Hooray the NBN is finally here, After years of sitting 4km from the exchange on the end of some suspect copper (and very slow ADSL to prove it) we finally have the NBN. Its not the almost unfundable fibre to the premises or even to the node instead the much derided HFC. HFC is hybrid fibre coaxial, means it pretty much runs on the Foxtel/Optus cable network which is all great in theory. There’s just one snag this network was designed around a certain set of carrier frequencies and the NBN is using a different set of frequencies. All good in theory, but in practice it means the network components may not quite be up to running at those frequencies, nor have been replaced in the arc to connect as much of Australia as possible can before the next election.
Keeping a steady eye on our NBN technician, who didn’t seem to know much beyond which end of the pliers to hold, we got to watch cables being bent well beyond minimum bed radii, attenuators put in to improve a single strength (you do now that attenuation is a negative quantity ??). Luckily with my PhD in Radio Physics (yes thats a thing) and too many support calls, we were able to have it sorted.
Fortunately a mixed mode approach to internet access, including temporarily boosting our phone data plans keeps the wheels turning
