The most frustrating part of Simon and Bronwyn Gibbs’ struggle with slow internet speeds is that they know exactly what a difference NBN would make.
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That’s because until they moved to Strathfieldsaye in December, the Gibbs were connected to the National Broadband Network.
“We’re paying the same amount for fast ADSL as we were when we were on the NBN – but we’re getting approximately 5 per cent of the download speeds which we had,” Mr Gibbs said.
And, for the Gibbs, fast internet is not only a means of entertainment. Mrs Gibbs runs online training courses from home two days a week and Mr Gibbs works from home once a week for health reasons – managing a team of more than 30 from afar.
The Gibbs moved up from Melbourne two years ago. He is a program manager with a primary health provider – working in family violence, mental health, drug and alcohol counselling – she teaches journalism on a freelance basis for a number of institutes.
But while they have fallen in love with Bendigo, their internet connection is another story, and patchy connections add an extra headache to both their jobs.
In Melbourne, the Gibbs were connected to NBN via cable. When they first moved to Bendigo they rented in Longlea and connected to the NBN via fixed wireless.
Both, they said, were “faultless”. Now in Strathfieldsaye, they cast an envious eye on some neighbours who connect to NBN via wireless – an option which is unavailable for their property.
NBN Co’s Victorian corporate affairs manager Michael Moore said the predicament was typical of areas on the outskirts of urban areas where there is a crossover of the means to connect to the NBN – wireless, cable, satellite or not at all.
However the good news for the Gibbs, Mr Moore said, is that they will be one of the more than 34,000 homes in Bendigo which will be connected to the NBN via fibre-to-the-node infrastructure to be built later this year.
“It is being rolled out from the third quarter of 2016 – so they can expect service by mid-next year,” Mr Moore said.