[BetterRed]

In 2003 I paid the main telco $240 to have my POTS line installed. About three years ago I learnt that the twisted pair cables under the footpath would be disconnected from the exchange. Because my line was not the primary line to the premises I was told I would have to pay $300-400 to get connected to the existing cable TV coax strung up on the wooden electricity poles - otherwise known as the National Broadband Network (NBN). And, not only would I have had to pay to get connected to their wonky old cable TV coax - I would have had to buy a new house phone!

I don't have a TV so I replaced the ADSL service with mobile broadband (now 5G), which I can take with me if I relocate. And I decided to forego the luxury of having a 'real' phone and learn to live with an unreliable fiddlefone that I rarely carry when I leave home.

Not allowed. Not available. Take your pick. I couldn't retain the service I had - because they tore it down. I would have had to pay for the non-optional, mandated, take-it-or-leave-it replacement… if your phone line was the 'primary line' you didn't have to pay.

It's a legacy of decisions made by past governments. Firstly in the late 1980s when the government owned and operated telco was corporatised in preparation for privatisation… which duly happened of course. Secondly in the mid 1990s when the NBN was formulated. They could have undone some of the mistakes made earlier, but they refused to take advice from industry experts.

Added: goes without saying that the unions and the Murdochs have both had a role to play in Australia's never ending telecoms/media sagas.

BR