To whom it may concern.

This is my submission regarding the rollout of the NBN due today, 31st March 2017

My problems started when a council garbage truck took down the phone/internet line which was hanging low. It was not at code height despite being repaired by Telstra about 9 months ago after a tree fell on it.

My ISP was iiNet but they told me that because the infrastructure was now owned by NBN that it would be two months before a repair crew could come and fix the line! I was still on ADSL2 with iiNet but my two neighbours who were also affected by the downed line were with different ISPs and had both already swapped to the NBN.

The line came down on Jan 2 and my neighbour with Tesltra NBN had a technician who came two weeks later and restrung a temporary line for him alone, My other neighbour was with Dodo NBN and the NBN tech for them came a week after that and restrung their line only.

I could not persuade iiNet to get the NBN to come and fix my line until March 2. (Two months from the original fault)

I repeatedly told them thay my situation was identical to my neighbours but they would not listen. So at this point I decided to go with another service provider who promised that if I switched to NBN they would come out on Feb 10th to fix the line and get me onto the NBN service. That ISP is Optus.

The NBN technician failed to turn up for 4 appointments and after I had contacted the TIO about both Optus NBN and iiNet, eventually an NBN technician from Optus turned up on Feb 18th to fix the line on the 5th appointment. I wasted those 4 days waiting at home for the NBN tech who never came.

So I was without internet and phone services for 6 WEEKS and 3 DAYS. Right through the bushfire season here in the Blue Mountains.

I thought my troubles were over only to discover that it turns out that when I was connected, Optus had not and still has not bought enough bandwidth to cope with the demand of people taking up NBN services. This means that during peak times from 4pm in the evenings up to around 11 pm and especially evenings at weekends, my internet speed drops to almost zero Mbps (typically between 2Mbps and 3Mbps) and I cannot reliably stream ANY content from the web or from other sources. This lack of bandwidth and "CONGESTION" is by their own admission.

My speeds are OK during the day but when contacted Optus said they have no ETA on when they might upgrade their bandwidth in areas where 'congestion' was bad because it is "not sustainable as a business practice".

That means that in effect I am paying for download speeds of 20 Mbps and only achieving close to them during the day time and never in the evenings when I use the internet the most. Which is not much use at all for my needs.

I have already had to cancel Optus' TV service (YESTV) I ordered as a bundle with the NBN services as it would not work reliably with the internet speeds in the evening. It was ruining movies and TV I downloaded and paid for as well as free content as it would pixelate and stop altogether if either recorded or streamed after 4 or 5 pm.

All Optus and iiNet offered was to cancel my contract with them and allow me to leave and find another ISP. There was never any suggestion that they are even bothering to fix the problem which seems to be simple economics of them refusing to buy more bandwidth because it is expensive!

In fact they seem to be encouraging customers who complain to leave so they can concentrate on still advertising for more new customers (who might not be quite so tech savvy), even though they can't properly service the customers they have.

If I went to a petrol station in the evening to fill up with 20 litres of fuel and was only given 2-3 litres, would that be considered acceptable? I don't think so.

Why are ISPs allowed to get away with stealing from customers by not providing the service we pay for.

I have received monetary compensation from my ISPs after much badgering and many many hours worth of phone calls but all I want is a reliable service that I am paying for them to provide.

I am now distrusting of any other ISPs being able to provide the speeds I need simply because they want to make more profit. That means I feel I am stuck with no options at all.

This element of my complaint may not be purely relating to the NBN and is a mixture of NBN/ISP.

My further concern is that when everyone in my area or elsewhere HAS to switch to NBN within the year, how much worse are the NBN speeds going to be then and how much worse will the service be given the lengthy waits currently occurring when only some people have taken up the NBN?

At least when I was on ADSL2 the speeds were reliable and constantly around 15 Mbps for 24/7.

I wish I could switch back to ADSL and leave this NBN nightmare behind.

Regards, Andy Foster