The last straw for Daniel Saffioti​ came in mid-2014 when the National Broadband Network installed a fibre pillar right in front of his house – but refused to connect him.

The Commonwealth public servant had endured years of "awful" ADSL in Haywards Bay, south of Wollongong, and now NBN was right on his doorstep but still totally inaccessible.

"It runs right past my house, and it goes to the new people in the estate, and it does not go to me at all," he told Fairfax.

Mr Saffioti's solution to slow internet may be the most creative yet.