Lakeside’s big turn-off

By Danielle Galvin
Residents in Pakenham have complained about slow internet during peak times for years but Brenden O’Leary, who moved to Lakeside in September with his partner, was none the wiser.
“We went to the Telstra shop in Fountain Gate and they said there was nothing available in the area at the moment,” he said.
After speaking to neighbours in their street, Mr O’Leary and his partner spoke about the problem with Delfin Lend Lease, who told him they were aware of it.
“I’d been to the Telstra shop and my partner went in too. We were told this is the way it is. We were going around in circles,” he said.
Fed up with the response, the former Mornington Peninsula resident spoke to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
But the response was much the same.
“Because I’m not a customer, they haven’t technically done anything wrong,” he said.
For now, Mr O’Leary uses his iPhone.
The trained nurse has to visit the post office each week to fax off his timesheet and says it’s very frustrating.
NBN Co, the company employed to manage the rollout of the network, has investigated the need for optical fibre to provide broadband services to Pakenham and surrounds.
At the time of the announcement of the NBN last year, the network was set to connect 90 per cent of all Australian homes, schools and workplaces to broadband.
But the rollout could take years.
“If we were guaranteed an ADSL connection we’d happily put in a landline, but we’re not prepared to set one up, have it sitting there and pay rent on it if we can’t get ADSL in the end,” he said.
Mr O’Leary was told that in his street, houses on one side had access to the internet and the opposite side had problems.
“I was told that there’s a waiting list,” he said.
Telstra was contacted for a response, but did not reply in time.