Last year, the Paluma Community Hall was nominated by the City Council’s Disaster Management Group for a federally funded program to install Wi-Fi and internet facilities at the Hall. Our nomination was successful, and last week an NBN technician installed a new community Wi-Fi in the Paluma Community Hall with internet provided via the NBN skymuster satellite.
I have measured a speed of 80Mbps in the building, which is a great improvement on what has been available from either the TCC community Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi derived from local 4G/5G, in the building. Because Skymuster uses geostationary satellites, there is still that slight delay (latency) because of the distance to the satellite.
This service was applied for because of problems experienced in February 2025 caused by the failure of the Telstra facility in Paluma. It should provide a reliable backup following most weather-related problems, provided the satellite dish survives. It also provides faster Wi-Fi around the building for visitors to Paluma who don’t have a Telstra mobile phone.
A sign advertising this new facility will be placed outside the hall.
In approximately two years, the current NBN satellites are due to be replaced with Amazon low-earth-orbit (Leo) satellites that are currently going into orbit. This service should transfer with that transition.
Charlie Allen