When it comes to choosing your internet provider for your home or office NBN connection, it's time to throw out your previous ideas on what makes a good provider.
A brief history
Let us take a look at how the national broadband network has changed the way you need to consider your internet provider. NBN Co is what is known in the industry as a "wholesale access provider network". That means NBN Co provides internet service providers with a technology-agnostic way to connect their customers to the internet.
In the past, it was only larger providers that were able to afford to build and maintain this type of network, with only one company (take a guess which one) having been able to provide complete national coverage. In this environment, local ISPs would have to purchase access and data rates from a wholesaler and add their markup, leaving their competitiveness and profitability up to the larger wholesale networks.
Now, however, local ISPs are on the same playing field as the big corporates, paying the same rates over the same technology. As in all things, it is not just that simple, so what else differs between a local and national service provider?
A personalised service
Whether you are connecting your business or home, service providers always seem to have the same layout of plans and hardware that they have spent millions of dollars designing, and now want to squeeze and change how you do things to fit their environment.
With a local service provider, they can properly take the time to understand your needs and build a service to suit them. Even if you feel your simple setup of WiFi and a home phone is no big deal, consider that some larger providers require you to use their modem in order for the phone to work. And that cheap modem they just gave you doesn't reach the media room, so no Netflix on the TV unless you add extenders or recable your house, turning that simple setup into an ever more complex network.
Supporting local business
We've all heard it before, but supporting local business is great for the local economy. Even if the plans are a couple of dollars more than some national providers, you can know that money spent with a local provider will eventually trickle down to a cafe, a sporting club or the local market. There are also the jobs created — marketing, support, sales and admin — all roles that need to be filled locally as the business grows.
Getting help from your service provider
Providing help and support has always been a thorn in the side of the telecommunications industry. Even the large ISPs with all their resources still don't seem to be able to get it right. But that's where your local provider can make a difference. With a smaller, more focused customer base, getting support from a local ISP should be simple, as you will probably have the owner's mobile in your contact list.
Not only that, but as an owner of a local ISP, I can tell you that keeping you as a customer means a lot more to me than it does to the larger telco. Reputation aside, keeping a customer connected is my livelihood and affects my ability to support my family financially, and to me, there is no bigger motivator.