In a predictable display of Liberal arrogance, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has squarely pointed the finger at Fibre to the Node (FTTN) households as being responsible for in-home cabling issues that reduce NBN reliability and speed.
When asked to explain the Liberals’ position on in-home cabling impacting service quality on the NSW Central Coast, the Minister was reported to say:
“The issue pre-dates the NBN and has nothing to do with the Fibre to the Node service.”
Incorrect.
FTTN uses higher frequency signals than pre-NBN services, and the frequencies transmitted over FTTN/VDSL2 are up to eight times higher than those over ADSL. These higher frequencies are more likely to create interference that reduces speed and reliability for some FTTN households.
In fact, this is what NBNCo said on their own website in 2017:
“We know that VDSL is more susceptible to issues caused by internal wiring because it is more noise sensitive – this is because it is operating in a higher spectrum range.”
Given this problem does not affect broadband services delivered over Fibre to the Premises, there are three questions Mitch Fifield must now answer:
- Does in-home cabling impact the speed and reliability of FTTN services?
- What plan do the Liberals’ have to address this problem?
- What will this Liberal plan, if it exists, cost affected households?
This election is a choice between Labor’s plan for a better experience for consumers and small businesses over the NBN, or bigger tax loopholes for the top end of town under the Liberals.
