Aussie Broadband has just unveiled a new line-up of NBN plans that Aussie power users and professionals have been asking for a while. Dubbed the “PRO” plans, these offerings cater to those who need high download speeds and larger upload capabilities—something that has been sorely lacking in many NBN plans to date.
The plans include:
• NBN 250/100 at $139 per month
• NBN 500/200 at $169 per month
• NBN 1000/400 at $199 per month
I was excited to see a 400mb up (I would have preferred a 1000/1000 plan, but we won’t have that for a long time). So as soon as I saw the new plans, I immediately upgraded to the 1000/400 plan and after a few NTD restarts and port resets, it became apparent the improved upload speeds weren’t coming yet.
But, as is often the case with the NBN, the excitement of new plans has been overshadowed by yet another failure on their part – this time, an outage that has rendered their ordering system inoperable for over 24 hours. This means anyone trying to upgrade to these new plans is out of luck until NBN gets its act together.
Yesterday’s failure involved NBN’s ordering system, which has been down for over 24 hours. This outage prevents any new orders, including plan upgrades, from processing. Customers looking to take advantage of Aussie Broadband’s new PRO plans are finding their orders stuck in “Acknowledged” status, with no clear timeline for when they might see their service upgraded.
NBN has provided an estimated restoration time (ETR) for 10:00 AEST on August 14, 2024, but there’s little confidence that this deadline will be met. Even Aussie Broadband’s representative on the Whirlpool forums, James Di, has expressed scepticism, suggesting that the ETR is likely to be pushed back further (which appears to be the case).
A History of Letdowns
NBN’s latest mishap is just one more chapter in its long history of failures. The National Broadband Network was supposed to be Australia’s answer to the internet demands of the 21st century. It was meant to bring fast, reliable internet to every corner of the country, levelling the playing field for rural and urban Australians. Instead, it has been plagued by mismanagement, political interference, and technological shortcomings.
The rollout has been a mess, with a mixed-technology approach that left many areas stuck with subpar connections. And now, even when a company like Aussie Broadband tries to deliver a better service with new speed tiers for power users, NBN’s incompetence throws a wrench into the works.
For many Australians, the NBN has been a source of frustration rather than the digital revolution it was promised to be. While companies like Aussie Broadband are doing their best to work within the constraints of the NBN’s infrastructure, there’s only so much they can do when the network’s very backbone is so unreliable.
This latest outage is a stark reminder of the ongoing issues with the NBN. It’s not just about slow speeds or poor connections anymore—it’s about the systemic failures plaguing the entire system. NBN Co. still can’t maintain a reliable ordering system in 2024, emblematic of the deeper problems present since the network’s inception.
Not long after publishing, Aussie Broadband sent out an email acknowledging the delay
