NBN Speed Boost Agony

[Ironmaid]

Hi,

I connected to FTTN on 4-7-16 and was averaging download speeds of 17mbps, I spoke with Sales and ordered "Super Fast Speed Boost" and was told it would be active in 24 hours, nothing happened speed wise, so after 4 days I rang Telstra again and was told it had been applied, I was transferred to NBN Support the operator did some tests, restarted the modem then said there was congestion on the node and more bandwidth was be added and this would be completed on 25-7-16 and it would improve then, at this time I was unable to access the plan details in the "My Account" portal. I then received a call on 18-7-16 from Telstra asking if my NBN service had been connected, I told them it had been operational since 4-7-16, I was told apparently my order had not been completed in the Telstra System.

On 20-7-16 I was able to check my plan details in "My Account", it showed "Fast", so I rang Telstra again, this time I was told the previous orders could no proceed because my connection had not been finalised in the Telstra System, another order was placed and I was told to wait 24 hours, yes as you expected nothing happened to the speed it stayed around 17mbps download, I rang on two further occasions and was told it would be "escalated".

I rang again today and was told "Super Fast Speed Boost" had been activated on my account on 21-7-16 and it should be faster than 17mbps download, so I was transferred to the "NBN Quality Assurance Team", the operator did some preliminary test then said there was an issue on the node and more bandwidth was being added and this would be completed on 4-8-16, when I asked the operator why I had not seen any increase in speed after "Super Fast Speed Boost" had been added, she repeated the "congestion" and "bandwidth" response, I received the same reply for each question I asked, it was like talking to a robot.

What I find insulting is the dishonesty of the "Telstra Team" they will tell you anything to sell a product in this case "Super Fast Speed Boost", then continue the lies "yes it has been activated" when they must have known it had not even been ordered let alone activated. The NBN Support - Quality Assurance or whatever they want to call themselves further continue the dishonesty, "your speed is slow because there is congestion on the node, additional bandwidth is being added", there may have been congestion but the speed had not increased because "Super Fast Speed Boost" had not been activated, who would really know if there was congestion and additional bandwidth is being added, you will not get a straight answer from Telstra.

[interfreak · Accepted solution]

How far way are you from the node?

It's also possible that youi are that far away, that you'll never see any benifit from the 'Super Fast' speed boost.

[Ironmaid]

About 800 metres, you probably are correct, if it's not going to get any better I would sooner Telstra be honest rather than churn out spin.

Modem stats:

DSL Status

Up

DSL Uptime

1days 4hours 1min 25sec

DSL Type

VDSL2

DSL Mode

Fast

Maximum Line rate

 1.14 Mbps  19.43 Mbps

Line Rate

 1.14 Mbps  18.44 Mbps

Data Transferred

 622.54 MBytes  2649.96 MBytes

Output Power

 14.4 dBm  10.5 dBm

Line Attenuation

 15.8,N/A, 69.0,N/A,N/A dB  31.5,N/A,N/A dB

Noise Margin

 7.6 dB  6.6 dB

[Ironmaid]

It is interesting how the Telstra Support people who monitor these threads have not wanted to get involved in this one, it this tell us all someting, an interesting twist while speaking with an NBN representative in the town they checked my order and said the NBN database showed my connection as still in provisioning, not complete?

[Yastiandrie · Accepted solution]

Based on your attenuation you would be right at somewhere around 800m-1k cable length to the node. interfreak is right. You won't see a benefit of a speed boost based on those stats.

[Ironmaid]

I have held off updating the status in expectation something may be done. Not the case as if to "warn me off" the NBN techo disconnected me from the Node so I had no phone/internet for a week while a techo was assigned to reconnect. The NBN techo said he was surprised I was offered FTTN as I was 1.5km from the Node and the service would never be any good.

Telstra Support did confirm speed boost had been applied, but still say the problem is "congestion on the node", on each occasion I ring I am told it is being "worked on by engineers and the slow speed and drop outs will be resolved soon", I am given a completion date, when the date passes and the speed has not improved I am then given another completion date, its called "moving the goal posts", when pressed why a support case has not been logged with NBN NOC I am told "it cant be logged until the congestion is resolved", another "catch 22" situation, I feel like I am on a treadmill, I suppose it a good way to frustrate people and just hope they either die or give up.

It looks like I should start a new thread to warm people off connecting to FTTN, this technology is ok if you like close to the Node, otherwise it is ureliable and dodgy.

[Shellock]

We do monitor for congestion and increase the bandwidth allocation accordingly. If these increases aren't making any change to your experience of speed, then this is not going to be the limiting factor. 

With the cable distance that you have advised, you will not be able to benefit from the speed boost, so I would definitely suggest having this removed. 

If you own the premises that you are in, you can consider applying to switch to FTTP. I found the following article on NBN Co  which provides more information on apply for this. http://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-business/technology-choice-program/individual-premises-switc...

At this time, I can only advise that you submit a formal complaint via: https://say.telstra.com.au/customer/general/forms/Email-Complaint to address your concerns about this experience, as well as organise a rebate for the speed boost that you were not able to utilise.

- Shelly

[Ironmaid]

Shelly,

Thanks for comments, at 1.6 km from the Node the prospects of achieving faster speeds or a reliable phone/internet connection are not going to happen, especially as the copper infrastructure has been in the ground  since the days of a manual telephone exchange.

I had a look at switching to FTTP, there are a lot of hurdles to overcome, mostly around cost. NBN Co want $330 to receive your application then another $330 on top for a site visit, only then will they quote for the build and connection, from talking to NBN Co I would be responsible for running any fibre from the nearest connection, plus equipment and contractor fees, although the cable runs past my house the nearest connection could be a some distance away. In the NBN Co documentation it warns switching to FTTP could cost the applicant many thousands of $'s. The whole exercise would be very expensive fixing something that is the fault of NBN Co in the first instance, surely in the planning stages NBN Co would have estimated line speeds and determined my house was not suited for FTTN, my neighbours have all been denied connections, my request to revert back to ADSL has been refused, apparently it is a one way process.

Although my line has continually tested as "unstable" during the many fault testing procedures, what I can't come to terms with is the refusal of Telstra as the RSP to log a fault with NBN's Network Operations Centre for investigation by NBN Co.

I previously raised a complaint and cant see that anything can be achieved by going down that path again.

[Ironmaid]

Despite numerous support NBN fault tickets being raised each has been closed ny NBN Co "no fault found", apparently my connection is in the NBN co-existence period, during this period the NBN wholesale guarantee speed is capped at 12/1 irrespective of whatever plan you have signed up for.

NBN Co did request the line be "stabilised" to improve the reliability of the phone and reduce dropouts, this has reduced my speed to 11/0.5.

The "co-existence period" is the best kept NBN secret, it is in place until all DSL connections on the node have converted to NBN, about 18 months, then what happens who knows.

This has been an interesting journey, initially I was blaming Telstra for not applying speedboost when in reality the problem is with NBN Co offering me a conection that was never going to work, also Telstra should have never offered a 100/40 plan for a service not even capable of 12/1.

[Kiki2]

My situation mirrored yours but I have wireless fixed nbn which is supposed to be a designated node I am being charged for it even though no change to my speed documented over  many days/weeks of checking. You end up giving up except I am being charged.

[Ironmaid]

September 2017 Update

NBN Co have now disconnected my NBN connection and reclassified my premises as "BUILD", this also applies to the adjoining five premises, surprisingly all other surrounding premises are classified as "FIXED WIRELESS".

NBN Co refused to allow a change of connection to Fixed Wireless, however they were prepared to do it proviging I paid the $700 application fee and all other cost associated with the connection, to date they have not advised what the "BUILD" work is and what connection the six affected properties will have when the copper wire network is turned off in February 2018.

NBN Co stated I could reconnect to the ADSL network, but Telstra was unable to reconnected because my line was migrated to NBN Co when I connected to NBN, it looks like NBN Co doesn't understand how the things work.

After having no internet or phone for almost two months, Telstra to the credit reconnected me via Wireless Broadband, being in a one signal strength location this is not fantastic, but workable, thanks Telstra.