19-06-2017, 11:51 PM
I have been using NBN FTTN for about 6 months now, at a nominal maximum speed of 50 Mbps, unlimited download and VOIP included with all local and national calls included (but not mobile). The provider is Tangerine, which I found out later is a Richard Branson company (Virgin).
I bought the recommended modem/router from them, which is 'unlocked' which translates to 'the user can fiddle with all the settings'. This can be a double-edged sword, particularly as the Netcomm AC has a particularly user-hostile menu system. If you do not feel confident in changing the settings you can of course get help... just be sure you have a mobile phone, because your new VOIP service will not be working! Also, NEVER trust your ISP to care a damn if they 'accidentally' left remote admin switched on in your modem. It is up to the user to make sure the settings are NOT manipulated from afar. It is quite possible for the address of the DNS to be shifted to 'who-knows-what', and also for your VOIP incoming calls to be diverted to 'who-knows-where'. This happened to me. After I spent a day or two scanning the computer for trojans, viruses and other nasties, the penny dropped and I discovered the DNS hijack which no virus scanner will ever pick up. Never again will I fully trust the Tangerine technical help, although I should have known better... but I just wanted the damn thing to work, particularly the VOIP, as I needed it for emergencies. Big mistake.
Every provider advertises an optimistic, positive vision about the NBN, but the reality is somewhat less wonderful than the vision.
In my experience it is not the speed that is the crucial factor, it is the reliability. And remember, as the user, you contribute quite a bit: the reliability of the power feeding the modem/router; the susceptibility of the cabling to interference from radio-frequency sources; the reliability of those cheap RJ-type crimp connectors and the rather cheap cable used. Believe me, the call centre help will get you to check all of these things and put the blame at your end before checking anything else. I saw one installation (yes, it was Telstra) which was an absolute nighmare, with cables being tripped over, the modem router 'tucked away' into a spot that guaranteed the WiFi signal would never escape, the wall -wart power supply in to a dodgy power point... need I continue? What a disaster!
The modem-router I purchased has been known to spontaneously reset itself; once it went into a strange mode where incoming calls simply didn't get through. I have had to do a hardware reset more than once, re-loading the configuration file that I previously saved. I wonder how on earth non-technical people will ever be able to make the NBN work when the call-centre help seems to speak a strange dialect and the menus on your router are about as indecipherable.
The system here seems to have stabilised, to give the ISP credit where credit is due. I now go weeks without a disconnect. But there were a few times where there were 10, 15 even twenty disconnects a day! Try streaming Netpics movies or loading stuff to Faceache or Twitbook or using your VOIP under such conditions! Many times I was ready to find another ISP and tell the present mob to take a hike. But the rest of the time, the system works. The speed of the connection is fantastically fast compared to my old ADSL2+. The VOIP quality is very good. I did not have to get any extra cabling to get the NBN installed.
It remains to be seen if the system holds up in peak season, because I live in a tourist precinct that swells in population at least tenfold in the summer months, and they all want to use the interwebs to watch cricket or whatever it is tourists do. We shall see.
I bought myself a mobile phone in case the VOIP fails when I need it. That's progress for you, a previously reliable telephone network trashed by neglect, and now we have this forced VOIP stuff that simply isn't as reliable.
Take the advice in another post and go with the big providers, if you dare. Good luck with that! My spies tell me they are just as bad as the smaller players. They seem to all use overseas call centres, although I could be wrong.
Ian VK3YCQ
I bought the recommended modem/router from them, which is 'unlocked' which translates to 'the user can fiddle with all the settings'. This can be a double-edged sword, particularly as the Netcomm AC has a particularly user-hostile menu system. If you do not feel confident in changing the settings you can of course get help... just be sure you have a mobile phone, because your new VOIP service will not be working! Also, NEVER trust your ISP to care a damn if they 'accidentally' left remote admin switched on in your modem. It is up to the user to make sure the settings are NOT manipulated from afar. It is quite possible for the address of the DNS to be shifted to 'who-knows-what', and also for your VOIP incoming calls to be diverted to 'who-knows-where'. This happened to me. After I spent a day or two scanning the computer for trojans, viruses and other nasties, the penny dropped and I discovered the DNS hijack which no virus scanner will ever pick up. Never again will I fully trust the Tangerine technical help, although I should have known better... but I just wanted the damn thing to work, particularly the VOIP, as I needed it for emergencies. Big mistake.
Every provider advertises an optimistic, positive vision about the NBN, but the reality is somewhat less wonderful than the vision.
In my experience it is not the speed that is the crucial factor, it is the reliability. And remember, as the user, you contribute quite a bit: the reliability of the power feeding the modem/router; the susceptibility of the cabling to interference from radio-frequency sources; the reliability of those cheap RJ-type crimp connectors and the rather cheap cable used. Believe me, the call centre help will get you to check all of these things and put the blame at your end before checking anything else. I saw one installation (yes, it was Telstra) which was an absolute nighmare, with cables being tripped over, the modem router 'tucked away' into a spot that guaranteed the WiFi signal would never escape, the wall -wart power supply in to a dodgy power point... need I continue? What a disaster!
The modem-router I purchased has been known to spontaneously reset itself; once it went into a strange mode where incoming calls simply didn't get through. I have had to do a hardware reset more than once, re-loading the configuration file that I previously saved. I wonder how on earth non-technical people will ever be able to make the NBN work when the call-centre help seems to speak a strange dialect and the menus on your router are about as indecipherable.
The system here seems to have stabilised, to give the ISP credit where credit is due. I now go weeks without a disconnect. But there were a few times where there were 10, 15 even twenty disconnects a day! Try streaming Netpics movies or loading stuff to Faceache or Twitbook or using your VOIP under such conditions! Many times I was ready to find another ISP and tell the present mob to take a hike. But the rest of the time, the system works. The speed of the connection is fantastically fast compared to my old ADSL2+. The VOIP quality is very good. I did not have to get any extra cabling to get the NBN installed.
It remains to be seen if the system holds up in peak season, because I live in a tourist precinct that swells in population at least tenfold in the summer months, and they all want to use the interwebs to watch cricket or whatever it is tourists do. We shall see.
I bought myself a mobile phone in case the VOIP fails when I need it. That's progress for you, a previously reliable telephone network trashed by neglect, and now we have this forced VOIP stuff that simply isn't as reliable.
Take the advice in another post and go with the big providers, if you dare. Good luck with that! My spies tell me they are just as bad as the smaller players. They seem to all use overseas call centres, although I could be wrong.
Ian VK3YCQ