Continued disappointment in Gungahlin

I have found that subscribing directly with the newspaper that you wish to buy (then let them sort out who will deliver it and when) works well.

eyeLikeCarrots said :

IMHO s boradband internet connection should now be considered a basic essential service like water, sewerage or a phone.

It STUMPS me that a modern suburb like Gungahlin is having these problems when older suburbs are happily enjoying thier 20 Mbit connections.

Its nothing but retarded.

if it makes you feel any better my 20 mbit connection in aranda is actually a 3 mbit connection

As for the Herald Sun, I can fill you in on the story.

The Herald Sun and the Age used to be flown to Canberra as of 9 months ago fairfax made the decision that air freight was too expensive. (strange they made the decision when we were already being charged an extra 50 cents per paper to cover it). So now the papers are trucked to Yass where a courier then deliveres them to Mitchell. They are then split between couriers to various outlets in Canberra. I can inform you Gungahlin is the last area in Canberra to recieve the Melbourne papers and most newsagents have already done their delivery run by the time the papers even get there.

Of note, the papers are delivered to Manuka and the inner circle first so the pubes on the hill can read about themselves before fronting the morning electronic media.

oh yes, and we are still being charged the extra freight money to read yesterdays news.

Chop

I think the OP was lookin to have the Herald Sun delivered, not the CT.

Just look at it online!!

what’s that? Oh!

At my work we have the need to get the Herald Sun, and the reason for it not turning up at a reasonable time is because the freight is brought up from Melbourne by road overnight when it was previously flown up on the first plane out of Melbourne.

IMHO s boradband internet connection should now be considered a basic essential service like water, sewerage or a phone.

It STUMPS me that a modern suburb like Gungahlin is having these problems when older suburbs are happily enjoying thier 20 Mbit connections.

Its nothing but retarded.

Holden Caulfield said :

fnaah said :

Why not go for a 3G wireless connection?

3G. Gungahlin. Amusing.

My thoughts also.

Bosworth said :

I live in Ngunnawal, and have no internet problems. I have ADSL1.

I also have ADSL1 – although they should be done for false advertising spruiking it as a 1500Kb service. I am lucky to get 780Kb at the very best times, and lately it has become woefully slow (like 300Kb) at most times.

I’ve applied for an upgrade to ADSL2+ and was told they “have no available ports” “So what you’re saying is that Telstra’s hardware in wioefully inadequate?” “No – we have no ports available.” “Yes – meaning Telstra’s hardware is woefully inadequate.” “No – we have…” infinite loop.

But low and behold I can have the 8Mb service, which doesn’t need one of these ports. “OK – so how much cheaper is that for 8Mb instead of 20Mb?” “It’s the same price sir.” “Well given I have no choice, I’ll have to cop that rip-off then won’t I?”

Still waiting for the speed upgrade two weeks later, despite an additional follow-up to them after one week. Telstra sux.

Broadband aside, the area is nice, a lot of the homes are nice, and we have a fairly low proportion of scuzzy people in the area. But we are the butt of a social experiment joke by the ALP government regarding ever shrinking block sizes. I had family here recently from Perth and while sitting outside on the deck for some hours they marvelled about how quiet it was.

Thanks Grrr and El for linking my site.

Welcome to Gungahlin T1G3R.

We are all frustrated with the level of service in Canberra’s North. I have a campaign going to try and fix it. Feel free to go to http://www.actbroadband.net and drop me a line. I will help where I can.

To all out there thinking of moving to Gungahlin or to any place new there are a two tools you can use to find out what Broadband coverage is like.

http://www.adsl2exchanges.com.au can show you what ADSL sync speeds are like in your area. They have a heat map which plots ADSL sync speeds.

They also show a heat map of ADSL port availabity on CMUX/RIMS. You will quickly be able to determine if where you are moving to is covered by RIMS.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/ is another great tool for broadband issues. If someone has had an issue it will be posted there. You can view posts by provider if you are looking to switch or use the search function to locate details on certain exchanges or areas.

I have mapped the RIM deployment to streets in Gungahlin the diagram can be found at http://www.actbroadband.net/topology/

Anyone in Gungahlin having Broadband issues should contact me russell “at” actbroadband.net

We live in Harrison, and our broardband is ok, but slow for broardband. Our neighbours who moved in at the beggining of the year have got it tough though- aparently there are not enough “slots” in the area so they have to use a really slow dial-up. The thing is that we were one of the first few families to move to our street so we got in early.

With the newspaper problem, we had a subscription with the Canberra Times and the Newsagency (at Gungahlin Marketplace) where it gets delivered daily; but since my dad brings the paper home from work every day, he decided to cancel our subscription months ago, thing is that they still deliver it daily even though we’re not paying anymore, my Dad phoned up to let them know but apparently the Canberra Times is delivering it for the rest of the year as some sort of promotion.

It would be helpful if we knew where in Gungahlin you lived because different areas have different explanations of why the internet may not work. Also The Newsagencies will only deliver the Newspapers to certain suburbs and certain distances from the store.

T1G3R, I hope that you get this issue sorted out soon and enjoy living in Gungahlin.

gunghalin is hell

fnaah said :

Why not go for a 3G wireless connection?

Telstra? Is that you?

fnaah said :

Why not go for a 3G wireless connection?

3G. Gungahlin. Amusing.

Internet issues in Gunghalin have previously been covered here and here.

3G wireless is slow, expensive, unreliable and has the same issues with congestion when used in ‘peak’ periods as the OP has written about above.

I’m sorry to hear about your anxiety issues, BTW.

The Canberra Times does deliver.

Ring (02) 6280 2222 and ask for subscriptions or email ctd@canberratimes.com.au

Or is your illness so bad you can’t walk out to your front yard to pick it up?

I don’t have any problems with drop outs using ADSL. It’s slow but doesn’t drop out.

I get the canberra times delivered 7 days. ring their subscription department.

Why not go for a 3G wireless connection?

Yes, the ADSL situation in Gunghalin is dire. To see what you can do about it, check out http://www.actbroadband.net/

If you want half decent broadband you are going to have to pay more for it than other regions. At least you have options, inc FTTH from TransACT (assuming you’re in one of those suburbs), and wireless such as 3G (from the usual suspects; telstra, optus etc) and Netspeed Longreach perhaps.

Hopefully TransACT realise how poor value their service is and lower prices across the board – inc FTTH – but given their behaviour the previous 8 years, I wouldn’t count on it happening before the NBN rolls past your door.

I live in Ngunnawal, and have no internet problems. I have ADSL1.

We’re not missing a fair bit in Canberra, i mean yes we don’t have huge sporting events/ concerts etc like Melbourne and Sydney… but we have it pretty damn good here. I would go so far as to say we have the best living conditions in the country. If your biggest issues at the moment (despite your anxiety and other mental illnesses, of which i am deeply sympathetic) are your internet connection and your newspaper delivery, then you’re not doing too bad.

I lived in Wanganeen Ave and I couldn’t get ADSL because of transmission loss. Telstra simply said “too bad”. I found it amusing when Telstra would knock on my door and try to sell me broadband. I’d say “sure! give it a go, it won’t work” and sure enough, it would fail. Luckily I moved into my own house a few blocks away and can now get a good 512k connection through TPG.

I love living in Gungahlin though. The positives far outweigh the negatives.

Don’t forget to add poor customer service and ridiculously light court sentencing

I’m sorry you’ve had such a bad time moving – however these challenges seem to be more associated with moving generally, rather than moving to Gungahlin specifically. I’ve never had a problem with Internet connection or with getting newspapers delivered – although I’m quite centrally located. Anyway, I encourage you to stick with it! Gungahlin’s quite a nice place to live once you get used to it. Welcome!