Some frustrated residents in the Australian town of Mackenzie "claim they are living in the Dark Ages, with certain streets excluded from the area’s Internet cable network," reports Naomi Lim for Australia's Quest Newspapers. "Some residents say they have been told ADSL ports are at capacity, while others complain about 'aging' copper cabling at Mackenzie and Internet outages," continues Lim's municipal reporting.
The report adds: "It comes after a Telstra/NBN Co. announcement this month that its rollout to parts of Calamvale, Karawatha, Runcorn, Stretton and Sunnybank Hills would be delayed. It is believed it will not be rolled out until at least 2016. Resident Michael Sach said his family was without Internet access for three days earlier this month. 'There are several areas within the estate that either can’t access broadband or have to wait until someone else disconnects ADSL,' he said."
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"A Telstra spokesman did not comment on the number of complaints received about Internet at Mackenzie," continues the report. "But he said while copper cabling had a shelf life of 50 years and longer, new technology allowed Telstra to provide services such as ADSL in the suburb. 'There are thousands of available ADSL ports in the wider Mt Gravatt exchange area, which encompasses Mackenzie,” said the spokesman, [who] added that the HFC network covered about one-quarter of the town."
According to the sourced report, an Australian federal government representative said that 5600 premises in the town were previously scheduled to enter the planning stage for a new NBN rollout before being removed on April 1 from a revised plan.
Significantly, "an NBN Co. spokesman said "the delay could be attributed to existing infrastructure, which might negate the need for new fiber cables," adds Lim's report. “A good example might be an area which is already served by pay-TV cables,” continued the Telstra/NBM spokesman.
Full story:Mackenzie residents complain about internet outages due to “older” cabling (www.couriermail.com.au)