Canberra’s full-fibre NBN rollout is picking up speed, but what does that actually mean for your household, and will workers really dig up your front lawn? Photo: NBN Co.
Home internet in the ACT is a bit of a patchwork. Depending on where you live and who your provider is, you could enjoy an ultra-fast, smooth connection or have to deal with slow speeds and regular dropouts.
Love or hate it, reliable internet has become essential to modern life. The average Aussie household now downloads more than 500 gigabytes of data every month according to NBN Co, and that number will only continue to rise.
To meet rising demand, the most significant fibre upgrade program in Canberra’s history kicked off earlier this year. You may have already seen Ventia or Service Stream construction crews in your suburb – they’ve been contracted to install 2500 km of fibre-optic cable by the end of 2030.
And yes, they may have to dig up your lawn a little.
Anthony Bortolotto is managing director at Infinite Networks, Canberra’s only locally owned internet service provider. He says most local households can already access the NBN broadband network via one of three connection types: fibre-to-the-node, fibre-to-the-building or fibre-to-the-premises.
“Fibre-to-the-node brings optic fibre to a nearby central point, or node, and uses copper cables to connect to individual homes.
“How fast and reliable it is depends on how close your home is to the node. Rain, humidity and electrical interference can also affect performance.
“Around 97,000 Canberra homes and businesses have a fibre-to-the-node connection. It’s the most basic option, but still better than what we had 20 years ago.”
Commercial buildings and apartments generally operate on fibre-to-the-building. Optic fibre is brought to a communications or utility room and fed out to individual units via copper or Ethernet cables.
The highest-performing home internet operates on fibre-to-the-premises, also known as full-fibre.
“Around 100,000 homes already have access to full-fibre, which runs optic cables underground right to the house. Most of them are in new suburbs like Denman Prospect, Whitlam, Taylor and Throsby,” Anthony says.
“Fibre-to-the-premises delivers faster internet with lower latency and a more consistent connection. It handles multiple people streaming TV, movies and games at once with ease, and is far more efficient for those working from home or running an online business.
“The widespread upgrades currently happening across Canberra will allow the vast majority of homes and businesses with a fibre-to-the-node connection to upgrade to full-fibre.”
NBN Co. is working with delivery partners Ventia and Service Stream to roll out the upgrades. Ventia is handling North Canberra, while Service Stream covers the south. Photo: NBN Co.
Upgrading old fibre infrastructure is a huge job. Ventia and Service Stream crews will be working across road reserves, public spaces and private property in 85 suburbs.
If your address is eligible for the upgrade, you’ll receive advance notice of construction works in the mail.
A few homes will remain connected to existing Evoenergy power poles in the backyard, while the rest will be connected to new underground infrastructure.
“You can expect to see crews working in the street, on nature strips and verges, and in your front yard. Works include trenching, under-boring and pit upgrades, so there will be some short-term noise and minor traffic changes while crews move through the area,” Anthony says.
“If they have to dig up your landscaping, remove bricks or cut through the footpath, NBN’s delivery partners have committed to restoring the area to a similar condition once works are complete.”
Upgrades aren’t automatic – for now, you’ll have to wait until your premises are declared ‘ready for order’. Then simply choose a new high-speed plan with your preferred provider, and they will guide you through the transition to full-fibre.
“Canberrans can register their address with Infinite Networks in advance, and we’ll let them know as soon as they can move over to full-fibre. From there, it’s all systems go for superior home internet through our local, multi-homed network,” Anthony says.
“If you can’t wait, the Vision Network uses old Transact infrastructure to provide G.Fast & VDSL2 Broadband.
“G.fast is also a fibre-to-the-node technology, but the nodes sit much closer to the home, so the copper run is shorter and better quality. That allows speeds up to 10 times faster than the fibre-to-the-node service NBN currently offers. It’s not quite as fast as full-fibre, but it’s available today.”
For more information or to check eligibility for your address, visit Infinite Networks.
