NBN...Need Better Now

I run a small business. In fact, they don’t come any smaller…it’s just me…I need all the help I can get.

So, when I heard the NBN was coming I was just a little bit excited. I had put up with pathetic internet speeds for quite some time. Youtube clips would buffer, streaming a movie just wasn’t an option and uploading client photos was so slow I would leave it overnight only to find, the following morning, that it was still chugging away. Bring on the NBN…or so I thought.

Yesterday I received an email from my ISP stating they were giving me a refund…what witchery is this? Telcos just don’t give money back. But yes, it is true.

When I signed up to the NBN I decided, in the interests of the efficient running of my business, that I would pay extra to guarantee a minimum upload speed. In world standards I think I had the choice between a) snail pace; b) tortoise; or c) me jogging (just in case you don’t know me personally, I couldn’t run out of sight on a dark night). I chose the best I could get. It still had to be way better than my current service…surely?

Yes, it is better, but not what we should be experiencing in the 21st century. Thanks to the decision to go fibre-to-the-node I can’t physically achieve the internet speeds I was paying for. I had suspicions that my service was sub-standard and yesterday’s email just confirmed it. I commend my ISP for acknowledging the issue and adjusting my account accordingly, but it doesn’t fix the problem I look to have into the foreseeable future…a less than efficient business through no fault of my own.

Uploading 5 images took almost half an hour yesterday…I’ll let you work out how long it would take for a 500-shot wedding! And as for video…HA!

Thanks for nothing Malcolm and Tony.