Here is a copy of the letter written to Ericsson who supply the Fixed Wireless Broadband equipment.
To Ericsson management,
Three months ago as part of the NBN rollout I received the Fixed Wireless Broadband set up. I understand that Ericsson are the prime contractors for the Fixed Wireless Broadband component of the NBN project. The installation went smoothly and the internet connection worked well with increased speeds and 500 GB download per month.
Then I switched on the radio late that afternoon and found my usual AM Local Radio station out of Bunbury WA was swamped by radio interference. I contacted, with many bureaucratic obstacles, my ISP, Telstra, who eventually got a message in the right format to NBN Co.
I have now had three visits from contractors from NBN Co - the last yesterday - who have changed both the antenna, the ODU, and the inside connecting box, the IDU, at least twice. The last IDU was a special prototype but it made no difference to the interference. All this has brought about a slight improvement to radio reception, though it is still not listenable.
Before the installation I received the best signal from 1044 Mw transmitted from Bridgetown 30 kms down the road which transmits ABC South West Local Radio.
I did some further tests today using an older style radio with a dial that has a marker that can be moved along showing the position when the radio is tuned to a station. In the kitchen, where we usually listen to the radio, I was able to pick up clearly and easily, ABC Local Radio from Wagin on 558. Moving the marker along I tuned into 684 out of Busselton. The noise level was low, but the signal was quite faint as we have a big hill between us and the transmitter. Once in the car and along the road about a km away we can hear 684 quite well. Moving the marker further on I hit a wall of static/interference starting around about 900 which continued through to about 1200.
We are in a bushfire prone area. The ABC Local Radio SW station out of Bunbury carries the emergency alerts for fires and storms, etc. The Wagin station transmits from Albany which is in another region so no good for us with respect to local news and alerts.
The procedures to fix this problem are not working effectively. I am spending many hours carrying out tests and trying to bring about a solution to the problem. It is hard to find someone who I can talk to and describe the problem. I sense that Telstra, NBN Co, Ericsson, contractors and the endusers are not communicating very well. The result is that I have a problem - not of my making - of not being able to listen to my radio with summer and the bushfire season approaching. It may well be that others are experiencing the same sort of interference, but have not reported it or who don’t or can’t listen to ABC Local Radio.
I realize that Ericsson is contracted to NBN Co which is itself a wholesaler, with the ISP, Telstra, the retailer being my service provider and theoretically the contact point. However, for weeks now I have been going through these conventional channels and have hardly made any progress.
A removal of the radio interference coming from the NBN-supplied equipment to be able to listen easily to my local ABC Radio would be appreciated.