Frustrations over access and the performance of the National Broadband Network were front and centre during a meeting at the Bendigo Trades Hall Council.
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Shadow Minister for Communications MP Michelle Rowland attended the meeting to see the implications of the NBN rollout across the Bendigo electorate.
“The NBN has never been about just building a broadband network,” she said.
“It has been about giving a quality opportunity to everyone in Australia to have the best opportunities to participate in the digital economy regardless of where you live or work.”
The minister also acknowledged the frustrations of users who had been promised certain internet speeds which had not been delivered.
Epsom business struggles with NBN connection
Industrial Conveying Australia's Epsom site regularly sends large files to its clients, and has to fix equipment issues remotely online.
Before the NBN, the business struggled to even get an internet connection. It was offered satellite NBN, and then fixed wireless but they were still unable to connect, managing director Don Erskine said .
"We're dealing with people all over the world and we've had to take memory sticks from here into Bendigo to send them," he said.
"Once the NBN, or the wireless component of the NBN came, we still couldn't connect."
After much liaising, a signal could not be found at the premises and a “non-standard installation” was carried out by NBN to give the business fixed wireless NBN.
But senior executive Stephen Culpitt said there were still issues.
"There's still limitations there," he said.
"When the kids come home from school in Bendigo, we have to stop work because you can't get on the internet."
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The meeting was called in the wake of a report released by Member for Bendigo MP Lisa Chesters which indicated 75 per cent of responses in a survey had negative experiences with the NBN.