Senator Lundy spoke to Russ Gillon from ACT Broadband to briefly discuss some of the issues facing ACT contstituents living in areas such as Gungahlin.
This short video is an introduction to the problems, and you can also see a longer and more in-depth interview which goes into the history and impacts of this issue on families.
Transcript:
Kate: Russ, you’ve obviously been campaigning for quite some time now, what prompted you to start your website and really drill down into issues about the Gungahlin broadband problem.
Russ: I suppose what inspired me was the fact that performance was quite poor, it was really the main driver.
There wasn’t a great deal of value in paying what we have to pay here for broadband and not actually getting anything for it.
But I’ve also come across, I have the ability because I’m in IT to explain these sorts of things to the general public and I decided to use that skill to get the message out there. I believed if I could get the message out there and I could demonstrate that this was actually a real problem, then I might be able to get the community behind me, we might be able to affect change.
Gungahlin is unique in Canberra, in the fact that when Gungahlin was rolled out, they rolled out RIM technology into Gungahlin and it’s very rarely used in other parts of Canberra but it is prolific in Gungahlin.
So if you’re in a brand new suburb, where Telstra has rolled out a brand new RIM and you’re lucky anough to get onto that RIM, and you’re lucky enough to get an ADSL port, you could get ADSL 2, it’s more than possible. There’s 1 or 2 RIMs in Gungahlin that are ADSL 2. So say, there’s 1 or 2 RIMs that are ADSL2 available out of 75.
But a RIM is a consolidation point. So the further you push to its capacity, the slower each person, the less of the apple or cake everyone gets.
So if that RIM becomess fully populated and the backhaul is running at capacity then you’re not going to get the advertised, you’re not even going to get close to the advertised speed let alone the sync speed. You’re not going to get what your modem tells you you’re connected at.
I’m concerned that moving to things like wireless, and moving to other technologies that use a shared networks like 3G. They’re not necessarily going to be better in the long run.
The more people that get upset with ADSL and move to 3G, the more people you’re going to have on that infrastructure and the more people with less of a download and the more congestion you’re going to get. It could be replicated.
One Comment
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Hi Kate,
I have just gotten to your site (sorry) and I am really happy with what I see and wish to say thank you for the issues that you are raising for us.
I would also like to encourage you in the work on the issue of poor internet in Gungahlin. As a resident of Palmerston, I have been subsidising Telstra for long enough and am now waiting with suspense for news on the NBN and how it will impact on the deplorable state of affairs in my area (when it comes to broadband).
Whilst I know that you have been an advocate in this for many years, by way of background, I have been monitoring the speed of internet in my area over the past 4 months. I found that at times the speed can be a maximum of 600kbps, but at peak times, it can drop to a pitiful 8!
I had a telstra technician out in early March (and he said that there was no problem (he came at about 12:00 on a tuesday), so I can only ) conclude that it is a matter of congestion, that is too many people who want to access broadband infrastructure at the same time (approx 4pm to 11pm Mon to Fri, and all Sat and Sum)- which probably reflects the demgraphics of the area.
Due to my young families increasing dependence on the internet (both for recreation and work/school)it is becoming a huge issue for us for this reason that I would really like to encourage you to keep lobbying for this Gungahlin to be on a priority list of areas for the NBN roll out.
I also understand, however, that everyone wants to get on the NBN first. I think, however, that this area has a number of merits that could give it a good case.
1. The area (of over 31,000 people at the 2006 Census) has had to live with inequitable access to broadband for at least the past 10 years, which is not only the worst in Canberra, but worse than many rural and regional areas.
2. This area would be a fantastic example of a new and expanding suburban/metro area adapting the new technology (especially with the new expansion in the Gungahlin Town Centre).
3. Due to the current congestion issues and demographics, it is easy to assume that there would be a huge take-up of the new technology in this area and help in load testing.
4. Considering that that the new suburbs of Crace and new Franklin will be getting Fibre-To-The-Home installed as they are developed (in the upcoming months), I assume that there would be savings to government through concurrent installment.
Many thanks for your time and keep up the good work!
Greg Wells