Congestion on a nbn Fixed Wireless connection can result in your service slowing down during peak time periods. nbn Fixed Wireless has a finite design capacity and when everyone wants to stream video (termed high concurrency) in the evening on a tower, that is close to design capacity, then some congestion will ensue. nbn are working to ensure a minimum 6Mb/s peak time experience by the end of the 2018. Other causes of congestion include too many users on a tower, how a providers CVC (the Connectivity Virtual Circuit) is managed or a tower in need of an upgrade.
Another key reason for slow nbn performance is your home equipment that is either supplied by your RSP or yourself. Contact your RSP to ensure that this equipment is best configured for your use.
NB: nbn Fixed Wireless congestion due to tower overload is NOT widespread. The vast majority of fixed wireless customers enjoy a congestion free experience.
Check out WhistleOut’s tips on how to speed up your connection here and the BIRRR Guide on how to troubleshoot your fixed wireless connection here
You can also try activating a second port on your service with a different provider, such as Aussie Broadband, to see if your service improves. Aussie Broadband will offer a no contract 30 day trial to enable you to see if your old provider has the congestion issue, or if the issue is with nbn.
If you are having issues with your nbn Fixed Wireless Service, your first point of contact should always be your provider.
If your provider does not get the issue resolved, BIRRR now has the The Regional Tech Hub doing the escalation of either no connection or an issue with your connection, please visit here and complete their form https://regionaltechhub.org.au/stay-connected/escalation-form/
*Please note, while all care has been taken in compiling BIRRR documents, we recommend that you check with your RSP regarding your own connection issues. Thanks to John Kitchener for assistance in compiling this document. This page was updated on 17th July 2018.
The following are some notes regarding nbn Fixed Wireless non – standard installations.
Please remember that each non-standard install is assessed on a case-by-case basis by nbn, nbn are currently reviewing their non standard install protocols. Current protocols can be found here under Non Standard Install Processes. Some of the non-standard installs pictured on the BIRRR website may no longer be approved by nbn.
In the event that the ‘standard installation’ procedure fails, the next steps are:
Check that the installer has tried to get a strong enough signal on all areas of the roof of the main residence or the premises/ shelter where you wish the nbn equipment to be installed.
Ask if the installer has checked in all directions, in the case that there may be other local nbn sites. If the answer is no, please request this or discuss it with the installer.
Ask the installer if there is any other location on your property where the signal may be strong enough to connect.
Ask if the installer has tried a 3 metre mount to get a stronger signal at the locations. If the installer does not have a 3 metre mount, please request that they return and try again with a 3 metre mount. You may need to make a new appointment with your service provider for this as well. Note: A 3m mount can only be installed on tin rooves with a pitch of <30°
Indicate whether you are prepared to take other steps (at your own expense) to get a service. Make sure you have approval from nbn before carrying out any work for a non standard installation. For example:
Build a shelter specifically to house the equipment and then relay the data to your main location / homestead. Note: A wireless relay of the data will be required, if the total cable length from Outdoor Unit (ODU) to Indoor Unit (IDU) run is greater than 100m. See note below regarding Wireless Relays. nbn currently mandate a 240v supply for the fixed wireless NTD. The nbn wireless NTD consumes 25 watts. nbn are looking into other power supply options for rural users.
Dig a trench to take cable from one building where signal is sufficient, back to the main location on your property. It must be trenched and the cable run through White Communications Conduit. The maximum cable run between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit that nbn provides is 70m (Category 5 cable) or 100m (Category 6 cable).
Install a tower / pole to install the equipment on. Note: The installer needs to accurately identify the location with photos, latitude/longitude etc, plus height of ODU to achieve a suitable signal.
Use a cherry picker or similar equipment to provide access to the location where the installation might be achieved.
6. Ask if the installer has any advice for how to get a sufficiently strong signal anywhere on your property
7. Ask if the installer knows whether your neighbours have an installed service and, if so, what the difference is between your location and theirs.
8. Specifically ask the installer not to log the job as a Service Qualification failure, but to log it as a non-standard installation if they are not able to complete a non-standard installation appointment on the day.
9. If all efforts on the day still do not work, you will need to call your service provider to arrange a new non-standard appointment. It is important that you are clear with the service provider that you need an appointment for a non-standard installation.
10. In the event that all installation attempts fail, you may be able to access a neighbour’s nbn service. If applicable, you may wish to approach your neighbours and ask if they are willing to allow you to order a second service, at your expense to their location. nbn Fixed Wireless supports up to four (4) separate services to one set of installed equipment. If that is OK with you and your neighbour, you may then be able to relay the service to your own residence via a wireless link. There is commercially available equipment that operates wirelessly and may be able to relay the nbn service to your location, provided your neighbours are willing. nbn does not provide this equipment and is not able to guarantee the results.
11. It is also possible to get a second NTD installed at another location / property in the case that this is needed (for example if the four data ports on the installed equipment are being used or your neighbour would prefer not to have your equipment located in the same place as theirs). This can be done by asking your service provider to get a second location ID assigned to a location / premises so that the nbn equipment can be installed
12. Installers are sub-contractors to nbn and may be of varied experience. The majority of the installers are seasoned professional contractors and take this role very seriously. If you believe that you are not getting a professional experience or that the installer does not present themselves in an acceptable way, please let your service provider know so that nbn can track and improve installer behaviour and the installation experience. nbn manage the performance of the installers and are always keen to hear when there are issues so they can help to identify and improve poor experiences and poor behaviour. nbn instructions are to always do everything installers can to help an end user get the Fixed Wireless service, if possible.
WIRELESS RELAYS
A wireless gateway or bridge can span up to 50km with direct line of sight. The gateways can be set up before being sent out. Then all the customer has to do is find a good location for antenna and run some cable to power point (240 volt power must be supplied) and turn the unit on. If it’s under 200 to 400 meters you only need one if its over 400 meters then it is recommended to use two, one as an access point and the other as a station. Wireless Gateways are generally under $300 per unit. A wireless relay can be supplied and installed by telecommunications specialists, or they or can be shipped out with full instructions so people with a bit a knowledge and handy man skill can do the install themselves.
Please note that some of these stories and connections would not be allowed under the new protocols for nbn non-standard fixed wireless installations. Each case will be reviewed by nbn and we encourage end users wishing to do a non standard installation to contact their chosen provider.
Fixed Wireless Gateway
For more information on Wireless Relays Contact your nearest installer / technician from the BIRRR list here or from Telco Antennas
PLEASE NOTE: If the non-standard fixed wireless service has trouble after installation and needs repairs or fine tuning, installers must be SAFELY able to access the location. The means to achieve this must be borne by the customer.
Useful BIRRR Fact Sheets for Non Standard Installations:
Cost of a solar powered set up, one BIRRR member’s report. Clickhere
Some more costings by different BIRRR membershere and Whirlpool memberhere
There are lots of cases nationally of people who have taken it into their own hands to build or have installed a pole, small tower or structure to house the fixed wireless equipment and even to provide their own wireless link from one location on their property to the main homestead or other building. You can read about it here: Whirlpool Forum The above links have excellent advice and real experience from end users who have looked into the options for towers and other solutions.
*Please note, while all care has been taken in compiling BIRRR documents, we recommend that you check with nbn or your ISP regarding your own connection issues. Thanks to nbn for assistance in compiling this document. Information has been obtained from nbn, Skymesh, Whirlpool forumsand BIRRR members. This page was updated on 15th July 2018.
This is our long story about over coming hills to get a nbn Fixed Wireless Connection!
We live on a farm between Ariah Park and Temora NSW. We are 9km from NBN tower in Ariah Park but have hills in between. My brother in law lives 1km from us which put him at 14km from a tower near Temora and us at 15km away. He was able to get NBN without an issue so we applied to get it. We had a technician come out and say we had strong signal from our roof so he set it all up. He said the green light would come on in a couple of hours and we would be set to go. It didn’t come on so we rang Telstra (our provider) who then rescheduled another visit by the same technician Of course we had to wait another week or two. The same technician came out and couldn’t work it out, said he would look into it and get back to us. We never heard back from him. We rang Telstra to get someone else out. They put us onto Skybridge (nbn installer company), we requested the same technician who put my brother in laws in.
So 2/3 weeks later he came out and he didn’t have any luck either. He said it is because we are past 14km from that tower (beyond nbn limits for Fixed Wireless). He said physically it was possible but NBN have gotten really strict with having to be within 14km from the tower. Another dead end. Telstra kept telling us we needed to go on satellite but we didn’t feel we would be any better off as we had friends who had a lot of trouble with it. Also because you still pay a high price for not a lot of data. We had upped our phone data and used hot spotting and shared data so we could get 45gb all up, which was never enough but much more than we used to get before we joined all our data together. Our kids were desperate for netflix like their cousins over the road!
We had a friend who knew a local technician who had bounced a signal off her in-laws, we got in contact with BIRRR and they told us to look into this. We knew it wouldn’t be ideal because we would have to share data with them (they have 6 kids) and it may slow down when we are all on it, this would have made us feel bad, as theirs is great now and we didn’t want to mess with their connection.
We contacted Michael, the local technician. He asked if we had a shed with power on our property that was within 14km from the tower. We had a tiny shed that had a pump in it and therefore power. It has to be waterproof and you need to put a cupboard in it to keep dust off. We needed to get the lot number from the rates- we rang the local council to get the lot number- they got on google earth and worked it out. Once we did this we could get an nbn location ID number (LOC ID) which Telstra needed to apply for NBN for us. This took a couple of weeks. It was then approved so Telstra scheduled a technician to come out a couple of weeks later.
We got our local guy Michael to come out the day before to make sure he would be able to bounce the signal from the small shed to our house (3km away). Of course, it wasn’t that simple as there were quite a few trees in the way.
Michael suggested we put an antenna on our big machinery shed (100m from our house) to pick up the signal from the nbn NTD (in the small shed) then throw it to our house. So the plan was for NBN technician to come out the day after then Michael back the day after that to set up the booster. Again, that didn’t work out as the NBN technician needed a pole to put on the shed to get some more height, he didn’t have one with him (apparently they are supposed to) so once again we had to reschedule for a couple of weeks….so frustrating. We rang Michael to tell him what happened, he thought that was terrible as he should have had a pole with him so he rang Skybridge and asked if he can just do the install himself. Skybridge said that was fine. So Michael came the next day, installed the modem into a cupboard in the tiny shed, put a booster on our large machinery shed to throw the signal to the antenna he put on our house roof. This took two days and cost us over $3000.
We are really glad we didn’t take the easier option and go with satellite. We now get 1000gb for $80/month, the boys can get internet in the machinery shed, we have really fast internet and the kids can watch Netflix, so despite the hassles we had to go through for 5 months, it was worth it!!
Disclaimer: This document is meant as an informative document based on my own research and experience. Any views, opinions, information etc. provided is not necessarily the same as that provided by NBN Co, BIRRR, or any other organisation referred to here. Prepared for BIRRR by Nina & Damien Gaynor.
Using a WIFI Bridge to achieve a nbn™ Fixed Wireless connection
The following diagrams show typical methodologies for connecting a remote nbn™ fixed wireless installation via a WIFI link.
The link is best constructed using semi-commercial specialist WIFI routers such as those made by Ubiquiti or MicroTik; or similar. This equipment is inexpensive and relatively straightforward to configure. You may also be able to purchase the equipment pre-configured, depending on the application. City Technology is a good place to compare Ubiquiti product pricing.
For links around 2 to 3Kms, an equipment cost of around $100 per site is likely. Installation and cabling is additional. Reliable links of up to 20Km may be economically realised. If the WIFI link is well designed and constructed it will provide speeds in excess of 100Mbps; which is more than fast enough for a 50/20Mbps nbn wireless connection. OPTION 1: This arrangement shows an nbn™ fixed wireless service installed in a shed or location where no internet is required at that location (eg Premise 1 in the diagram below). The nbn™ service is extended via a WIFI bridge to the home (eg Premise 2 in the Diagram below) and a WIFI router is added to extend LAN services and broadcast WIFI around the home. The WIFI link acts exactly like a long, long length of LAN cable. For more in depth details read the stories on ourStories & Testimonials Page
This arrangement is typical for a remote nbn™ installation in an area on your property, where signal is good.
OPTION 2: The second arrangement shows an nbn™ fixed wireless service installed in Premise 1 with internet available. This internet service is extended via a WIFI bridge to another premise, Premise 2. Both premises share a single nbn™ wireless service. Depending on configuration of the routers the premises may or may not share the same network. You may also configure the router to ensure that one household doesn’t swamp the others access ie each household is restricted to half the capacity of the FW link.
This configuration is most likely suitable for families living in separate homes on the same property, where the cost of the internet service is shared.
OPTION 3: This arrangement shows an nbn™ fixed wireless service installed in Premise 1 with internet available. A second nbn™ fixed wireless service is installed on the same nbn wireless NTU using the same or a different RSP (ISP/Provider). This second service is extended via a WIFI bridge to Premise 2. This second service is independent of the service at Premise 1 and is likely, separately billed.
This arrangement is most likely if you negotiate to use your neighbour’s nbn™ connection.
There are two W-NTD versions. The V1 ODU has an antenna gain of 23dBi and a throughput capacity 60Mb/s. The V2 ODU has an antenna gain of 26dBi and a throughput capacity of 75Mb/s i.e. across one or all four ports.
An nbn™ fixed wireless service is available with speeds of 12/1, 25/5 and 50/20 (up to). This implies that if both customers were to activate a 50/20 service then there would be times when the service speed is restricted (by the 60-75Mbps total cap), if they are both heavy users.
Sharing between ports is graceful, as they are different vlans ie if you had port 1 and 2 activated with 50/20 plans, the throughput sharing would be 50:50.
OPTION 4: A fourth situation may exist where a single property has two residences, each with an independent fixed wireless standard installation. nbn™ will install a fixed wireless service at each residence
There will be other variations of these four themes.
Please note, while all care has been taken in compiling BIRRR documents, we recommend that you check with nbn™ or your ISP regarding your own connection issues. Thanks to John Kitchener, BIRRR member for compiling this document.
Better Internet for Rural, Regional & Remote Australia (BIRRR) 