Our section of our town was one of the first trials for the installation of NBN. We added our names to the list who wanted to take advantage of this new technology, thinking that while its advantages didn’t really matter to us, we’d keep up. We don’t download music or movies, and we’re not a home business where we’d be sending large files of material, but we thought, why not?

We filled in the forms and sent them off. Our area was given an installation date and the role out commenced.

Our neighbour kept an eye on ‘those southerners’ as all the contract vehicles had Victorian number plates. They dug up the footpaths, and some people had their driveways dug up. Several times electricity and water supplied were interrupted as they dug in the main spot. Wrestling with the pipes made me think of the classic sketch “The Plank.” A box was installed near the electricity metre.

Eventually order was restored and we were told to go to our Telstra shop, fill in some forms and get a date for installation. No, I was told, your home is not ready for connection. It was only when I took in a photo (on my mobile) of the box I didn’t have that the paperwork was found. Some months later technicians came and installed two boxes at the back of the garage rather than run wires down to through the roof to a room where the computer is. We were given a new handset, wireless was available throughout the house, Bob’s your uncle. Except the steps to ‘register’ the phone didn’t work, and a lovely young lady in the Philippines ‘registered’ the phone from her end. We had quite a chat about the fireworks on Sydney Harbour that she had seen on television.

I don’t really like the answering machine that comes with the new phone, but can live with it. We do occasionally download music, film clips or TV interviews now that it’s so quick but actual connection to a web site doesn’t seem any quicker.
All went well till a recent wind storm caused a six hour black out. Now, if the electricity goes, your phone goes with NBN. You are reliant on your mobile which is iffy round here at the best of times. The power came back on, but the phone didn’t.

I rang the service number. The problem seemed to be solved after I had pressed a few buttons, dismantled one of the boxes at the back of the garage, and tried to re-assemble the boxes. Now, I do not kneel and have a bad back, so I was fairly disgruntled by the time I’d finished. The success lasted about fifteen minutes. With my dodgy mobile, I went through several ‘customer assistants’, but finally got a time for a technician to come in two days time.

A lovely man came, shook his head and installed a new box which had been damaged in the block out. He even fixed a loose plug on the computer. We tested the phone. Perfect.

Again, fifteen minutes later, no phone but internet connection. On the dodgy mobile I rang a technician. The new box hadn’t registered. I had to push some more buttons. The mobile kept dropping out. The internet dropped out too. In desperation I repeated the sequence of button pressing of the earlier days, phone and internet work! But I am a little nervous when a severe weather alert goes out for our area.

Have you had success with the NBN? Do you have it at your home? Tell us about it in the comments below…