We have a fixed wireless NBN because we live 3Ks out of town. Its great we used Aussie Broad band & don't use the Telstra landline any more. Our data allowance is about 50G for $60 a month(you can pay for a larger amount if you want to) but we don't use that mutch in a month. For an extra $5 a month we have the phone over the NBN. This gives us free phone calls for as long as you like to other landlines in Australia. To mobiles its 22c / min. overseas landline 5c/min. We have an aerial on the roof pointing to the tower, & a terminal inside, this is connected to the modem supplied by Aussie Broadband. Picture of the antenna.

Groo wrote:

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I am told that my property in northern NSW will shortly be eligible for connection to the National Broadband Network via "Fixed wireless". What does this mean? Will the "fixed wireless" also carry my telephone service? What manner of equipment will I need to operate this system? Will this render the 600 metres of copper that wends its way to my house under creeks and paddocks redundant?

My neighbour, it would seem, (and his house is only some 300 metres from mine) is only eligible for satellite connection. Is this likely to be a better system? 

I am confused and would appreciate any morsels of information that you may be able to throw my way.

And while I'm at it - I also have a place on the NSW Central Coast and NBN connection will happen soon - what happens here? I understand that apart from the modem there's a box thing. Does that go inside or outside the house? What do I connect the modem to?  I am similarly confused.

Yours in bewilderment ........

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Hi Groo, here in Miners Rest, just north of Ballarat Victoria, we have fixed wireless. There is an antenna on the roof which feeds a NBN box inside, then it feeds to wifi modem that you have to buy. We have a normal cordless phone set up using VOIP connected to the wifi modem. No copper used at all.

You then choose from providers who offer fixed wireless. We use Skymesh with 25mbps download and 5mbps upload. 100 gb per month for data $44.95 and $10 for the VOIP service where to landline/voip calls are 10cents not timed. Attached some pics. Hope this all makes sense!!

https://www.skymesh.net.au/

Aussie Paul. 

-- Edited by aussie_paul on Sunday 29th of January 2017 08:18:55 PM

Groo wrote:

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 "Fixed wireless". What does this mean?

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As specialists in any field often fall into the trap of using language others do not understand, I will try to keep this as simple as possible.

Groo, fixed wireless simply means using the existing mobile telephone network (3G,4G,LTE) for your connection. The mobile network can carry both voice and data just like your average mobile smart phone.

An external antenna will be mounted on your house that provides marginally better reception than a normal mobile phone for fringe customers. Mobile networks require "line-of-sight" to the phone tower. Hills, outbuildings, large trees, etc can completely block a mobile signal. The mobile network is the system most affected by traffic volumes with the average speed between 0.5 to 3Mbps depending on the time of the day.
If you already use the mobile networks for your internet connect but are somewhat remote and find it a bit slow, there are far superior antennae available that can be connected to your existing mobile device giving you up to 40kilometer range. The better the antenna system the higher will be your speeds, up to a point, as there are speed caps on individual connections.
I regularly fit up to a dozen a year for remote customers. You can source them here. https://www.telcoantennas.com.au/site/rfi-12dbi-3g-4g-lte-yagi-antenna#

There is no need to give up the existing copper wires that you are currently using, if you so wish. Connection to the NBN is currently entirely optional.
Don't be conned by the scare tactics used by resellers that your old system is going to be switched off, you have to move now! That is simply untrue.
At some point in the future the old systems may be disconnected but that option is many years away.
In fact, for many country users, if their the existing copper networks are in good condition and they are within 5-6 kilometers from a telephone exchange, then old style ADSL1 provides higher speeds than using the mobile networks.

There are only two fixed line telephony providers in Oz, Telstra and Optus. All others have been reselling those services under their own brand name.
The NBNCo is the Government owned corporate entity that currently owns and is building the NBN network with your taxes. Both Telstra's and Optus's existing HFC (hybrid fibre coax), and mobile infrastructure is being incorporated into the NBN networks. Because of this, Telstra and Optus are both shareholders and customers of the NBNCo. Any business that wants to that can show appropriate creditworthiness can resell NBNCo connections.

Customers who currently use either Telstra or Optus HFC (cable) internet will likely see no difference by connecting to the NBN. Where existing HFC infrastructure of one provider is severely degraded the other providers HFC will be used.

ADSL uses the old copper networks. Just like when we charge our caravan batteries from our cars, copper wire has long-run resistance problems, so we fit nice big fat wires. The old copper phone systems use 0.5mm or less wires. These thin wires work fine for analogue voice up to about 50kilometers, but the further you are from the telephone exchange the slower is your digital data connection speeds. Over 5-6 kilometers between you and the exchange and the ADSL system doesn't work at all.
All ADSL in Oz is currently provided by a single provider, Telstra. Telstra as the sole ADSL provider can call their ADSL whatever they like and have for years been providing customers with an uncapped ADSL1 connection as ADSL2. Truth:- There is almost no true ADSL2 in Oz, it is all just ADSL1 with the 1.5Mbps cap removed. Real ADSL1 is capable of speeds up to 8Mbps. Real ADSL2 is capable of speeds up to 24Mbps.
The average ADSL2 customer gets 3 to 5Mbps.

So there you have it. There is the fastest HFC cable, the medium ADSL over thin copper, or the possibly slower mobile phone network.
If none of this infrastructure is available to you, the last resort is via satellite, the slowest connection of all.

 

PS.
Bundling all your telephony services with one provider can work out considerably cheaper.

PPS.
All the satellites are owned by Optus and are positioned roughly over Noumea outside of Australian Air Space.
Even Foxtel comes from an Optus Satellite and just like using the VAST system, if you do not have "line-of-sight" to the satellite because of a hill or such like, you cannot make a connection.
Bad weather can also affect satellite reception.

The answer is simple, I will never see the true NBN as promised. My connection, like what a lot of you seem to have is a composite NBN patch. The true NBN was to be fibre optic to every house and fast satellite to where fibre optic could not be delivered. The fibre will stop, for me, at the last hub with copper to the modem. Internet connection will be the same as it is now and cannot be guaranteed not to be slower! I, also will not be connected to this NBN for another 2 to 5 years. Thank you Hylife for pointing out all the other aspects and your comments. Unfortunately, I could make political comment here, but I won't, because I don't want to upset anyone! The only thing I would like to add is a question, "Is Australia's dated infrastructure putting us into the class of a third world country?"

We live on a 40 acre property about 5 km outside Ballarat. There are a number of telco towers between 1 and 2 km of our property. They are not within line of sight, at least, I can't see them from our house. We use 4G mobile internet with Telstra, 25Gb for $165/month. Expensive, but it's fast. We get regular speeds of 40-50 Mbps down and 20Mbps up. Occasionally we get download speeds in the 70s. We are happy with this, especially since other providers have entered the 4G market and are offering more competitive packages. When our contract expires in April, we will shop around and I expect to get at least 50Gb for less than half of what we pay now. We have been offered NBN satellite broadband, but at max 25/5 Mbps down/upload, that is too slow. And there have been a number of reliability issues. But it is cheaper than mobile. Moreover, there is now 4G+ which is faster than standard 4G. And Telstra have recently announced the rollout of an LTE system that has speeds up to 300 Mbps. As far as I am concerned I will continue to ignore NBN, and stick with mobile broadband. It will be much faster than any NBN offering and the price will come down fast too.