By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
A STUDENT accommodation provider fears he will lose tenants because he is unable to connect his Grovedale property to the internet.
Adrian Ikin said he bought the Diaz Dve property to provide Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus students – including his daughter – with nearby accommodation.
But faults and lack of capacity at the Belmont exchange were preventing internect connection, he said.
“I can’t believe in this day and age that we can’t get internet in Geelong. It’s a big city and not being able to get internet is ridiculous.
“I’ve been told it will be 12 months before I can get it and then only if someone drops off the system.”
Mr Ikin said he would have thought twice about investing in Geelong if he had known about the internet situation.
He had contacted Telstra’s complaints department without resolution, he said.
Telstra told him 50 ADSL2 ports were unavailable due to a fault at the Belmont exchange, which lacked capacity for new connections.
Telstra had no plans to update or repair the exchange, he said.
“The NBN is not planned for the area and may take five years to connect. Using the 3G network is really expensive and you don’t much get much download.
“I’ve got nowhere else to turn.”
Mr Ikin was responding to Geelong councillor Rod Macdonald’s call in the Independent for feedback on internet blackspots around the region.
Cr Macdonald’s B4G campaign follows the release of federal Department of Communications mapping revealing 75 per cent of Geelong has “poor” or “very poor” broadband quality.
Federal Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson said it was important for the region to “get some relief from the terrible internet speeds we have been suffering”.
Ms Henderson said a Telstra upgrade created 72 new ports for Marshall residents along with backhaul upgrades to increase speeds for customers at Ocean Grove.
“Telstra has further plans to alleviate congestion at exchanges in Belmont, Torquay and Barwon Heads, which should increase speeds for customers,” she said.
“Despite the recent improvements, there are still plenty of problems with internet access in our region.”
