[Malcolm]

Thanks imaynotbeperfect. My understanding of the arrangement is that the OC would be purchasing the service for the use of its collective owners, and this would not be reselling.

[Malcolm]

Thanks. We’ve looked into several different wholesale and retail offerings including TPG. While it is definitely less of a headache for the OC, the retail option offers slower connection speeds and is possibly more expensive per lot.

[Malcolm]

Thanks for your reaction tharra! I’m interested to know more about what you object to.

The background to this is that a tech-savvy lot owner is interested in getting a faster internet connection than we have now (ADSL) or will be available via nbn. So he has got quotes from a number of different wholesale providers who can offer a fibre connection to the building. Sharing the connection and the costs across the scheme makes it affordable

As I said in the original post, rather than covering the costs via levies, we could set things up so that the OC charges only those lots who opt in. Either way, the building will be connected to nbn so residents will always have other options for their internet.

[Malcolm]

Thanks tharra! I didn’t know about nbn area switch, so I’ll check that out.

We have an in-house technical enthusiast so I’m mostly leaving that aspect aside.

The process we had in mind was something like:

1. poll owners to make sure there is enough interest/support
2. EGM to approve spend and/or by-law
3. install to basement by wholesale provider
4. install central hardware (OC; one off fixed cost of a few $K)
5. install to apartments (managed by OC)
6. retain commercial support contractor to do tech support

Payment models could be:

a) funded from levies OR

b) sign up per interested lot, and then fixed extra payment covering one equal share of monthly costs

OC would be locked into a contract with wholesale provider (24-48 months) so it would make sense to get lots to sign up for the same period.

This would not stop people going their own way for internet, but under option a) they wouldn’t be able to opt out of paying for the shared connection.

[Author]

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