8600 Tasmanian premises are among 40,000 nationally to hit the NBN copper cutoff deadline on Friday

iiNet NBN Product Manager Rachael McIntyre

iiNet reports that more than 8600 Tasmanians will next week hit a deadline for disconnecting their copper telephone lines as part of the compulsory migration to the NBN.

From Friday, February 20, a total of 8689 premises throughout Tasmania will join an urgent migration list, which means the imminent disconnection of copper telephone lines. Affected areas include Sandy Bay, Dynnyrne, Hobart, Battery Point, Launceston, South Launceston, West Launceston and Binalong Bay.

This year, NBN Co. is accelerating this migration process with more than 163,000 premises throughout Australia scheduled to hit the disconnection deadline in the first six months of 2015 – nearly three times as many as in all of last year.

Since May last year, NBN Co has progressively announced areas in Australia that have reached the deadline for ageing copper telephone networks to be disconnected permanently as part of moving to the NBN.

iiNet NBN Product Manager Rachael McIntyre said the 8689 Tasmanian residents and businesses were among about 40,000 Australia-wide to reach the disconnection deadline on Friday next week. “Consumers need to act quickly,” she said.

“While phone and Internet services won’t stop working on that date, they will very shortly afterwards, so it really is time for people to upgrade to the NBN. Any households or businesses that still rely on the old telephone network should review their options, so they can choose the NBN-based telephony and Internet services that meet their needs.

“iiNet already has more than 50,000 residential and business customers using the NBN, enjoying much faster Internet access speeds and competitive prices, so the migration path is well trodden.”

Rachael McIntyre said anyone facing disconnection from the copper network needed to make a number of decisions. “Firstly, they need to decide what they require, whether that’s an Internet access service or just a telephone service or both,” she said.

“Secondly, if they use services that traditionally require the copper network, such as faxes, monitored security alarms, Priority Assistance Services or EFTPOS terminals, then they need to speak to the manufacturers of these services and confirm they will work on the NBN.

“The third step is to select the NBN Retail Service Provider, like iiNet, that best meets their needs, in terms of product, pricing and customer service. People do have to act and make the choice. We really want to make sure they don’t risk losing their phone and Internet service before they get the NBN connected.”

Click below for answers to frequently asked questions about the NBN copper cutoff deadline:

http://www.impress.com.au/newsroom/iinet/1831-frequently-asked-questions-about-the-nbn-copper-cutoff-deadline.html?utm_source=Tasmanian+media&utm_campaign=485efde8b5-150209_iiNet_NBN_DCD_Tasmania&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6c73e1564-485efde8b5-331471693
John Harris, Impress Media