About 300 residents spoke with NBN staff at a number of sessions at shopping centres in Kangaroo Flat, Bendigo and Long Gully.

NBN corporate affairs advisor Kasey Ellison said there was “a lot of confusion” about the roles of the NBN and service providers, and who to contact in the event of a fault.

She said download speeds were the main topic of conversation.

“Many of the people that visited had already made the switch to the NBN network and their questions focused on how to get the best out of their broadband service, with speed of their internet service during peak and off-peak times the most commonly enquired about topic,” Ms Ellison said.

“Some visitors spoke with NBN representatives about their connection experience, with a small number of people reporting they had experienced a loss of service or drop-outs.

“For visitors who had not yet made the switch to the NBN network, their enquiries related to when they would be able to make the switch, and if they needed to make the switch as they only use their landline phone and don’t use the internet.”

She said the service provider should be the first point of contact for people having issues with their connection.

Since the NBN started rolling out in Bendigo, the Bendigo Advertiser has received a number of complaints from readers about connectivity issues.

It prompted Bendigo mayor Margaret O’Rourke to seek answers from the federal communications minister Mitch Fifield during a visit to Canberra.

A poll on the Addy website in June found 64 per cent of readers had experienced some issues connecting to the NBN.

Last month, NBN announced 41,000 premises in the City of Greater Bendigo could connect to the NBN.