It was two years ago that real estate agent Andrew Phanartzis first noticed the growing number of prospective home buyers asking about internet speed and capacity.
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Residents irate about slow internet speeds
Wentworth Point residents are growing increasingly frustrated with sub-par internet speeds and poor phone connections in their apartments.
With the advent of internet streaming services such as Netflix, internet speed has become a prime focus in negotiations for the residential properties he manages on the shore of Sydney's Homebush Bay.
Mr Phanartzis handles 260 properties in the Wentworth Point estate, which for the past six months has been plagued by internet drop-outs and inaccessible phone lines.
"Originally the infrastructure they had was enough to cater for everyone, but the place has just exploded with the volume of units," he said.
"When people come to us, they say they have read reviews about the internet ... and we are very upfront."
Mr Phanartzis has already experienced one person pull out of a lease at the last minute after they conducted their own research about the internet service
At the waterfront estate neighbouring Sydney Olympic Park, the network provider is LBNCo, a carrier, offering "wholesale open access" to retail service providers in multidwelling units and developments.
But, while LBNCo in turn has 10 service providers that sell on its networks, at Wentworth Point most residents have access to only one provider; Fuzenet, also known as Homelinx.
"In this day and age there are so many options and we are just locked into one ISP," resident Jo Patterson said.
"It shouldn't matter if my service is with Optus, Homelinx or Fuzenet. I should be able to expect the same level of service. And yet there is a considerable difference between these parties."
Residents in the estate have complained of sub-par speeds, intermittent connections, total blackouts and poor customer service.
Tim Ball has lived at Wentworth Point for eight years, during which he has noticed the service capacity decline."When we moved in, it was fine. But, over the years, as demand has increased, I don't think the infrastructure has kept up," he said.
Since September 27, Mr Ball's internet has been "pretty much useless" with upload speed rendering him unable to send emails or refresh web pages.
"There has been no communication. People are still getting their monthly bills for services they don't have and, when you inquire about a discount, there is no response."
Homelinx general manager Rowan Morrison said the provider had recently received a large number of complaints.
"This has been during the period LBNCo has been upgrading. It has put a significant demand on our resources to deal with these issues. It's something we significantly regret."
LBNCo's upgrades have been taking place to broaden its network, which will provide greater competition for Homelinx.
Mr Phanartzis said more choice in the area could only be a good thing for residents.
"It's just the consumer frustration that, in this day and age, you can have 3000 people who literally only have the option of one provider."
LBNCo chief technology officer Ben Seaman said "a whole lot of time and money" had gone into upgrading the core network and existing infrastructure at Wentworth Point.
"The next stage is to upgrade individual access networks to support open access models."
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network first received reports about Wentworth Point in 2014.
"If the big providers aren't offering services in these developments, it's very hard for consumers to know what service will be like from providers they have never heard of," ACCAN policy officer Rachel Thomas said.
"Most big providers don't offer services in developments that already have networks installed.
"Often there is no room for them to go in ... and they can't guarantee good service."
A spokeswoman for the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman said she could not comment on individual complaints, but noted that the ombudsman "was certainly aware of the issues" at Wentworth Point.