Portland residents will be able to connect to the National Broadband Network in days, with Wallerawang and Lithgow also set to receive the service this year.
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Nbn spokesperson Sam Dimarco said the final checks were being carried out in Portland and households and businesses would declared “ready to connect in the coming days”.
The service will be a mix of fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) and faster fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) for the 900 houses and businesses in the area.
While Portland is in the closing stages, work is under way at Wallerawang and 1000 residences and businesses there should be able to connect at the end of June and start of July.
Work at Lithgow is also due to start this month, and 5400 homes and businesses in the area will be able to connect to the nbn before September.
The Hartley region will be serviced by a wireless nbn tower that is due to be installed next year.
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Like Portland, Wallerawang and Lithgow will receive a mixture of FTTC and FTTN.
FTTC is seen as the preferred option because it provides higher speeds.
FTTN uses high-speed fibreoptic cable to a node, with copper wire connections from the node to the house, up to one kilometre away. FTTC provides fibre cable to the front of the residence, where it connects to the copper into the house.
Mr Dimarco advised residents to visit nbnco.com.au and enter the address of their home or business to find out what service they will receive and to get updated timeframes.
“The choice of technology is decided area-by-area based on the best solution for the location with several factors considered, including geographical location, existing infrastructure, cost and time to build,” he said.
Mr Dimarco said for the majority of FTTN and FTTC connections, nbn workers would not need to perform any work on properties. He said it was only if faults were detected with existing copper lines that some work may need to be carried out.
Once the service is available, customers can contact a retail provider to sign up. There is no technician visit required to get the service connected.
Residents have 18 months after the nbn arrives to make the switch before the old phone and internet services are switched off.
