Category Archives: Tech

Fibre Internet at Waves

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Updated with New Pricing from December 2022

This article updated as TPG and iiNet have increased prices for new customers. It is still a great deal for a great service.

Waves now has about 18 units connected and all are happy with the service.

Latest Technology News – Internet

TPG Communications has connected a glass fibre network connection to our building.

This opens up opportunities for those wanting faster unlimited internet services to help resolve some video streaming issues.

You can sign up via TPG or via  iiNet. iiNet is a TPG subsidiary company. Internode is another option.

You also have an opportunity to save on existing NBN internet costs, depending on your service speeds and capacity packages.

Today, 22-June-2021, four units were connected to the recently available TPG FTTB (Fibre To The Basement) at Waves.

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Things to Consider Before Switching

  • You may be locked into a contract with your existing internet provider
  • You may be using an email address bundled with your existing NBN provider.
  • You may have an existing Mobile phone bundled with your existing NBN provider
  • You may be getting some other bundle add-ons from your existing NBN provide
  • Another thing to consider is your use of a “landline” phone number. The packages offered by TPG offer a new phone number, and differing levels of included calls, from pay-as-you-go to included. If you want to retain the landline number you may currently use, then the number can be “ported” across to TPG in lieu of getting a fresh number.  To port the number to TPG, you will need to speak to their Sales Dept on 13 14 23

If you only use a mobile phone, then the free included phone line with the TPG-FTTB packages may be ignored.

DISCOUNT COUPONS

There is also a secret TPG Coupon you may be able to use that will waive your first month charge.

The coupon to try  is  FTTBFREE1   note: coupon may have expired

If you are an iiNet NBN customer, then you can sign up with them. They have a promo code at present of  ULTRA6 for 6 months @ $79.99. This may be only for new iiNet customers – not sure…

for TPG Sign Up:   TPG Link   or Phone  1300 403 211

for iiNet sign up:  online – iiNet Link  or Phone  13 19 17

TPG Package Details Below (iiNet are Similar)

Basic Bundle

New Pricing applies to new connections from December 2022

This bundle costs just $59.99 per month $79.99 for the first 6 months, then 89.99 per month  and would suit internet usage for emails and web browsing.

With a download speed of 90 Mbps, it would be way faster than any of your prior ADSL2 or NBN connection.

Upload speed is 17 Mbps,

Is very suitable for video streaming.

Includes a phone line with Pay As You Go.  Call rates are good, but most people today use Mobile Phones.

see TPG for further details

 

NBN Internet Outage

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NBN Splitter Boxes

What Happened to Your Internet

After a lightning storm on Saturday 31 October, there were several reports of intermittent internet issues which ranged from drop-outs to slowdowns for about 10 days.

Several NBN technicians worked on site to fix individual unit connections.

Then at about 2:00pm on Thursday 12th November, half our building lost all internet.

Investigations by some committee discovered that one of the two grey boxes shown above, was nice and warm, and the other was cold.

The one on the left was the cold one and it served the whole West tower of Waves. Several owners were advised to let their internet suppliers know what we had discovered. Sadly there is no direct phone number for contacting NBN.

Due to the number of calls to NBN retailers, the NBN dispatched a pair of technicians who turned up at about 6:30pm Thursday evening. They set to work on replacing the faulty splitter and had the job completed by about 9:00pm.

The splitter unit on the right as shown supplies the east tower. It will likely fail at some stage but the crew were not interested in replacing both units until the next one fails.

Several people who do work from home at present were adversely affected by the outage.

Strangely, the splitter units are old Optus supplied equipment and bought by NBN. The NBN technicians reported that the company that manufactured them had been closed for about five years.

The new unit installed Thursday is a more compact model by another company.

Fingers crossed that the right hand splitter continues to work.

 

 

Desk Wireless Phone for Elderly

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I just learned about this phone, and it is ideal for the very elderly, and perhaps some not so old.

Basically it is a desk phone that uses "mobile phone" technology. Thus it does not need NBN or a Landline. It uses a mobile phone SIM card to make and receive calls.

There are lots of positive reviews online.

Cost is $219.50.

It is available from: SeniorsPhone.com.au

 

Great for those who have trouble managing and using a mobile phone.

The phone would be well suited for use in Aged Care facilities, or for when an elderly relative might be located with different family members from time to time.

It would also work in a Hospital, if they allowed it.

 

 

Here is another image of the phone.



Seniors Phone

Some Specs

4G
Unlocked
No landline, No NBN required.

EasyDial 4G Desk Phone with New Features:

3 Dedicated Speed Dial buttons
Allows to Assign 3 most important contact numbers to 3 dedicated Big buttons for One Touch speed call.
Call Announcement
Option to Announce both incoming and outgoing Phone numbers in a clear voice.
Voice & Call recording
Option to record all phone conversations automatically and play later
One-Touch FM Radio
Large Screen with Big Font
Easy Setup
WIFI Hotspot to share SIM data with other devices
Firewall
Block unwanted calls
Dual SIM card supports
2000mAh Backup battery - Will last up to 72 hours in stand-by mode

This 4G Wireless Desk phone works with 4G,3G SIM cards from Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, Amaysim, ALDI Mobile, Layca Mobile, Tele Choice, Woolworth Mobiles, Better Life Mobile, Boost Mobile, Belong Mobile, LYFmobile, Think Mobile and much more.

Your Air Conditioner

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If you still have your originally installed air conditioner, then it will be a Fujitsu.
The units are Owner responsibility and as such you are advised to ensure they are covered by any contents insurance you may have.

These air conditioner units should be serviced every year or two to keep them in good working order.

Fujitsu-astg09_12_18manual2Download

NBN at WAVES

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New Fibre Optic

Today, 13-Feb-2019, I found a technician joining a new fibre optic cable at a pit at the south end of Sutton Street. I spoke to him briefly and he says it is a backbone fibre and will run all the way up Sutton Street.

Whilst we have HFC NBN at Waves, it may one day enable us to get the faster FTTB (Fibre to the Building) NBN and gigabit speeds.

Fibre on Sutton

September 2018 - Now Available

I checked today (29-Sept-2018) and I see that the NBN Co has recommenced new NBN connections for us here at Waves.

For first time NBN connections, be advised that the present cabling for your unit is only to the stage of a coiled up Coax lead that has been poked through the firewall above your Unit front door. It is accessible from the first light fitting, just inside your unit.

Any NBN installer will need to know that information about the cable in the previous paragraph. You will also need to decide where you want your NBN wall outlet. This is where your modem and phone (if any) will be located once installed, so plan carefully. It will also need to be near a power outlet.

The installers will extend the cable to where you want it, though in some cases you may have to be firm and demanding as to the location you want.

Choosing an NBN Retailer for Internet Service

When connecting to the NBN, you need to do so through an NBN retailer.

There are many of these, and they are not all the same. The biggest is Telstra, so if you are planning to go with Telstra, or your existing ADSL provider, then that would be the simplest route.

If you are searching around for a new provider, then be aware that most of them you will find are simply re-sellers.

One exception to this is a smaller Telco company, AussieBroadband.    AussieBB provide a great service with value for money. They also use only Australian Based help centres, so if you have an issue, it is more easily dealt with.

 

Choosing a VOIP Telephone Provider

When moving to the NBN, if you want a landline phone, you will be moving to a VoIP ( Voice over Internet Protocol) service. Your existing telephone line will disappear.

All existing phone landlines in Redcliffe will be disconnected at the end of June, 2019.

If you are planning to move from your existing phone line supplier, then consider using MyNetFone for your VoIP line. If you are keeping your NBN with your existing telco, then simplest is to keep your phone line with them.

But if you are moving from one provider to another for your NBN, then it is a good idea use separate providers for your NBN internet, and for your VoIP service. That way you can move one or the other between providers at any stage in the future.

Want to keep your existing phone number? Then the number can be "ported" across to your VoIP provider. Mostly this is with no charge, but sometimes may cost you a few dollars.

Any existing physical phone handset will work with VoIP, so no need for new phones.

 

AussieBroadBand

If you choose AussieBroadBand, (my chosen supplier and I can recommend them) then you can get the first month FREE by signing up online at aussiebroadband

For the free month it’s important that during the online signup process you enter the promo code WPFREEMONTH in the final stage of the check out process. This goes in the promo code field. With AussieBroadBand, there is no long term contract. They are not re-sellers but have their own direct connections to the NBN network. Their excellent phone support is all based in Australia.

Good luck. John, Unit 15

August 2018 Update

The NBN Co has announced that they will re-commence new HFC NBN connections in the Redcliffe area commencing late September 2018. Once we are able to confirm the availability of new connections we will post a message here.

A few units have had NBN now for several months, and it is very reliable and you are able to subscribe at higher speeds than those available with the legacy ADSL.

 

 

April 10th Update Announcement

Today (10-April-2018) the NBN Co announced that they would re-commence new HFC NBN connections in the Brisbane area commencing late June. It is not known yet if this will include the Redcliffe area, but it looks likely.

I have had NBN now for several months, and subscribed to the fastest available speed package of 100/40. There has only been two short outages that I have noticed since November. Each outage was less than 10 minutes.

(John Griffiths, Unit 15)

 

NBN to Suspend New HFC Connections

You may have read a press release from Monday Nov 27th where NBN have announced they are to suspend all new HFC nbn connections until they investigate and fix some reported network issues. Here is one report... Computerworld Article 

The announcement said that the suspension comes into effect immediately.
But there is still time if you wish to get onto the NBN network sooner than about 6-9 months from now.

Providers have been told that orders lodged by December 11th will be connected, but no new orders can be lodged after that date.
Some providers are still taking orders. So try contacting your chosen NBN provider ASAP and see if they will take your order now. If they won't, then I suggest you try AussieBroadBand as I know they are continuing to take orders until the deadline December 11th.

Phone and ADSL Reminder

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If you have a traditional phone line and/or ADSL Internet, then be aware that those may be cut off around June this year as the NBN takes over.

There is another article that will answer most of your "Waves" related NBN questions. Click below to see that article.

NBN Cabling and Socket Placement

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Feedback from Waves Units

Below is feedback from various units. Please let us know how your installation goes.

Unit 31 Completed

26-Oct-2017 Update:  The NBN internet has now been successfully connected to Barry and Lorrie McNamara of Unit 31. Barry reports that the speed is as his internet supplier advertised.

So far as we know, Unit 31 is the first unit in Waves to connect to the NBN. Well done Barry and Lorrie. It was a long hard road 🙂

Barry is happy to show any residents how his cabling was installed. Please see the Contacts page for his details.

The photo below shows the vent the NBN installers added to the ceiling in the laundry to allow them to run the cable down inside the wall. Neat job.

Vent in Laundry

 

 

Barry and Lorrie of Unit 31 had their NBN cabling installed by NBN installers on October 12th. Barry reports that the installers did a great job and were able to add his NBN socket where he wanted, in his Study area. The installers ran the cabling across the ceiling space by threading it from light fitting to light fitting.
By cutting a small hole in the ceiling of the laundry just behind the study wall, they were able to feed the cable down the inside of the wall cavity to where the socket was wanted.

The small hole in the ceiling was then finished off with a small vent cover. Time taken: approximately 2.5 hours.

There was no extra charge to the unit owners.

 

Unit 15

John and Candace, unit 15 have had the cabling completed, by a private cabler, ready for the NBN technician to attach the necessary HFC Cable modem. We plan for that to happen late November, as we will be away until about then.

The layout plan for our unit made it possible for our cable to be routed through the ceiling space to the laundry. Then it runs down the laundry wall in a neat channel, and then through the wall to a wallplate in our study area. Time taken by the cabler to do the job was about 4 hours. Getting access to the laundry ceiling space was a fluke, as the wall gyprock panels seem to go all the way up to the concrete above.  There was one small opening we finally found where a previous electrician had created a hole in the gyprock wall within the ceiling cavity between the Study and Laundry.

Update:  December 11 2017

NBN was installed today. We have temporarily opted for the fastest available speed 100/40 as supplied by AussieBroadBand.

So far we are very happy with the NBN as installed.

John Griffiths, U15

 

 

Getting NBN Connected

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You May Need a New Wireless Router

When we all connect to the NBN we each most likely need to buy a new router with more features that that we currently use for any ADSL internet connection.  Reason being, is that our WiFi ADSL modems will need to connect to a WAN (Wide Area Network) connection Socket 5 on the graphic above.. This will be a data cable (RJ45) that will connect from the NBN Cable Modem (which NBN will be providing and installing and configuring at no cost).  We will not “own” that cable modem and it would remain in place should we ever move out. It is part of the NBN infrastructure.

The next piece in the chain is out WiFi  router to which we will connect our phone, our computers, our T-Box, our smart TV  or any appliance that needs an internet connection. This might be by a WiFi connection or by a network cable (again, an RJ45 cable) – connections labelled 4 above.

Read enough technical stuff ? Don’t give up, there is more to come.

 

So You Want a Phone

The old standard phone line as we have known it for many decades, is going to go away.
In approximately 18 months, it will be disconnected permanently. If you don’t use a Landline phone now, but rely on Mobile phones, you will not notice this change.  But your present ADSL internet connection if you have one will be using the standard phone landline connection.

The replacement for the landline phone is a VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone, and for this you will need a modem/router that is capable of a VoIP connection. In the graphic at the top, your phone would plug into a socket such as those shown at item 6.

If you sign up for a longer term contract with your internet supplier, they will usually include the necessary Voip router as part of the plan.

If you sign up for a Month-to-Month contract, you will likely need to buy your own Voip enabled wireless router from your internet provider as part of the sign-up process with them. There are about 150 different internet providers, each trying to offer different packages. I do not want to suggest any in particular, but make your own enquiries.

Your NBN Cable Modem

The NBN will supply an Arris Cable Modem as shown on the right. It will connect to the NBN cable outlet that the NBN technicians will install for you.

The cable modem will have a small power adapter which supplies it with 12 volt power. 

Measurements for the cable modem are: (H x W x D) : 132 x 44 x 132 mm. It is designed to sit vertically, but should also work if laid flat and there was some gap for air flow to keep it cool. 

Download the Modem Manual

This photo shows the rear of the modem where all connections are made.

RJ12 - RJ45 Differences

Above we show the two types of cable connections used for phones and networks.

The smaller one ( RJ12) with up to 6 connectors is used to connect phone appliances. It would be used in sockets 6 and/or 7 in the router shown at the top.

The  larger one ( RJ45 ) will have 8 connectors, and is used for network connections. This one can be used to carry a lot of data, way more than you will get from your internet connection. RJ45 cables would connect to sockets numbered  4 and 5 in the router shown at the top.

Email Scam Red Light Intrusion

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Ray Scott-White (Unit 57) reports receiving an email titled “Driving Intrusion Information”

It purports to come from the Australian Federal Police and shows their badge emblem.

Then the email sets out details of the infringement with…

Reason: Red Lights
Case No: 473xxxxxxx
Date of issue: 9/12/2017 ( hmmm strange date format for AFP)
Amount Due: $56.70 AUD
Due Date 10/12/2017

Then there is a link to “View” the infringement notice….

Don’t open the link… It is a scam. Ray has reported the email to the Police and wants to share his warning with all.

The Police stated that they do not send out emails for such infringements.
Don’t get caught by scams such as this.

Thanks Ray for the warning.

NBN Update

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Update: Aug 22, 2017.. A recent set of tests of a connection using a replaced splitter box in the Electrical Room in Ground Floor Garage was done about six weeks ago. It may still have shown speed problems and so we still need to wait for NBN co to write to us when all is ready. Yesterday NBN co announced that they would be conducting testing in four locations around Australia next February using the latest HFC (Hybrid Fibre Cable) connections using the DOCsis 3.1 transmission. Maybe we will be one of those locations??? If so, then we will be assured of very fast broadband speeds.

There has been recent NBN activity along Marine Pde, heading this way from around Mon Komo.

It looks as if they are getting ready to bring the fibre optic cable along the street and maybe soon we will have an NBN connection to the building.  The present indication is that we will get to use the Coaxial cable installed last year that was left coiled up in the ceiling in front of each apartment entrance.

More details will be sent direct to each unit owner in due course by the NBNco.
All the apartment blocks along Marine Pde are awaiting the new connection.

JohnG

In-House NBN Info

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Lorraine and Bruce have offered to help residents with a range of telecom services, including NBN advice and support.

See their notice above or on the notice board in ground floor car park.

 

We do still need to wait until we each get a confirmation from the NBN Co that our connection is available.
In the meantime, enjoy the present internet connection (ADSL or Cable) that you currently enjoy as there are problems reported with slow speeds and drop-outs in the Redcliffe area after conversion.

NBN Internet

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Waves was chosen as a test case for Hybrid Fibre Cable (HFC) NBN connection back in 2015.
The building was wired internally, and in mid 2016 the connecting cable was laid from the Switchboard Room to the cable that runs along Marine Parade.
Then, the masters in control discovered that there was not sufficient capability of existing street cables to handle 60 apartments.

As of early March, 2017, ( as the graphic from the NBN site shows) it looks like it has gone back to the drawing board, and the building will eventually get a fibre connection all the way to the electrical switchboard room.

How each apartment is then connected to the fibre is yet to be determined.
JohnG
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What Will Be Different with the NBN?

With NBN there will be the choice to pay a few dollars extra each month and get much faster internet.
There will be different download and upload speeds available.

It is the Download speed that you will appreciate the most.

Options will be:

25Mb/second (A bit faster than present ADSL2 which you likely have)
50Mb/second
100/Mb/second