Lower Mountains residents packed a Springwood venue to capacity recently to hear about the National Broadband Network. And the forum was so popular, another one is scheduled for next month.
MP for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, who organised the community information forum last Wednesday [June 13], said the 200 strong turnout on a cold evening, and the community’s experiences with the NBN roll-out to date, “should send a loud and clear message to Malcolm Turnbull that people are demanding a first rate NBN, not the second class system too much of the Mountains has been left with”.
Residents from Faulconbridge to Blaxland are next in line for the NBN, with services expected to be available from July. Parts of Blaxland through to Lapstone, and Linden to Hazelbrook are expected to follow with connections from October.
Representatives from NBNco and Telstra were at the forum, answering the questions from concerned residents. Ms Templeman apologised to those who were turned away or had to stand.
“After the problems with the Upper Mountains, there is clearly a lot of anxiety about what the transition to the NBN will mean for Mid and Lower Mountains residents,” she said.
“Many people are unsure about what they have to do once the NBN is up and running,” she said. “They’ve heard about the problems elsewhere and are understandably rattled.”
Ms Templeman said the problem of mobile phone blackspots meant many residents, herself included, do not get mobile phone reception at home, so were unsure about their options if the NBN system goes down in a blackout.
“Questions ranged from ‘What happens in the event of power failure?’, ‘Can we opt to not have NBN?’ and ‘What happens to my medical alarm?’ to ‘how do I self install?” she said.
“There were also a lot of questions relating to the likely internet speeds available,” she said.
“Some residents were disappointed to learn there were no immediate plans to allow people to upgrade from Fibre to the Curb (which the majority of residents from Hazelbrook to Lapstone will be offered) to the gold standard Fibre to the Premises.”
The second forum will again be held at the Springwood Sports Club on Macquarie Road on Mon July 2 from 6pm for a 6.30pm start. RSVPs are recommended to susan.templeman.mp@aph.gov.au or call toll free 1300 519 482.
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