Internet in rural areas is set to improve with NBN Co launching the Sky Muster Satellite late last year. This satellite service is designed to cover most parts of regional Australia not covered by NBN Fixed Wireless and NBN Fixed Line services. Currently NBN Co are performing testing on the new Satellite and according to The Australian newspaper “the first set of customers are set to connect to NBN’s Sky Muster satellite in April.”

Service providers have started to sign up customers ahead of the roll out with two different speeds available, 12Mbps download with a 1Mbps upload, or 25Mbps download with a 5Mbps upload. Speeds of the new satellite service are expected to be much faster than previous satellite services, most of which ended up with too many users, thus making the service slower than expected.

Sky Muster should enable a more stable internet connection which will open up options for businesses, such as more reliable teleconferencing and videoconferencing, as well being able to use cloud accounting programs such as Xero, MYOB Essentials, Quickbooks Online and Reckon One. Be sure to have a chat with your accountant to discuss your cloud accounting options.

With installations expected to start in the coming months, please ensure you register now with your preferred ISP to ensure you don’t miss out on the first round of installs. Exact timeframes of installations in each region are yet to be finalised by NBN Co.

To search if you may already be covered by the NBN, call your preferred ISP or visit the NBN Co website where you can register to be notified when you can switch to the NBN. Exact NBN Satellite coverage areas have not yet been released on the NBN Co website but are expected to become available in the coming months.