The NBN at a Shellharbour family's house worked fine - but after they switched to Telstra there was a problem that has left them unconnected for more than a month.
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The Dunnings had been with Dodo for ADSL and, when their area became NBN-ready they stayed with that telco for broadband access.
After becoming dissatisfied with Dodo, John Dunning said they decided to switch to Telstra.
They were told that Telstra would let Dodo know when to disconnect the service and the family home would then be reconnected by Telstra.
The day that was due to happen was the morning of June 26.
"So they told Dodo to disconnect us and then, the day they were going to connect us, they called and said 'there's a problem with the NBN, we can't connect you'," Mr Dunning said.
"So we had no NBN."
This was despite the family having NBN access through Dodo immediately prior to the disconnection.
Mr Dunning said he has kept pursuing Telstra to fix the problem since late June, but to no avail.
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"Every few days I contact Telstra and they say 'we should have something sorted out in the next few days'," Mr Dunning said.
"But that's the standard answer I've had for the last four or five weeks - but nothing happens."
The lack of NBN has caused problems for the family, with both Mr Dunning and his wife running businesses that need internet access and a son at university who has to go onto campus to go online.
The family also has subscriptions to services like Foxtel and Netflix, which require internet access; they have to keep paying those despite not being able to use them.
The family called the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman to intervene - but that would take time.
"The response from the ombudsman was that we get a caseworker who takes on our issue, but because they're so far behind, nothing will happen for at least six to eight weeks," Mr Dunning said.
"So nothing happens because they don't have enough people to look after the workload."
Mr Dunning suggested Telstra knew of this extended delay and it meant the telco did not rush to fix a problem.
After being contacted by the Mercury, Telstra reached out to Mr Dunning.
Telstra said there are two separate premises on the block, which has led to the problems.
"We are currently liaising with the customer to resolve the issue and we apologise for the disruption to their service," a Telstra spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman for the TIO said action was taken within 24 hours of receiving a complaint and "almost 90 per cent" of complaints were resolved within 10 days.
Of the remaining 10 per cent vulnerable consumers and small businesses who may not be able to trade are prioritised.
The spokeswoman confirmed that "the current volume and complexity of complaints to the TIO is resulting in some unresolved cases that are not life-threatening or business critical having up to a nine-week wait time".
Work is under way to fix this, which included "working with the internet service providers and NBN Co to understand the issues in the telecommunications supply chain so fewer issues arise and complaints can be addressed more quickly".
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
