IT'S HERE
So the rumours appear to be true and that NBN FIXED WIRELESS BROADBAND is now available in Uranquinty.
The NBN website is showing it is available. Check your address there.
Here is NBNCO's guide to getting connected
But here are the basic things you need to think about if you want to get the NBN.
1. WHICH INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER WILL YOU GO WITH?
There are a number of ISPs offering NBN in our suburb and more will come online. Some of the more familiar ones will be Telstra, Dodo, Internode, Optus. They all have different plans and different prices and different deals, bundles, making it incredibly hard to compare. In determining which ISP you will go with and which deal you need to think about a few questions.
NBN has a list of over 80 ISPs with links to their websites. I haven't looked at all of them but i quite like the look of activ8me. They have good range of deals and month by month contracts. I have gone with Dodo who are cheap but are incredibly frustrating to deal with (I only went with them because I was locked into a contract that was going to cost me a fortune to break). Telstra of course seem really pricey
2. HOW FAST DO YOU WANT IT?
If you are on ADSL in Uranquinty the speed you are most likely getting is between 1.5Mb/s and 8Mb/s second if you are lucky (when i moved here last year there were only plans with the 1.5 Mb/s)
NBN fixed wireless is offering two potential maximum speeds 12.5Mb/s or 25Mb/s. So we are talking 10 -15 times faster.
Each ISP offering 2 speeds are charging a premium for the higher speed. So how are you going to use it? DO you want to watch iview and netflix, online games, download heaps of movies, tv shows? You might want to consider getting the faster speed. Otherwise the lower speed will probably serve you well.
Always remember: Your ISP will be happy to let you upgrade, less happy to let you downgrade. If in doubt chose the lower and see how you go.
3. HOW MUCH ARE YOU GOING TO USE IT? HOW MUCH DATA DO YOU NEED
Each ISP offers different size packages, ranging from about 30Gb to unlimited download and upload. If you intend to stream video (ie netflix, presto, stan, iview) it will chew through your data pretty quickly. I am a heavy internet user and I am averaging 45-60 GB a month on ADSL, so I have gone for a really large one. If you are a light user I would start around the 100GB mark but as above:
Always remember: Your ISP will be happy to let you upgrade, less happy to let you downgrade. If in doubt chose the lower and see how you go.
Also check what happens if you go over your data limit. Some ISPs will charge you, others will throttle your speed down to 256kb/s - reaaaaaaaaaly sloooooooooooow.
4. DO YOU WANT TO SIGN UP TO A CONTRACT?
Most ISPs will try to lock you in to a 24 month contract by offering you FREE connection. But you might want to consider month to month as well, just in case you have a dud deal. If you are signing up for a long contract remember the golden rule. Your ISP will be happy to let you upgrade, less happy to let you downgrade. If in doubt chose the lower and see how you go.
5. WHETHER YOU WANT TO SWITCH TO A VOIP (voice over internet protocol) PHONE
Your ISP might want to bundle a home phone line and might even suggest you use a VOIP phone (ie your phone works over the internet rather than your phone line). They may even tell you that the copper phone line you use now will not be available soon. That is NOT true.
In areas where NBN is delivered by FIBRE they will be closing down the copper network after 18 months. IN areas where it is FIXED WIRELESS the copper network stays. Don't feel pressured to change your phone.
THE PROCESS
1. Contact the ISP ands sign up for a plan.
You will probably have to purchase as new modem that is NBN ready. Most of the ISP's will try to sell you one. Check if you can bring your own and ask if your current one might do the trick. DODO insist you purchase theirs, Telstra has a Tbox or gateway they sell you.
2. Your ISP will then book NBN CO to come and do the install.
This should be free of charge if it is a standard install. The NBN CO will install an antenna on your roof, a box on the wall outside and a termination point inside - which is where you plug the modem in.
My appointment was booked for a week after I signed up
NOTE If you are renting you will need to have the owner's permission for the install - talk to your landlord or real estate agent
3. You need to set up the rest of your system.
The NBN guys will not set up anything else. You will be responsible for hooking your computers, home wireless network etc up.
This is all I have for now, I will give an update once I have NBN and running installed and post some photos so people can see what they are getting. I am not an IT expert just someone with a bit of knowledge (a dangerous thing) - I strongly recommend you do your own research and not rely on this info.
cheers
scott howie
So the rumours appear to be true and that NBN FIXED WIRELESS BROADBAND is now available in Uranquinty.
The NBN website is showing it is available. Check your address there.
Here is NBNCO's guide to getting connected
But here are the basic things you need to think about if you want to get the NBN.
1. WHICH INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER WILL YOU GO WITH?
There are a number of ISPs offering NBN in our suburb and more will come online. Some of the more familiar ones will be Telstra, Dodo, Internode, Optus. They all have different plans and different prices and different deals, bundles, making it incredibly hard to compare. In determining which ISP you will go with and which deal you need to think about a few questions.
NBN has a list of over 80 ISPs with links to their websites. I haven't looked at all of them but i quite like the look of activ8me. They have good range of deals and month by month contracts. I have gone with Dodo who are cheap but are incredibly frustrating to deal with (I only went with them because I was locked into a contract that was going to cost me a fortune to break). Telstra of course seem really pricey
2. HOW FAST DO YOU WANT IT?
If you are on ADSL in Uranquinty the speed you are most likely getting is between 1.5Mb/s and 8Mb/s second if you are lucky (when i moved here last year there were only plans with the 1.5 Mb/s)
NBN fixed wireless is offering two potential maximum speeds 12.5Mb/s or 25Mb/s. So we are talking 10 -15 times faster.
Each ISP offering 2 speeds are charging a premium for the higher speed. So how are you going to use it? DO you want to watch iview and netflix, online games, download heaps of movies, tv shows? You might want to consider getting the faster speed. Otherwise the lower speed will probably serve you well.
Always remember: Your ISP will be happy to let you upgrade, less happy to let you downgrade. If in doubt chose the lower and see how you go.
3. HOW MUCH ARE YOU GOING TO USE IT? HOW MUCH DATA DO YOU NEED
Each ISP offers different size packages, ranging from about 30Gb to unlimited download and upload. If you intend to stream video (ie netflix, presto, stan, iview) it will chew through your data pretty quickly. I am a heavy internet user and I am averaging 45-60 GB a month on ADSL, so I have gone for a really large one. If you are a light user I would start around the 100GB mark but as above:
Always remember: Your ISP will be happy to let you upgrade, less happy to let you downgrade. If in doubt chose the lower and see how you go.
Also check what happens if you go over your data limit. Some ISPs will charge you, others will throttle your speed down to 256kb/s - reaaaaaaaaaly sloooooooooooow.
4. DO YOU WANT TO SIGN UP TO A CONTRACT?
Most ISPs will try to lock you in to a 24 month contract by offering you FREE connection. But you might want to consider month to month as well, just in case you have a dud deal. If you are signing up for a long contract remember the golden rule. Your ISP will be happy to let you upgrade, less happy to let you downgrade. If in doubt chose the lower and see how you go.
5. WHETHER YOU WANT TO SWITCH TO A VOIP (voice over internet protocol) PHONE
Your ISP might want to bundle a home phone line and might even suggest you use a VOIP phone (ie your phone works over the internet rather than your phone line). They may even tell you that the copper phone line you use now will not be available soon. That is NOT true.
In areas where NBN is delivered by FIBRE they will be closing down the copper network after 18 months. IN areas where it is FIXED WIRELESS the copper network stays. Don't feel pressured to change your phone.
THE PROCESS
1. Contact the ISP ands sign up for a plan.
You will probably have to purchase as new modem that is NBN ready. Most of the ISP's will try to sell you one. Check if you can bring your own and ask if your current one might do the trick. DODO insist you purchase theirs, Telstra has a Tbox or gateway they sell you.
2. Your ISP will then book NBN CO to come and do the install.
This should be free of charge if it is a standard install. The NBN CO will install an antenna on your roof, a box on the wall outside and a termination point inside - which is where you plug the modem in.
My appointment was booked for a week after I signed up
NOTE If you are renting you will need to have the owner's permission for the install - talk to your landlord or real estate agent
3. You need to set up the rest of your system.
The NBN guys will not set up anything else. You will be responsible for hooking your computers, home wireless network etc up.
This is all I have for now, I will give an update once I have NBN and running installed and post some photos so people can see what they are getting. I am not an IT expert just someone with a bit of knowledge (a dangerous thing) - I strongly recommend you do your own research and not rely on this info.
cheers
scott howie
