First South Australian to connect to NBN on Monday

Raaj Menon of Wilunga plugging in his high-speed NBN internet connect. Picture: Brooke Whatnall Source: AdelaideNow

THE first South Australian will connect to the National Broadband Network on Monday, as testing in Willunga begins.

eIT entrepreneur Raaj Menon, who moved to Willunga in February to be one of the first to connect to super fast broadband speeds, said he was excited about the trial starting June 27 and was likely to be the first and only connection at once week.

"I will be getting 100 megabit/second downstream and 40 megabit/second upstream . So it will be interesting to see whether I get anywhere close to those speeds on the local mirror," Mr Menon, who runs Lonsdale business PC Range, said on his blog.

He hoped to use internet telephone, multi-streaming, video and some other applications together to test the speeds with his curren internet service provider Internode.

The NBNCo has said testing

The NBNCo has said testing would start with a handful of residents earlier it is extended to about 100 Willunga clients to join the network by September afterwards which commercial broadband packages, at speeds five times faster than ADSL2, would be offered to new clients.

Internet business OzFeathers owner Linda Sanders said she is but to hear from a service provider about testing "Most places now have the fibre optic cable up their driveways to their buildings and the exterior box. However that's it," Ms Sander said.

"I've attended as many meetings as possible, volunteered to be surveyed, inspected, joined groups as much as we can do to be amongst the early group, purely because we're a prime user; a 100 per cent e-business."

Willunga testing comes as Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy minister Senator Stephen Conroy announced $17.1 million in grants to local governments within the first release sites for the NBN around Australia today.

Ideas already touted for new services include ratepayers being able to see 3D plans of their neighbours' renovations online vision, householders checking the progress of their own applications, and councils using fast broadband speeds to run sensors telling them when to water local sports grounds or mow the grass.

The move ties with the Federal Government's goal to have four out of five Australians engaging with the government through the internet and other online services.