LETTER OF THE DAY: I am one of the many "older people" in this community who did not realise one did not have a choice with the connection of the NBN if you want a landline.

I listened to an interview with Derrick Tuffield on ABC radio last Thursday as he explained that many older citizens did not know that they had to do something when that letter comes.

I rang my provider and it was explained that I do have to say yes to that connect if I want a landline.

I am quite sure that there are many people in this community who, like me, thought we had a choice…We could stay as we are because we do not need faster Internet access at all.

If one has a medical alert then it is essential to make contact with your provider because all of those things will change when it comes time to change to the new NBN as your area comes online.

WHAT'S ONLINE

It seems that after talking to a couple of friends who now have it connected that it is not a simple arrangement at all.

A new home situation is better off than older ones because they simply cut the phone wire and reconnect the new one.

But what most would not know is that they have to have a power point on the inside near where it is connected.

That would mean an expense one is not counting on.

In an older area like I live in it seems that they will try and do it through the old lines but that it may not happen and that would mean cutting up the yard.

I have been told by my provider that we should be connected about September.

I have made it my business to talk to people of all ages and very few know anything about this matter at all.

Most think that they will have a choice to do it when they want and have no idea that their landline gets cut off at a certain date when the NBN is connected to their area and then they will have to survive on a mobile phone service.

Another matter we did not know was that when there is a power outage one will not have a landline as we do now because it depends on a power source.

This has been a terrible thing pushed onto an unsuspecting society.