Sunshine Coast NBN Roll Out

NBN Fixed Wire Broadband Roll Out for the Sunshine Coast.

Mystery? Let me try to explain for home users, as the northern end of the Sunshine Coast is patiently waiting for NBN services. .

Originally the NBN was designed to be FTTP, FTTH or fibre to the premises, fibre to the home, which is the same. This has proved to be very reliable and true to advertised speeds. These areas have been lucky enough to have fast NBN Broadband provided in new estates or before the change of Federal Government.

The cheaper option that has been adopted is FTTN, or fibre to the node, which means the service is provided from the local cabinet to existing copper wires used for telephones, which has proven to be less effective. According to the Federal Government, in theory, around two-thirds of end users are within 400 metres of their FTTN cabinet, which should give speeds up to the stated amount. It seems there is a lot of give in up to, with the actual speeds being achieved being much lower. But there is hope!

So anything less is acceptable? This does not seem right for an advanced country that is known to have one of the slowest internet speeds in our modern world. At home, we have been experiencing up to 8 internet disconnections per day in the last couple of months, which according to Telstra is due to the NBN implementation. My existing home ADSL2+ connection is typically between 1 to 2.5 Mbps, but can get during holiday periods, as low as 300 Kbps due to the high demand.

Voice data does not use much bandwith, gaming and videos (kids like to watch online videos) do. The copper cables will be used by ADSL and the new NBN at the same time, so don’t expect (or pay for high plans) for the advertised speeds from any provider, at least for the next 12 to 18 months while these technologies coexist on the same wiring. If your copper cables are old or degraded, expect even less.

Another thing you might not realise is that your existing phone line could disappear after the coexistence period as the copper wires are due for replacement, so be prepared to have to use the internet based VOIP for phone calls. No phone lines would also mean the discontinuation of ADSL services. FTTC (fibre to the curb) is currently in the pipeworks, but is at this stage an unknown quantity or quality for our region.

Some common NBN questions:

Do I have to change to NBN?

No, although ADSL could be phased out over the next 18 months, existing wireless (Optus, Telstra 4G) and fibre connections (FTTP, FTTH in newer estates) will remain.

Do I need a landline?

No. If you need a phone as business’s do, this will change to VOIP or voice over internet protocol, once the copper wires are removed. The business plans offered by ISP’s have this covered with their modems.

What BYO Modem should I have?

The simple answer is, for most people, to get a plan with a supplied VDSL modem from their chosen NBN provider (ISP), which should be plug and play, plug in to your computer, existing phone connection, and you should be up and running.

Guide to Safe Downloading.

I would like to give our customers some simple advice on safely downloading.

1: Do you need to download. There is an ever increasing amount of software that is available that promises, speed up your computer, registry fixes, virus, adware or malware fixes, amongst others. The general feeling in the Technical Community is that these programs do not deliver what they promise, and indeed can be quite dangerous. Unless the software is downloaded from the original destination, the Original Software Developers site, eg. (these are examples of legitimate software developers) McAfee or Nortons, DO NOT DOWNLOAD!!

Although shamefull, regular practice these days is to include all kinds of harmful add ons, hijackers and even computer destroying virus's in the most sought after "free downloads".

The internet download sites are extremely competitive and need to make a living, often at the expense of the end user. When you download from a 2nd or 3rd party site there is no guarantee what else you are downloading. These sites are often paid by software developers whose sole intention is to harm your computer, adding annoying adds, virus's or who knows what will be next.

They often point to a site that offers a paid fix, this is just a way of fleecing your money, as there is no fix other than a good technician, do not be enticed.

2: If the software has a very general yet not familiar name it is most probably bogus. This is not right all the time, before you download anything "that seems amazing" do internet searches to confirm it is legitimate, or give me a call so I can confirm that it is safe, and indeed will perform some useful task.

Quite often other users will have had problems, let this serve as a strong warning!

3: Anything you can download for free that is copyrighted will cost you in the long run, whether it be the potential to hijack your machine or the infringement of copyright, the internet is always advancing, do not be one to be caught. It is not worth the risk, as the the fines are not worth the risk.

 

Solid State Drives are > than 10 x faster than standard hard drives even with Sata 1 (150 ) on a laptop.

This will work on all computers, the trade of is "is it worth it"? If you own an I3 or AMD quad core processor then the answer is probably YES.

S Solid S State D Drives are at least 10 x faster on SATA 150, or Sata 1, and up to 50 X faster on Sata 3, which is the standard for all modern desktops. On average start up times can go from over a minute to under 10 seconds, all of your programs and applications also benefit from this speed boost, and because there are no moving parts an SSD will last much longer than a normal hard drive.

See Edmund's Review in Testimonials.