An East Cannington resident has found himself in a communications black hole, unable to connect to any form of internet infrastructure despite the National Broadband Network being available to his neighbours.
Sushant Deshpande moved into his newly built Redcliffe Street home in June and hasn’t been able to connect to the internet despite six attempts at connecting it to ADSL and the NBN.
The NBN was switched on in East Cannington earlier this year but a check on Mr Deshpande’s property shows it’s the only block on the street where it isn’t yet available.
He said the house has the equipment to connect to the internet but internet service providers and NBN Co were handballing the problem to each other.
“I went to Dodo, at that time they checked the system and NBN was not available but they said ADSL should be possible to provide,” he said.
“But when they booked a technician’s appointment Telstra said no we can’t provide it because NBN is going to be available.
“I went to Belong NBN and booked an appointment but then their technician said no it’s not available here.
“This happened three times with different providers. NBN can’t give me an answer to when it will be ready for NBN.”
Mr Deshpande said nowadays connection to reliable internet is a basic utility.
“I compare the internet with basic services like having water or electricity and gas,” he said.
“The local councils give the occupancy certificate only after the plot has these services, these days internet is very much comparable to them.”
He didn’t believe he was the only one experiencing this issue.
“For me on a personal level we are a small family of three, we have a son who is going to primary school,” he said.
“Fortunately he is not old enough to rely on internet for his school needs so we are coping ok.
“We are spending a little bit extra on our mobile data packs, the library is close by but there might be others in uni or studying who would clearly suffer more.”
An NBN co spokeswoman said it was aware Mr Deshpande was experiencing delays in getting connected to the NBN and was working on it.
“We understand this is frustrating and that is why we are working with the developer to expedite this process and ensure Mr Deshpande is connected as soon as possible,” she said.
