When a HFC connection is changed from Bigpond over to NBN, do they send you a new cable modem or do they leave you with the one supplied by Bigpond? The reason I ask is that the most recent Bigpond Cable modems are supplied by Netgear and offer a built-in router/switch and WiFi, though previously they were supplied by Motorola and only contained a single LAN port, which is the same configuration as NBN fibre - requiring the customer to supply their own separate router/switch to provide WiFi and multiple Ethernet ports.

Telstra mailed me a new modem to replace the one supplied by Bigpond with instructions to install it when the actual changeover occurred.
It has a DSL port to connect to the wall socket, 2 X LAN ports, a WAN port and 2 other ports that are not used. It has a phone port and includes Wi Fi.
I don't use the LAN ports and I connect with Wi Fi to the computer and TV.
Harold

Still waiting for my original 'shoddy 'cable installation' job' to be fixed. I ring nbn every week .... got call from Contractor who tried to 'bully' me out of my request .... we had a vigorous discussion .... resulting in a promise to come out and fix it ...... 1 week and waiting ... I will be ringing him tomorrow.

I am with Optus. Signed up 10 days ago .... received all the equipment via mail already ..... ..... next step is for nbn to come and instal the Connection Box.

Have Optus Cable at moment . New Modem is Sagemcom Dual Band ..... 1 x DSL, 1 x WAN, 4 x Ethernet, 1 x phone, 2 x USB.

I am comfortable with the process so far except for the shoddy cable installation.

Update ..... after several more phone calls to Contractor, my "shoddy" cable installation job is now "okay" ..... Riser has been strengthened, nicks in new cable has been covered with heatshrink (with a glue for waterproofing).

Installation of Connection box (inside house) ..... signed up with Optus on 1st Sept .... my phone calls yield only promises of ... "2 days the nbn will ring you". Nothing. Today I raised another Complaint Case with nbn ... now, I will back off for a few weeks as they are obviously having difficulty in handling all the old HFC connections after Optus decided to disconnect their HFC network in this part of Melb in mid Nov 2017.

This is an irritation to me ... but I am one of the luckier ones, as I still have my old internet functioning ..... sometimes .. spluttering ...

nicks in new cable

Speaking of which, take a look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPj0M-MUC1g

I started this thread in April... guess what, still nothing has happened.

When it is installed, you'll want to make sure it's not like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwvOx-N6glo

That's terrible. I guess they'd have to set up a cordless phone base up there.

Speaking of which, take a look at this:

Christ Almighty... What dungeon did NBNCo drag those people out of? The sheath on that green fibre cable is pretty tough but at the end of the day those people are not doing that cable any favours at all and over time the structure of the glass in the wires will fail. That reel is supposed to be on a stand so the cable can be dragged into the conduit with no twists at all.

As was noted in the narration, the twisting that remains in the cable will take up much more room inside the pipe and make life harder for future cable installers. The supervisor must have been at the shimmy palace whilst all this was going on.

That's what you get when you flood the industry with 457 visa imports employed by sub-sub contractors.

With regard to the second video, when people are at my place performing similar works and I find that they are looking for ways to take shortcuts I just put a simple question to them - "would you accept this in where you live?"

If I get the all too commonplace, "it is what it is man!" I'd tell them to pack their tools up and get out. That phone socket installed above that bloke's fridge isn't acceptable in anyone's eyes and if it was my place, it wouldn't have been put there, that is for sure.

Some years ago now, probably five years ago, the block of flats I lived in at the time was being converted to a security block, with locking doors at the entrances to the stair wells and intercoms in each flat that operate an electric striker at the front door. The morons the Strata Committee approved to complete the work decided that it was too hard to run cables down the wall cavity because they thought they wouldn't be able to get the wiring down the wall due to snags, brick ties, etc and wanted to run the wires in Aussieduct.

Straight out I said no chance and an argument started and it got a bit heated, with them saying they had authorisation to complete the work any way they saw fit. To that I replied that as the occupier of the lot I had a responsibility to protect the owner's property from being defaced and there was no way I was going to tolerate a length of Aussieduct on the wall of the lounge room. They kept protesting that the running of the cables through the cavity wasn't possible and then I got out my electrical licences and showed them that I was not a beginner at this sort of work. After that they backed down and ran the cables correctly but at the conclusion of the work they left without hoovering up their footprints or the bits of stripped cable insulation and brick dust they left on the carpet.

I can't remember the name of the company but the whole job was so unprofessional that I took photos of the footprints and the mess left behind and added that to my problem with surface-mounted wiring being installed in a domestic dwelling and sent it all to the Strata Manager with a promise that things wouldn't bode well if I ever saw those idiots again.

Whenever I have worked in a self-employed capacity and where this has required me to enter a customer's home it is a time to be respectful and remember where one is. I always gave the customer what they wanted, where they wanted it (where the law has permitted), completed the work in a timely manner and made sure any mess was cleaned up, furniture put back, doors closed and lights out, etc before asking for payment. Professional courtesy is sadly lacking in many tradesmen these days as is a high degree of technical competence. In short, a lot of them just don't give a toss.

I still think that my flat was the only one in that block that didn't have any cabling for the intercom on the surface.

tradesmen these days

Most cannot be called 'tradesmen' as they couldn't show anyone a valid trade certificate. The boss back in the office may have one, but his monkeys are usually not even journeymen.

The construction industry is full of such people.

A headline in the Australian Business Review

‘Get ready for skills crisis’

"Leading company directors have demanded policymakers address an emerging skills crisis in the Australian workforce."

This from their website - I used to subscribe to a financial information service of theirs. Given that up, but still get their emails just for such headlines.

Hopefully governments will wake up and stop winding down organisations such as NSW TAFE.

Update .... nbn now installed and is very underwelming .... 25/5 Plan ...... during the week and during non peak times our speed is more than adequate. But after 3pm and on weekends the speed drops off significantly. We have Optus HFC cabling. So much for our politicians telling us that we will have the 'best practise' internet speeds.

An interesting and true 'side' story .... my early Posts refer to my 'crappy' initial installation of their 'outside' Box on my house. Well ..... the nbn guy who came to install their 'inside' Box took one look at it and laughed ..... then happily re-installed it as it should have been done all along. Last week, I am in driveway washing my car and two nbn guys were walking up the street taking an Audit of the nbn connections. One told me that my installation was not correct and would have to be shifted .... where? yep, you guessed it ..... to the original 'crappy' position ..... 'oh no f.... way" I explained as politely as I could ... It took me awhile, but we parted on good terms with them agreeing that they hadn't seen it .... only time will tell ....

Merry Xmas to all ....

I wonder if Robbbert ever got his connection?

NBN via HFC has been put back another 6 months here. From what I read, HFC installations have been quite problematic.

QUOTE: Telstra's chief executive Andrew Penn said the company's HFC cables worked just fine until the NBN made "technology changes" to them and also admitted the company cannot tell customers how fast their NBN internet will be until after it is connected.