Limited trials of the $35 billion National Broadband Network will begin before September in Kiama Downs and Minnamurra, NBN Co has said.The company's head of product development and sales, Jim Hassell, said major telcos including Telstra and Optus had signed on to provide internet access to users via the NBN as part of small-scale trials in five mainland test sites.Armidale, in the state's north-west, will be the first, with connections expected to start this month."The trial will extend to the other first release sites in the months following to eventually cover several hundred end-users," Mr Hassell said.Providers will choose users for the trial from their existing customer bases but how many of those users will be in the Illawarra is not known, nor how much users will pay for access to the NBN during the trial.Those not selected to be part of the trial can expect to be connected from September, when providers will begin to sell internet services using the high-speed network to the public.Once connected, those living and working in Kiama Downs and Minnamurra will have access to speeds of about 100 megabits per second, with that number gradually being ramped up in coming years to about 1 gigabit per second.Meantime, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network has launched a "no-jargon" guide to the NBN.The guide, available for free online, offers plain language explanations of the technologies behind the high-speed network, pricing and how homes will be connected. It is available from www.accan.org.au.