Many residents in the South Brisbane area will be familiar with the frankly bizarre internet situation locally, where many local residents are forced onto the ‘Telstra Velocity’ network in order to access home internet, rather than being on the NBN the same as everybody else.
If you’re part of this area and use the Telstra Velocity/Opticomm network, please take a few minutes to complete our South Brisbane Network survey now.
Why does the South Brisbane area have a different internet network?
What is going on with the transition from Telstra to Opticomm?
Recently Telstra sold their "Velocity" network to another company called Opticomm. This has created a bunch of hassle and in some cases disconnections and unnecessary costs for local residents.
The roll-out of this transition began in 2022. After feedback from the community, Opticomm paused the transition to review the process and recommenced work in July.
Still, we've heard from a bunch of residents who have been put through the ringer between Opticomm and their internet retailers. Issues like having never received notification of the change-over resulting in losing days worth of internet connection, like residents losing access to their landline numbers or provider-based email accounts, or even having to pay for new equipment to be installed at their home, only to discover it’s the same equipment they already had (go figure).
What to do if you're concerned about your network transition?
If you live in the area and haven’t heard yet about your Opticomm transition, you can check your address here: https://online.telco.opticomm.com.au/ The website can tell you if the transition at your address is coming up - if it is, then you need to contact your internet provider and put in an order with them to keep a connection.
If you have trouble with your account transition or are being treated unfairly by your internet provider, you can make a complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). The TIO will first seek to mediate a resolution between you and your internet provider, and if an agreement can't be reached, they have the power to make binding decisions. My office can also advocate on your behalf to help bring it to the attention of the companies involved - you can contact us here.
What I'm doing as your MP
What’s clear to me is it makes zero sense for this area to be maintaining a separate internet network to the rest of the country. The network should never have been sold from Telstra to another private company (if anything, it should have been bought by the NBN and normalised with the rest of Australia). Clearly the residents I’ve heard from have been through a whole bunch of cost and inconvenience just so two big companies could do a deal between themselves and I’m yet to hear a compelling benefit for any of this to the community.
We've been in contact with both Telstra and Opticomm to advocate on behalf of residents experiencing issues. In particular we are concerned about the impacts on customers losing their landline phone connections, (especially older and more vulnerable customers) and being charged extra fees.
If you use this network at your place, I’d like your help by sharing your experience. The evidence we’re collecting will help inform how I can approach this issue from where we are now and our advocacy to the Government. Take a few minutes to take our South Brisbane Network survey now.
(And by the way - if you’ve got older neighbours, family, or anyone who might need a bit of help with this change, now would be a great time to reach out to them. You can start by putting your address into the Opticomm search and following the instructions.)