News - Community & business

The recent announcement by the Australian Government that they will roll out a national fibre-to-the-kerb broadband network is good news for Gungahlin residents still stuck on dial-up.

As reported in the Canberra Times, some 25% of Gungahlin internet connections are still on dial-up, with the only options for a speed-up being to go wireless, due to the lack of either cable or ADSL options provided by Telstra. These wireless options include TransACT's Sky Data microwave service (for people with line-of-sight to the TransACT repeater, expensive satellite links, or the new but also expensive public wireless services.

And it's not like it is just the older suburbs of Gungahlin that have been stuck in this ludicrous situation. All of Harrison and some half of Franklin - brand new suburbs built by the LDA within the last few years - also have had no cable and only extremely limited access to even ADSL. This was caused by limitations within Telstra's Crace exchange - limitations that Telstra seemed reluctant to do anything about quickly.

This Crace exchange problem appears to have been resolved at last. But it was inexcusable that this was allowed to happen in the first place, particularly when you consider that  is the ACT Government owns the LDA, and are also TransACT's majority shareholder.

Likewise it is inexcusable that Telstra has left the older parts of Gungahlin stuck on dial-up. This is the nation's capital isn't it?

When the broadband roll-out happens, it would be fair to think that a lot of Gungahlin residents will remember how poorly they have been treated by Telstra.