Lindsay Doyle operates his quantity surveying and building consultancy business out of a home-based office.

He switched to the NBN service after speaking to a number of advocates who convinced him to upgrade.

“I spoke to some friends who have been using the NBN and they all said how great it was,” Mr Doyle said.

“Initially I thought it was a wicked waste of money ... and I just didn’t understand it. Now that I’ve got it on, it’s just made life so much easier.”

Mr Doyle said he believed those, including himself, who were initially against the NBN fixed wirelsss rollout passed judgement too soon.

He said a lack of knowledge may have played a part in helping to form a negative opinion.

“I for one wasn’t aware of its capabilities,” Mr Doyle said.

“I was speaking to a guy who also operates a home-based business in the area and he said he wasn’t initially aware of the benefits the NBN network could provide.

“It was new and I think we were all sceptics of it at first.

“It’s so much more reliable. We were on a wireless mobile network before which used to drop out. I only switched over last week and it’s really made a huge difference.”

Head of the New England NBN working group, Alun Davies, said the new network offered great potential, especially for an area like Tamworth. 

“Tamworth is blessed in that it has one of the biggest wireless networks being rolled out for the NBN,” Mr Davies said.

“There are 24 sites, which is a huge network that takes in all of the outskirts of Tamworth. The beauty of the NBN is people in these outer areas would have been on the ADSL network and they would have been stuck, because the further you were from the exchange the less likely you were to get service.

“With the NBN, it doesn’t matter where you are, everyone gets the same speed.”

Mr Davies said he was also involved in the ADSL network rollout, which was also initially criticised.

“People were very wary of ADSL – you couldn’t sell it. But then it just took off,” he said.

“Once people start using the NBN, they will realise what a great network it is and what a great opportunity it provides to Australia.”

He said the high speeds offered through the NBN network would provide many innovative opportunities.

“In Tamworth, there are a lot of small businesses, properties and farms. The NBN will make a lot of difference to those businesses, especially when you think internationally,” Mr Davies said.

“Before the ADSL rollout, there was only dial-up internet available. When people got onto the ADSL they said they would never go back to dial-up.

“This is really just the same story – when people get onto the NBN, they won’t look back at ADSL.”