The Unluckiest NBN Node In Australia Just Got Run Over Again [Updated]

On March 7, we reported that an NBN Node had been taken out by a car in Kellyville, NSW. In perhaps the perfect summation of everything that has gone wrong with the NBN, that same NBN node has once again been taken out by a car, disrupting services in Kellyville for the second time in two weeks. Less than 24 hours later, it was reportedly then hit for a third time.

Local resident Dave Cooper, who tweeted about the original incident back on March 7, provided images via his Twitter account of the NBN node on Redden Drive in Kellyville, NSW once again uprooted. On this occasion, no vehicle is seen crashed into it, though he does suggest that NBN and fire crew were on site.

2 weeks later and the Redden Drive #nbn node in Kellyville has been hit again and taken out. NBN and Firies on site. Something needs to be done @NBN_Australia and @TheHillsCouncil pic.twitter.com/OSzEdlad4v — Dave Cooper (@DCoopes) March 21, 2018

Another Twitter user reported that the node was actually taken out by a vehicle last night, March 21, and that the residents in the area haven’t had internet for most of March, calling for the box to be moved or protected.

Last night for the 2nd time in 2 weeks a car has taken out an nbn box on Redden Drive, Kellyville. We have had no internet for most of March. Can the box be moved so its not on a corner or an railing / bollards installed around it to protect it?#nbn kellyville #thehillscouncil — Gary (@geebeeyou) March 21, 2018

It looks like the only roll out happening in Kellyville this month is the NBN node rolling out of its foundations after another hit. Cooper also suggests that the image he took this morning and the incident the fire department were responding to was a new crash, just this morning and completely separate from the incident last night. An NBN Co spokesperson did confirm a vehicle hit had hit the node, explaining “at approximately 12:30am this morning, an outage was caused following significant damage sustained to an nbn™ node cabinet in Kellyville.”

However, it appears this was only a single incident and technicians from NBN Co were at the site this morning to make the area safe.

On both occasions, the area had received significant rainfall, making the roads slick.

I could just have copy-pasted the below image from last time this happened, but checking Telstra’s Outage website, there are disrupted services in Kellyville today. Last time this occurred, around 280 services were affected in the area – an NBN Co spokesperson claimed that approximately the same amount of services are again affected by the outage.

Image: Telstra

Speaking to Cooper, who has lived in the area for around eight years, he explained that the exact location hasn’t just troubled drivers since the node was placed there, but has been a source of consternation even before the NBN was a hot topic conversation. If you take a look at the Google Street View map from 2009, you can see a tree in the location of the current NBN node.

According to Dave, that tree was also taken out by a car.

It’s obvious that the location for the NBN node is a poor one, so what is NBN Co and the council going to do about it and why did they choose to place a node there in the first place? With two incidents in the past two weeks, it seems like there are huge safety issues around the location of the box, not just for drivers but for any NBN Co staff that may need to work on the box, too.

The NBN Co spokesperson also relayed information that there could be significant delays in restoring services, especially due to inclement weather, which means Kellyville residents could be without service for the next 48 hours.

As an analogy for how the NBN is going is there any better than “doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past?” Probably not.

The spokesperson has confirmed that “an alternate location for the node is under consideration.”