Australia’s second mainland National Broadband Network (NBN) site has been turned on this morning, with residents in the Kiama Downs and Minnamurra area south of Wollongong set to gain access to the high-speed network.

“Kiama is the second site on mainland Australia to launch the NBN and will enable trial users to receive a connection to our world class high-speed broadband network,” Communications Minister Senator Conroy said in a statement this morning.

Conroy referred to the event as “another key milestone” in the NBN’s brief history that will allow residents in the region access to “affordable, high-speed broadband.” “Today marks a significant milestone in the government’s vision to deliver affordable, high-speed broadband to every Australian home, business, school, and medical facility,” he said.

However it seems residents in the Kiama Downs and Minnamurra region aren’t embracing the NBN as fast as those situated at the first mainland trial site in Armidale, New South Wales, where more than 87 percent of residents have signed on to connect to the network. According to Conroy, “almost” 80 percent of nearly 2,350 residents in Kiama Downs and Minnamurra who will have access to the NBN have signed on to be connected, although it’s understood this figure unlike in Armidale doesn’t include businesses.

More prominent testing in the region will begin in September or October, although 10 users in the area have been connected joining the nearly 100 other Australians trialling the NBN so far on the Australian mainland.

After today, just three of the original five ‘trial’ mainland sites remain offline, situated in Brunswick in Victoria, Willunga in South Australia and Townsville in Queensland. The trial sites have allowed NBN Co, the organisation responsible for rolling out the nation-wide network, to test and adapt the way its network is designed, and to develop construction techniques to meet the often unique environments that the network is to be rolled out in.

Meanwhile work in Armidale connecting homes and businesses to the NBN is expected to be completed by the end of September, with a number of customers now trialling the network ahead of its completion in the area.

Image credit: NBN Co

Related posts:

1. NBN Co kicks off Brunswick trial this week
2. NBN goes live in Brunswick, Melbourne
3. Final NBN first release site now live in South Australia
4. Conroy backs NBN opt-out model
5. ‘We’re making history’: Govt on NBN launch

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1. RS
   Posted 29/07/2011 at 7:09 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Gee, just like ZD… I ask here, where have all the FUDsters gone?

2. HC
   Posted 29/07/2011 at 9:13 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Just wait, with this one there will be comments like:

   “OMG TEN CUSTOMBERS NBN HAS MORE EMPLYEEEES THAN CUSTOMERS WHY ARE WE PAYING 50BILLION DOLLERS SO THESE PEOOPLE CAN USE THIS AS A VIDEEO ENTERIATNMENT SYTEMS PORN ETC WAHT A WASTE SPEND MONIES ON ROADS!”

3. Backslider
   Posted 30/07/2011 at 10:44 am | Permalink | Reply

   OMG!!!! TEN CUSTOMBERS NBN HAS MORE EMPLOYEES THAN CUSTOMERS WHY ARE WE PAYING 50BILLION DOLLARS SO THESE PEOPLE CAN USE THIS AS A VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM, PORN ETC WHAT A WASTE…. SPEND MONIES ON ROADS, HEALTH, EDUCATION ETC!!!!!

   • RS
     Posted 30/07/2011 at 11:54 am | Permalink | Reply

     Sadly although he appears to be saying this in jest, he actually believes it ;-)

     • HC
       Posted 30/07/2011 at 2:04 pm | Permalink | Reply

       Notice how he made the effort to correct most of the spelling errors but left the rest of the crap intact. This is telling. He doesn’t mind being thought of as a raving lunatic but a an illiterate raving lunatic is a bit much… or perhaps he was unable to do something basic like copy/paste the text into a word processor and change it to sentence case.

       • RS
         Posted 30/07/2011 at 3:03 pm | Permalink | Reply

         He obviously was unable to see the spelling mistakes were put there intentionally and sarcastically, HC…!

         Which just proves, if such simple comprehension is above these types, no wonder they simply can’t and will never be able to grasp the positives which stem from the NBN…

         As such, perhaps rather than ridiculing their obvious deficiencies, we should offer sincere pity…?

         • HC
           Posted 30/07/2011 at 3:44 pm | Permalink | Reply

           “perhaps rather than ridiculing their obvious deficiencies, we should offer sincere pity…?”

           I’ve offered the pity olive branch many times but they dont seem interested, obviously their pride is still getting in the way :-(

           • RS
             Posted 30/07/2011 at 3:47 pm | Permalink | Reply

             C`est la vie…

             Ridicule it is then…LOL!

       • Backslider
         Posted 31/07/2011 at 12:32 am | Permalink | Reply

         RS has already been banned, looks like you are heading in the same direction HC. Like RS, you have nothing intelligent to say, so you waste you time throwing around FUD and insults.

         The actual truth:

         “THE National Broadband Network has just 41 active customers at its two operating mainland test sites, despite more than 6000 homes having been connected to the grid”

         WOW!…. now there is something to be proud of. How much public money has been wasted?

         “NBN ready to start connecting in Brunswick (Vic).

         THE first Melbourne site in the government’s national broadband project is to be launched next week.

         Of 2600 properties in the Brunswick site, only 52 per cent will be connected to the NBN because the owners of the remaining properties did not consent to NBN Co installing equipment on their properties.”

         Clearly, many people are finding something wrong with the NBN… touted as a “free” connection, why are so many saying “NO”?

         • Dean
           Posted 31/07/2011 at 8:17 am | Permalink | Reply

           I wonder how many DSL customers Telstra had back in 2000, two days after it was turned on?

           • Backslider
             Posted 31/07/2011 at 8:33 am | Permalink | Reply

             @Dean…. uuuuhhhh, the NBN was switched on in Armidale in May, not two days ago

         • Rizz
           Posted 31/07/2011 at 9:06 am | Permalink | Reply

           Backslider, I see you didn’t mention Tombo’s banning, as you are also Tombo.

           • Backslider
             Posted 31/07/2011 at 9:26 am | Permalink | Reply

             “Rizz” – LMAO! So that’s your new handle huh? I think maybe they should start banning by IP address, then you wouldn’t be able to post so easily. You would then also find that I am definitely not Tombo.

             You really are a psychopath and if you do not stop stalking me, I will simply report you to the police.

             • Rizz
               Posted 31/07/2011 at 10:30 am | Permalink | Reply

               1. No it is not, everyone knows…!

               2. You guys are not the only ones who can do it (fire with fire). RS was banned, Rizz was not…and shouldn’t be unless deservedly so!

               3. What are you afraid of?

               Apparently, you believe It’s ok for you (and your multiple monikers) to say as you wish, pat yourself on the back and reply to yourself but when you are scrutinised in a similar fashion which you do to others, you sob? Are you special and above everyone else? This is a new low, even for the dooms-dayer argument.

               FYI – This is a public forum, so if you and your opinions are not up to scrutiny, I’d suggest you refrain, rather than making further threats, as you did yesterday and above… sigh!

               4. To business… What about the 88% sign up rate in Armidale (shhh don’t tell anyone)…

               • Backslider
                 Posted 31/07/2011 at 11:31 am | Permalink | Reply

                 You are so lame, pure FUD. You go around using multiple monikers, doing exactly what you accuse others of.

                 Unlike you, who only has the balls to post in online forums bagging everybody in sight, I am afraid of nothing and nobody, particularly you.

                 Scrutiny? You don’t have the intelligence to scrutinise anything. All you do is post FUD everywhere you go.

                 Business huh? “Sign up rate”. Yes, this is how many households allowed NBN Co to install a free line to their house. In Brunswick that figure is only 52%. Thats NOT the percentage of households actually using the service, and you know it, but being the supreme FUDster that you are you conveniently ignore the facts. The rate in Tasmania’s first rollout was only 42%, even though it was free.

                 The true figure: THE National Broadband Network has just 41 active customers at its two operating mainland test sites, despite more than 6000 homes having been connected to the grid.

                 Tasmania, after all these months, has only 624 households/businesses actually using the NBN.

                 • Rizz
                   Posted 31/07/2011 at 11:53 am | Permalink | Reply

                   Whose stalking who and who is the psychopath, Backslider (may I call you BS for short, as it’s most apt)?

                   Perhaps I need to call the police…shakes head!

                   But, be careful precious (as you did with Tombo yesterday and as you do with Reality Check) the personal nature you are delving into will get you and name #12 banned…!

                   As to me, I post under RS or Rizz, it’s not rocket science (you do know rocket science though, eh, I almost forgot).

                   You see, for example, sometimes at forums the initials RS are already taken/registered (fancy that another person in the world with those initials), so Rizz is the alternative. Gee what a revelation…! No hiding, no disguising, no trying to pretend I’m someone else… one or the other! Unlike you who sneakily has many monikers, big difference…

                   Sadly this is all you have left to desperately cling to, as well as telling us about the 41/6000 as you did yesterday as both BS and Reality Check…LOL!

                   And tell us about the 88% Armidale sign up, there’s a good boy…?

             • HC
               Posted 31/07/2011 at 11:13 am | Permalink | Reply

               “You really are a psychopath and if you do not stop stalking me, I will simply report you to the police.”

               And just like that we get a good idea of how thin skinned the anti-NBN crusaders are. They cant win any other way so they try to silence people with vapid threats like this. LOL posting comments in a comments section on a website is stalking, now I’ve heard everything.

               • Backslider
                 Posted 31/07/2011 at 11:42 am | Permalink | Reply

                 @HC – pray tell, what in the World makes you think I am “anti-NBN”???

                 The only thing I am anti is idiots like you, HC, Rizz (the three are one) who have nothing better to do other than hijack any sane discussion regarding it!

                 • HC
                   Posted 31/07/2011 at 11:50 am | Permalink | Reply

                   The discussion was fine until you came along, stop hijacking the discussion with your irrelevant comments.

                 • Rizz
                   Posted 31/07/2011 at 11:59 am | Permalink | Reply

                   Gee we have something in common… I am anti idiot too, hence this reply ;-)

         • HC
           Posted 31/07/2011 at 11:08 am | Permalink | Reply

           “RS has already been banned, looks like you are heading in the same direction HC.”

           Banned for what?

           “so you waste you time throwing around FUD and insults.”

           Point out where I insulted anyone.

           “The actual truth:”

           The actual truth is you dont know what you are talking about and when your feelings get hurt you throw around the insult and/or FUD card.

4. Ully
   Posted 30/07/2011 at 1:56 pm | Permalink | Reply

   With each single premises connected, (trial or not), is one step closer to the fact of simple ‘rewiring’ of the Australian land. C’mon NBN, lets get cracking and give Conroy something good to announce. The fixing of my street’s broadband, where we have only fixed wireless and satellite, in a suburb of a large town, would be an awesome start.

   • Backslider
     Posted 31/07/2011 at 1:44 am | Permalink | Reply

     @Ully – why should you complain? You already have what many people will get with the NBN: wireless and satellite. How about you just PAY for a better plan?

5. Backslider
   Posted 31/07/2011 at 1:22 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Its unfortunate that any discussion re. the NBN on delimiter always gets hijacked by RS, HC, Rizz, who quite clearly is one and the same lost soul… poor little internet troll who gets most upset with anything he feels threatens his precious NBN, which he so selfishly wants so badly to play World of Warcraft rather than anything useful. He will forthwith be ignored entirely.

   Professionally, I develop eCommerce systems and telecommute every day to Costa Mesa Ca, USA, so to me the NBN would be a massive bonus as I spend a great deal of time uploading and downloading system files and the current internet speeds I get are a definite bottleneck. I could easily take the same, selfish attitude as those above and only be concerned with what is good for me. I could easily affford one of the best plans being floated around, and claim it entirely as a tax deduction to boot, but the NBN is supposed to be for all Australians, not just the selfish few who really don’t care, and have no need to care how much it costs.

   The average weekly earnings in Feb 2011 was $1004.10. This means that a very large sector of the community earns far less and in fact are struggling just to make ends meet, to pay their rent or mortage, put food on the table and see their kids through school. Many people more advantaged would say they would struggle just at the median figure. Think about it.

   But, we have a government who are intent on rolling out the NBN regardless of cost and regardless of real needs. MOST Australians would never require internet speeds better than what are currently available with ADSL connections (which could easily be speeded up five times from what they currently are), yet all a being made to pay for the NBN.

   It is clear that the only concerns for the government are in fact the interests of the major players in the NBN rollout, plus a very vocal, politically correct and advantaged sector of the community, not the Australian people as a whole. Millions of people on low incomes will never afford to get connected, creating a digital divide and greater disadvantage, particularly for their children.

   The whole NBN plan is ridiculous and a massive waste of public money, just to satisfy the aspirations of idiots like Conroy and Gillard and their well to do chardonnay crowd.

   Yes, Australia does need a broadband network. Just the way it is being done is stupid and wrong and definitely not in the interests of the Australian people.

   • Rizz
     Posted 31/07/2011 at 2:01 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Gee apart from your first paragraph, which just had to included me (and HC)…just can’t let it go eh, you actually made a few decent points!

     So although I disagree, as the NBN will be affordable (just as affordable if not more so than comms currently) and dismiss your obvious political bias… it’s marvellous when you actually stop being a flaming troll (who hypocritically screams flaming troll) and who even threatens people online…sigh, you can actually construct a half decent comment…and using just one name too…!

   • HC
     Posted 31/07/2011 at 2:55 pm | Permalink | Reply

     “which he so selfishly wants so badly to play World of Warcraft rather than anything useful.”

     Since you are making baseless assumptions like this you can no longer be taken seriously in this debate, I dont play games anymore but that reason is as valid as anyone else’s so long as they pay their internet bill every month (which ends up paying back the taxpayers btw) who cares what they use it for.

     “This means that a very large sector of the community earns far less and in fact are struggling just to make ends meet blah blah blah more irrelevant emotive ranting”

     Explain how not building the NBN will help them.

     “The whole NBN plan is ridiculous and a massive waste of public money”

     False.

     “Just the way it is being done is stupid and wrong and definitely not in the interests of the Australian people.”

     You must be thinking of the coalition FTTN patchwork plan again.

     Stop derailing the discussion btw.

   • Backslider
     Posted 01/08/2011 at 6:24 am | Permalink | Reply

     “the NBN will be affordable”

     This can go in the same trash heap as Bob Hawke’s infamous line: “by 1990 no Australian child will be living in poverty” – a goal that was abandoned altogether by Labor.

     I am not involved with politics in any way other than to comment. I have no political affiliations whatsoever, either right, left or center.

     “I dont play games anymore but that reason is as valid as anyone else’s so long as they pay their internet bill every month”

     This perfectly illustrates my point and is indicative of why we should not listen to many of the loudest voices in the NBN debate, whose only interest is self interest, not what i actually good for Australians as a whole.

     “and in fact are struggling just to make ends meet blah blah blah more irrelevant emotive ranting”

     So we see, to some, who spend a great deal of their time hijacking every thread related to the NBN, hurling insults and FUD, think that attending to the needs of lower income Australians is irrelevant and emotive ranting. Thats at least two million Australians that, according to them, we should have no regard for.

     • HC
       Posted 01/08/2011 at 12:13 pm | Permalink | Reply

       “why we should not listen to many of the loudest voices in the NBN debate”

       Good point. Please lower your voice and stop hijacking every thread related to the NBN.

   • Backslider
     Posted 01/08/2011 at 12:16 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Did somebody just fart?

6. Peter Piper
   Posted 01/08/2011 at 10:59 am | Permalink | Reply

   bring it to the city here and you will have tons of young people who have come for work, study, better life with spare cash sign up. not some backward town where people sign up with telstra because it’s the only name they know.

   • Backslider
     Posted 01/08/2011 at 11:41 am | Permalink | Reply

     You sound really edumacated. So, please tell the World how exactly the NBN will benefit you, and what online activities you engage in that are not adequately serviced by the 30mbps (at least) currently available to you?

     • HC
       Posted 01/08/2011 at 12:18 pm | Permalink | Reply

       “30mbps (at least) currently available to you?”

       30mbps upload? Awesome sign me up.