With Illawarra locals increasingly working from home, data restrictions and excessive charges are leaving some households high and dry because of second trade NBN connections. The PM has called on all Australians to work from home. The Premier has called on all school students to stay at home, but Illawarra residents who are forced to access the NBN through satellite are in a precarious position as the coronavirus restrictions are stepped up.

Today Stephen Jones MP wrote to the Minister for Communications, Paul Fletcher and asked him to intervene.

Kevin Haines and his partner from Dunmore are required to work from home, at the same time their two children have been required to complete their schooling from home.

Currently Mr Haines receives 100 GB of data per month. The 100 GB of data per month shared between a family of four for both educational, work and recreational related purposes will be exceed in a very short period of time.

Once the data is exceeded, Mr Haines' speed is capped to a point where it is almost impossible to load a web page, let alone run an educational program for his children.  

Upon hearing the announcement Mr Haines immediately contacted NBN Co regarding the unmetered data for educational purposes for his two children. NBN Co advised Mr Haines that unfortunately his household does not qualify for unmetered educational data, as his premises is not located in a remote rural area.

The fact that Mr Haines has a Sky Muster service highlights the fact that he lives in a regional and remote area, and should be entitled to unmetered educational data.  

In these uncertain times its critical that rural, remote and regional Australians remain connected in order to complete their education, and work commitments.

If Illawarra locals in built up areas are forced to access NBN Co through the Sky Muster satellite service they should get the same entitlement to unmetered data for educational purposes.

Background

Residents in Dunmore, south of Shellharbour can only access the NBN via Satellite services after plans to provide the superior wireless service were axed. 

On Wednesday NBN Co announced that users on a NBN Sky Muster plan will receive an extra 45 GB towards their data cap over the next three months. At the same time NBN CO have unmetered all internet traffic bar video streaming on its Sky Muster Service.

These arrangements do not apply to the Illawarra based NBN wireless customers.