The more people you have using the internet, the more issues around congestion you’re going to have.” 

Rather than simply inconveniencing those looking for entertainment, Ms O'Rourke said slow internet speeds were impacting on Bendigo’s economy – as businesses looked elsewhere for expansion – and on our most fundamental services. 

“There’s an expectation now that people have a very good connection at home and that kids can study online there,” she said.  

“I know of families who’re having to go to McDonalds so they can use the internet there because.

But even as services like education and health are being delivered online, many people in Bendigo are struggling to get internet speeds faster than dial up. 

This week, the Bendigo Advertiser has been inundated with the stories of residents being told by internet service providers that there were simply no ports available in their local exchange to connect to broadband. 

But with the promised roll out of the NBN, many ISP have been seen as unwilling to invest in upgrading their infrastructure. 

The limbo this has left many in is probably best typified by Meryn Ryan and her family of five in Junortoun who have been left for months without access to internet at all.

The family was originally linked up to a satellite service however, with three high school-aged children, were constantly exceeding their monthly limit within a fortnight. 

The Ryans were advised by their ISP that they were eligible for ADSL – but in order to check needed to disconnect from their satellite service.  

“We did this but about a week after signing up we were told there was no ADSL service available,” Ms Ryan said. 

“We were then unable to opt back into our satellite service... [and] left with no internet whatsoever.

“The only way to get a port connection [now] would be if someone in the area was to turn their internet off and we happened to call at exactly the right time and they could plug ours in.

“Which is impossible.”

Freelancers, entrepreneurs hamstrung

Kangaroo Flat father of two and freelance web developer Damien Mason has a masochist streak. 

“Sometimes, just to make myself sad, I compare my internet speed and the price I’m paying with what it would be under a plan using the NBN,” Mr Mason said.  

“Eventually, it will be 25-times faster and have 10-times the download speed – I’ll be able to download one terabyte.” 

For Mr Mason, faster internet speeds will open up more opportunities in design and animation, areas he sometimes has to shun because his current connection makes it too difficult to collaborate with clients based in Melbourne and abroad. 

But it will also mean he’ll have more time for his two children. 

“Right now I’m literally waiting for hours for files to download and I can’t charge a client for that time,” he said. 

In desperate bids to meet deadlines, Mr Mason has resorted to physically transporting files on flash drives.  

“So I end up working later into the evening and I don’t get any more money for it.” 

When can you expect NBN?

NBN Co’s Victorian corporate affairs manager says the majority of Bendigo will be connected to the National Broadband Network by the end of next year – if everything goes according to plan. 

Michael Moore said recent experience showed it generally took between six to nine months after construction on fibre-to-the-node infrastructure began before an area was ready to go online. 

“The last areas in Bendigo were it will be rolled out will be at the beginning of 2017 – which means that the majority of Bendigo which is receiving FTTN will be ready by end of 2017,” Mr Moore said. 

“Those areas were the roll out is scheduled to start sooner can expect to go online significantly sooner. 

“Obviously, though, you do encounter challenges along way.” 

Under the latest three-year construction plan, rollout in the first suburbs in Bendigo will begin from July. In other areas, including Eaglehawk, California Gully and Maiden Gully, FTTN will be rolled out early next year. 

Many outlying towns will instead be connected via fixed wireless, with construction dates varying. In Junortoun, for example, the process begins early next year, in Bridgewater it could be as soon as March.

Mr Moore said fixed wireless generally took less than a year before it was operational – but as residents of Eppalock, Ladys Pass, Goornong and Huntly can attest – that can be held up by complications on the ground.

“We aim to have everybody in Australia connected to the NBN by 2020 and Bendigo is certainly not going to be the last place to access it,” Mr Moore said. 

This week, Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters wrote of a “telecommunications crisis” to Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, urging him to prioritise the NBN rollout in the Bendigo electorate.

“Each and every day people across the electorate contact me to voice their frustration and disappointment with the lack of fast, reliable internet service,” Ms Chesters wrote. 

Mr Moore said he was unaware of plans to speed up the rollout in Bendigo but that construction plans were periodically updated.