Residents of a suburb on the outskirts of Brisbane are furious they are being offered the NBN via satellite and fixed wireless — services usually reserved for regional areas.

Key points: Residents of Samford near Brisbane say they are getting the worst metropolitan NBN rollout in the country

Residents of Samford near Brisbane say they are getting the worst metropolitan NBN rollout in the country Locals estimate more than 65 per cent of residents are being offered satellite or fixed wireless connections

Locals estimate more than 65 per cent of residents are being offered satellite or fixed wireless connections NBN Co says rolling out in Samford has proved challenging due to the topography

Samford, 21km from Brisbane's CBD, is home to the recording studio of musician Ian Haug, best known as a guitarist for Australian rock band Powderfinger.

He needs high-speed internet to send and receive massive files, and currently struggles to get by with his existing connection. He was hoping a fast fixed-line NBN connection would be the answer.

But while some other Samford residents were given fibre to the kerb — which can offer up to 100 megabits per second — Haug was only offered the Sky Muster Satellite, which can get to 25 megabits per second download and 5 megabits per second upload.

"It's not a solution that I can have and I've got to find workarounds," Haug said.

He has not been connected to the satellite yet but has heard negative things about it from other locals.

Ian Haug would like a fast and reliable internet connection to his recording studio so he can "compete on an international level". ( ABC News: Christopher Gillette )

"Any time there's some cloud cover, the satellite will get extremely low. If there's a storm it'll just drop out," he said.

He would like to be able to do recording sessions in real-time with musicians around the world via the internet, but says his current connection, and the NBN connection being offered, would not allow it.

"If there's any latency, it just becomes impossible," he said. "You wouldn't be able to keep in time with this sort of service.

"To be able to compete on an international level, which I would like to be able to do, I'd like to be able to make this business work from here."

Worst metro NBN rollout in Australia, residents say

Dave Bellingham, pictured with his two sons, works from his Samford home as a developer for Apple and says a satellite connection is "untenable" for him. ( ABC News: Michael Atkin )

Across Australia, just 7 per cent of NBN customers are being offered fixed wireless or satellite. But in Samford, locals estimate it is more than 65 per cent.

A petition has been tabled in Federal Parliament, which contains 1,600 signatures of residents arguing they are getting the worst rollout in the country of any metro area.

Resident Dave Bellingham works from home for tech giant Apple as a developer, and uploads content to colleagues overseas.

He was promised a fibre connection but is now being offered satellite.

"The satellite is completely untenable as a technology for me, fundamentally, because its upload speed is too slow for what I do," he said.

"Satellite only offers, at best, a 5-megabit upload speed. Currently on 4G I can get 20 to 25 megabits per second upload."

He believes Samford residents are being offered satellite because of the intense pressure to get the national rollout finished midway through next year.

"I think they're simply pushing through the remaining people who are to be connected on the quickest technology," he said.

The head of NBN Co Local for Queensland, Ryan Williams, told 7.30: "Our job right now is make sure we continue to roll out and finish the rollout within the next 10 months.

"It's really important that people understand that it doesn't matter which technology you talk about, we're still providing the same basic level of connection — that's 25 megabits per second download wholesale speed.

"And that can be up to eight times faster than ADSL."

Samford 'an example of why NBN is such a challenge'

NBN Co's Ryan Williams says Samford presents unique challenges for the NBN. ( ABC News )

Mr Williams said NBN Co had heard from the Samford community that, "their current level of service is inadequate to do what they need to do".

"We're providing a step change. And I think the other thing that's important to remember is that we don't just build a network and then go away, we are here to stay," he said.

But he conceded NBN Co's plans for Samford had changed over time, which meant fewer residents were being offered fixed-line services like fibre.

"The Samford village is really unique, and the area around it is unique with the topology, with the hills, which makes some technologies more challenging than others.

"At a desktop level, it's really easy to plan a network. But when you actually get down to the ground, there's a whole range of different factors that may impact what service we can actually deliver.

"So Samford is a great example of why the NBN is such a challenge."

Karen Thompson says her satellite NBN connection suffers on cloudy days. ( ABC News: Michael Atkin )

Karen Thompson is already getting the NBN from satellite.

She said on cloudy days, "The service isn't as good, but we do still get a service". But during storms: "Normally it cuts out."

Ms Thompson said it was better than the poor broadband connection she had previously, but she cannot understand why she was not offered fibre.

"I'm disappointed that we didn't get fibre to the house or fibre to the street. This is a second-choice scenario."

'It's a debacle, to be honest'

Dave Bellingham with fellow Samford local Sean Ferguson, who has been offered a fixed wireless NBN connection. ( ABC News: Michael Atkin )

Sean Ferguson lives in a new estate in Samford which was built to be fibre ready, but the IT professional is being offered fixed wireless.

"It's a debacle, to be honest," Mr Ferguson said.

He says the proposed location of the fixed wireless tower could prevent a connection getting to his home, because he claims there is no line of sight to the tower.

He complained to NBN Co about not being offered fibre but says it did not change a thing.

"My personal complaint was around being on a fibre-ready estate and being proposed to fixed wireless technology. I tried many avenues and they all fell on deaf ears. Nobody wanted to know the story."

The Samford NBN Advocacy Group also claims the proposed wireless towers could have too many users, making the connections sluggish. NBN Co argues it would not be a problem.

Mr Williams said NBN Co was working to upgrade a number of wireless towers across the country that were "congested".

And he told 7.30 it did not matter if you could see the wireless tower from a property, "It is whether the tower can see you".

But the advocacy group want an immediate halt to the local NBN rollout and is calling for a minimum of fibre to the curb.

"We believe it's the most appropriate technology for the area. One, because it doesn't suffer from line-of-sight issues," Mr Bellingham said.

"Secondly, it's a technology that is relatively future proof. We believe that it would save the Australian taxpayer millions of dollars, well over $2 million we've calculated, to roll out fibre to the kerb."

A spokesperson for the Minister for Communications, Paul Fletcher, said: "This is an operational matter for NBN Co.

"NBN Co has been engaging with the Samford community on local rollout plans and is tasked with determining the technology mix that is best suited for the area's unique topography and large acreages," the spokesperson said.

"We are confident that NBN Co will consider a range of factors in its decision-making, including the practicalities and cost per premises of implementation options, in order to meet the Government's expectation of providing premises with access to broadband with wholesale download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second."