NBN Myths Debunked

To get the best result from the NBN, it‘s important to understand a few of the basic inner workings:

1. Telstra owns no part of the NBN. All retail service providers on the NBN are on a level playing field.
2. You get what you pay for with internet plans on the NBN. Budget providers buy less bandwidth from NBN to keep their costs down, and this causes big problems for users at peak times. Cheaper providers also cut corners with their own internal networking infrastructure and international link capacity.
3. Choosing a reputable provider will avoid most of the problems seen by others on the NBN. Our preferences are Internode, Telstra and Skymesh.
4. The technology you use to connect to the NBN – i.e. full Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), Fibre to the Node (FTTN), Fixed Wireless, etc. – has less of an overall impact than the plans and providers you choose.
5. You will lose your fixed Telstra landlines 18 months after the NBN becomes available in your area (unless you’re connected via fixed wireless NBN). This is a good thing – telephone services delivered via the NBN are far superior in voice quality, more flexible and are far cheaper.
6. You have choices! Phone numbers, including 1800 and Fax numbers, can be ported to your provider of choice. Don’t be pressured to stay with your current provider.
7. “Hosted PBX” phone systems, as offered by Commander, iinet and others, may seem cheaper up front, but are far more expensive in the long term. For example – you may save $3,000-$4,000 up front on a budget phone system for 6-8 users, but the ongoing cost of a hosted phone system is typically $45 per user per month – or $3,780 per year for a system with 7 handsets. Over 5 years the total operating cost of the hosted system is $18,900. As you can clearly see, the $4000 capital cost of an in-house phone system with no ongoing fees is a sound investment.