ISP chief offers tips to cope with NBN in current state

Phillip Britt, managing director of the company, said that the Four Corners programme on the NBN was "disappointingly light on detail and disappointingly heavy on politics".

The Four Corners programme gave a rundown of the NBN from the time it was announced and thus was unable to go into detail, touching fleetingly on every aspect.

While Britt (right, below) admitted that the NBN has always been a political football, "last (Monday) night, it took a step into a new outrage stratosphere to become something more like political cannonball".

{loadposition sam08}He said that outrage made for great headlines. "It builds audiences. It may, eventually, lead to new policy. What it doesn’t do, is provide any sort of practical help right now for the average person on the (fibre to the node/curb/basement/whatever) street."

Instead, Britt offered the following list of tips to "just get on with it".

• "Don’t go near any company that offers unlimited plans. Yep, they’re great in New Zealand and one day, we hope they will be great in Australia. But right now, while companies are grabbing for as many customers as they can without putting in enough resources, unlimited equals a high risk of evening congestion.
• "Find a company that manages its back-end network well. Product Review or Whirlpool will give you a good idea of who these are. So will the new ACCC speed monitoring program when it’s released.
• "Don’t’ believe any ISP that implies you have no choice about rolling over with them when the NBN comes around.
• "Go for a no-contract plan – yes, there are plenty out there - and start at a lower speed. When your NBN is connected, your internet service provider can test and tell you how much speed your line is physically capable of. Then you can make an informed decision about how high you want to go.
• "Home Wi-Fi interference is a thing. Dodgy internal cabling is a thing. Water in pits is a thing. All these things – and a fair few more – can make a difference between the speed your line is capable of, and the speed you’re getting. Be prepared to do some work with your ISP’s technical support people to resolve some of these. Be prepared for a lengthy wait if the problem lies on the NBN Co side of the network, and your ISP has to battle it out with them for a resolution.
• "You get what you pay for. Cheap plans are cheap for a reason."

He reverted back to his original question, asking, "So what’s missing from the NBN discussion? We accept that political angles are always going to be a part. Politics happens. But perhaps, whilst the political melee continues, there’s room for another kind of NBN discussion – and that’s the one about how to help people right now."