Wyndham residents have logged more than 1490 complaints about internet and phone services with the industry’s watchdog over a 12 month period.
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s 2016-17 annual report has revealed that people living within the 3029 postcode – which covers Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit and Truganina – lodged 752 complaints about internet, mobile and landline services, in the 2016-17 financial year.
Residents in the 3030 postcode, which takes in Point Cook, Werribee, Werribee South and Quandong, made 739 complaints to the ombudsman during the same timeframe.
The two postcodes topped the state for the number of complaints to the ombudsman in the past financial year.
The 3029 postcode also placed third-highest in Australia for the number of complaints; with the 3030 area placing fourth.
In Victoria, residential consumers accounted for 88 per cent of complaints made to the ombudsman, with small businesses accounting for 11 per cent. The total number of complaints which Victorians made to the ombudsman in 2016-17 was 43,565, a 4.11 per cent increase from the previous 12 months.
The main reasons cited for complaints included customer service, billing and payments, faults, complaint handling, contracts and connection.
Last year, Lalor MP Joanne Ryan gave a speech in Federal Parliament about the “digital divide” affecting Wyndham.
“We have people moving into our suburbs – Tarneit, Point Cook, Wyndham Vale, Manor Lakes and Williams Landing – where they have been told there is access to high-speed internet, access to the NBN, only to find there are not enough ports in those suburbs for them even to access ADSL1,” she said.
According to the National Broadband Network’s online roll-out map, the network is available in parts of Werribee, Tarneit, Point Cook and Williams Landing, plus Wyndham Harbour in Werribee South.
The map shows that building of the NBN has begun in other sections of Tarneit, Werribee and Werribee South.
