Post date: 06-Jan-2017 08:05:17
For a large part of Wamboin the current exchange is located at Amungula Place. It has been there for many years and has been showing its age for quite some time, but it has provided a ‘mostly’ reliable service except during and after heavy rain. This exchange is probably the oldest exchange currently in use by Telstra and this has an implication for its maintenance, as the parts are no longer available (Telstra Techs have confirmed this), so it can be considered obsolete. Currently Telstra are ‘just’ maintaining it, although they frequently fail to meet their obligations under the Telecommunications Universal Service Obligation (TUSO).
The TUSO specifies the length of time telecom companies can take to rectify services and is different depending on the area you are living in. The TUSO Customer Service Guarantee has a maximum time to repair a service. For Wamboin it is debatable whether we are Minor Rural or Remote (this is dependent on the population density). However, if we are the former, the fix must be in place within 2 working days after report, if we are the latter the timeframe is 3 working days. Telstra, from our experience, is getting nowhere near these time frames. Interestingly there is a penalty for not fixing in the required time. This is $14.52 for residential customers for each day that they miss the timeframe. If you are a business you will get $24.20 per day. If the delay is longer than 5 working days the entitlement rises to $48.40. Information on this can be found in the 'Files' section of the site in the document 'Telstra fixed line - general.pdf', look at page 18 & 19.
Over the Xmas break we discovered our phone was not working. We contacted Telstra and the soonest they could get out to us was 10 days later. When the Tech finally came out, he found the Amungula Place exchange lit up like a disco! He told us that he had found the last remaining pair (?) to put us on to and he hoped that it didn’t go again as there are no parts available. He also told us that all of the copper cable in this area was just buried directly in the ground, with no conduit, so they cannot pull through a new cable of any type. When damage occurs, they have to dig up the cable and patch in a new piece. Apparently there are hundreds of these patches which are not weatherproof, which explains why our phones often go down after heavy or prolonged rain.
Telstra has, as part of its TUSO, to comply with the Copper Continuity Obligation (CCO) and provide a copper based baseline phone service to those outside of the FTTN (Fibre to the Node) areas, i.e. Wamboin. However, the Productivity Commission is looking into the TUSO and its current draft suggests that this CCO will be obsolete with the rollout of the NBN. It has not yet determined if the inherrant delays during voice calls via satellite will be acceptable in the baseline service. Talking to people in Wamboin that have NBN satellite suggests that the delay makes phone calls ‘difficult’. One of the options suggested by Telstra is that mobile access will cover those areas where the satellite supplied telephone is not adequate. From current experience in Wamboin the mobile coverage is very patchy and therefore not viable as an alternative.
Where does this leave Wamboin residents? It looks like the government will take the cheap option and remove the TUSO for ALL users who are in areas covered by the NBN, regardless of delivery type. This will mean that after 2020 there will be no need to maintain the Wamboin exchange even if it is still working. If it goes wrong before then, it is quite possible you will be given a Telstra mobile phone instead. This ‘may’ work for phone calls but will not work for the internet. There is currently no obligation to give you ADSL or any other internet connection. So, we need to be prepared for the 2020 shutdown of phone and ADSL AND be prepared for this to happen sooner if our current exchange should catastrophically fail.
Jon Gough