The IT Guys assisted in presenting an NBN Q&A Session at the Nedlands Community Care centre to 61 Western Suburbs Seniors including a small number aged over 85.
The Presenters were John Kirkby of the IT Guys (WA), Brian Cross (Telstra) and Jhune Aguiba (Telstra Store, Subiaco), on Tuesday 11th July.
Many western suburbs have gone live with NBN or will be going live within the next few months but John reassured people not-to-panic about losing their landline and services associated with it such as house and medical alarms
“Each household has 18 months from the NBN go-live date to make the change over, so take your time and consider carefully the plan and ISP you select”
John warned the attendees to disregard offers from unknown-companies offering NBN deals that sound too-good-to-be-true.
Generally only the larger established telecom companies such as Telstra, Optus and TPG (including iiNet and Westnet) have the capacity and bandwidth to ensure that the speed you sign up for can be maintained at busy times and when the household uses multiple devices, TV’s and computers simultaneously.
The IT Guys recommend ignoring the lowest speed plans and only considering those based on the NBN 25 plan and higher.
There are 4 speed-tiers offered by the NBN and differing ISP’s offer one or more of them. To confuse matters further, each company gives the speed tiers their own special names. The deals you see plastered on the back of buses and on flyers pushed through your door, only ever quote the cheapest and slowest plan (NBN 12) which is only “up-to” 12 mbps download speed (equivalent to what you may already be getting using ADSL)
| Speed Tier | NBN Name | Telstra Name | iiNet/WestNet Name |
| Up to 12 mbps download speed | nbn™ 12 | N/A | Basic |
| Up to 20 mbps download speed | nbn™ 25 | Fast | Boost |
| Up to 50 mbps download speed | nbn™ 50 | Very Fast Speed Boost | N/A |
| Up to 100 mbps download speed | nbn™ 100 | Super Fast Speed Boost | Max |
nbn™ 12 – Retail plans based on nbn™ 12 are suitable for households with basic phone or internet usage. nbn™ 12 is not considered a superfast broadband plan. nbn™ 12 may be similar to what many households or businesses in Australia may experience on ADSL2. Speak to your phone and internet provider about the plan that best suits your needs.
nbn™ 25 – Fast broadband – perfect for your everyday use. Ask your phone and internet service provider for a plan based on nbn™ 25 if you love: Browsing the web, Streaming videos, Emailing
nbn™ 50 – For homes where multiple people are online at the same time. Ask your phone and internet service provider for a plan based on nbn™ 50 if you love: Streaming in High Definition (HD), Responsive online gaming, Working from home
nbn™ 100 – Superfast internet – even when numerous people are online at once. Ask your phone and internet service provider for a plan based on nbn™ 100 if you live your life online and enjoy: 4K video streaming 4K video streaming, Uploading and downloading large files, Super responsive online gaming, Multiple device web browsing
John suggested that if you are happy with your current ISP then you maybe better staying with “the-devil-you-know” rather than switching provider.
“There is not much to choose between the main ISPs they all offer similarly priced plans with the main difference being that Telstra cap their plans at 1000 GB per months with TPG and the like offering “unlimited” usage plans. We are also fortunate that here in Perth you can visit the iiNet head office in Subiaco or a Telstra store and speak to a person rather than an overseas call-centre”, stated John.
A deciding factor between ISP‘s is more likely to be what the ISP‘s can “bundle” together to save you money. Combining your Internet, mobile-phones, land-line and even Foxtel can save you a considerable amount of money.
The first step to moving to NBN is to contact your preferred ISP who will then contact NBN company to inspect your premises. You need to decide where you wish your internet line to be located inside your house and agree this with the NBN technician. Your ISP will then mail out your new modem and will give you the option of a self-install, ISP-install or a third-party-install such as the IT Guys.
The NBN technology most widely available in Perth’s Western suburbs is HFC (Hybrid-Fibre-Coaxial) aka “Cable“, “Foxtel Cable” or “Pay TV cable“, although new builds or houses that do not have an existing telephone line will be given FTTP (Fibre-To-The-Premise) and will have to pay a connection fee of $300. Some suburbs that were never supplied with HFC will be connected using FTTN (Fiber-To-The-Node) and apartments and strata complexes maybe connected using FTTB (Fibre-To-The-Building). The technology type will be decided by the NBN specialist when they come to inspect the site.
Anyone requiring further information on NBN availability in Perth’s Western Suburbs can speak to any of the IT Guys technicians by calling 08 6365 5603 or emailing support@itguyswa.com
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