The Ponds/ KVR- Anyone building this year? Blog List added

A few people have been wondering about internet in Kellyville Ridge and The Ponds. There is both good and bad news for most of us.

The good news is that instead of your internet (ADSL 1 / 2+) having to go all the way back to the main exchange, Telstra has been kind enough to lay Fibre to the RIM (a kind of mini telephone exchange I suppose - I don't exactly know what RIM means). This means instead of having a super long distance to the exchange and a slower internet service (ADSL 1 / 2+), your speed will be much faster. I guess most of us would be within 1000m of a RIM instead of up to 5KM (cable length) from the exchange. From a speed perspective this should be around 15MB to 20MB, instead of 1MB to 8MB.

The bad news of this is Telstra is the only installer of (ADSL 1 / 2+) infrastructure in the RIM, so your option for internet is to either go through Telstra, or through another service provider which resells Telstra's product. The consequence of this is it is more expensive than if you could connect through another ISP's infrastructure.

Thats terrible news... I've been stuck on a RIM before, I cant believe that telstra would be the only provider with their overpriced service.

Other ISPs do have plans you can subscribe to also, but they are via the Telstra infrastructure so are more expensive than their usual plans. An example would be iiNet's Reach and ADSL 1 plans.

For reference, I signed up to one of iiNet's ADSL 1 plans, it isn't the fastest but should be sufficient for me.

Telstra have some good new plans, which bundle a Tbox. I think $139 for 100gb Internet, t box and phone line ultimate.

For those looking for internet, check out TPG - I'm pretty sure they use the Telstra infrastructure and they have some really good deals - WAY better than the thieves at Telstra anyway! Hope I'm not leading anyone up the wrong path but worth looking into.

Min, you poor thing, you must be pulling your hair out waiting for your frame Hope it's rectified really soon!!

Haven't had much to report our end until now really as we've recently finalised our flooring / tiles & electricals - can check out our blog if interestedhttp://karry327.blogspot.com/. Sloooowly getting there. Land is "apparently" still on track to register in October - appears to be progressing well, so fingers crossed. Only bit of disappointing news is that Eden Brae told us that Blacktown Council most likely won't even look at our application until the land settles or close to it We'd really been hoping that 2 months of waiting for council would be over in our wait for land to register! Plus our finances are all based around council appoved building plans. So no doubt there will be a ridiculous rush and penalties last minute once land is ready

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum. Your posts are such a wealth of information. My hubby and I exchange on our block in alba 3 tomorrow. I am so excited. We have decided to go with Allworth and build the Harmony. Is anyone else buiding this house at the ponds?

Newbie to the ponds

Hi Wilbergar,

Welcome to the Homeone family and congrats on nearly having your land.
I think there are a few Allworth people but not sure what design they are building. So have a look through the blog list on page 1 to check. I am pretty sure noddy is building with Allworth.



More like throwing tantrums. We have just had confirmation that a new frame supplier is signed on and the frame and chippies will be on site next Thursday. Lets hope it actually happens this time. In the mean time the builder wants to bring in a bob cat to clean up around the site and finish excavating back to our side boundary. Our neighbours site fence is now down so they will want a retaining wall soon as they are very close to handover.


I hope so we were looking at going with them for good value for money.

Min

Well our gutters and fascia were done today. Hopefully the roof will go on tomorrow or Saturday.



Fingers crossed your frame arrives next Thursday. At least your builder is trying to do something useful in the mean time. I noticed the site fence down on your neighbours house a couple of days ago. I think they will be the first to move into your street.



We currently have TPG and live nearby. We will just transfer the account when we move.

Re internet speeds. If you go to the tpg website you can see the speed of ADSL2 for K Ridge and the Ponds via the clickable map. Nearly all the Ponds runs from the Quakers Hill exchange delivering internet slower than the average rural Zambian village. K Ridge on the other hand runs off the Stanhope gardens/KR exchange and offers good speeds. This is via the Telstra cables so you might be limited to providers. I know when we where in KR previously Optus was super fast - the best internet I have ever had - not sure what lines they used though (pretty sure it was Testra).

Interestingly the role out of the governments superfast broadband network has started and the first suburb in Sydney to be hooked up is Riverstone, why they don't do it in a new developing area only 6kms away that is crying out good connections is beyond me.

Hi Pondies!

I thought I should come on here and introduce myself. My partner and I are building at 8 Glide Place, Kellyville Ridge. We couldn't be happier with our progress. We commenced mid April and we are at bathroom tiling and Kitchen stage and should be in by mid to late August. I must say I am SO confused and over thinking about colours and worrying if everything will match

We went with a Private custom builder who has been fantastic. The only downside is having to decide on the layout with the architect, colours etc all from scratch with no display homes to choose from. It has all been great though.

We dont get to our site much - mostly on a Saturday or Sunday only. We are in the Charcoal Mini and usually park out the front of our house, so feel free to come and say hi (we are a shy couple). I am sure I have waved to a few of you driving by but I have no idea who is who.

The EB house next door to us is complete - we are very keen to meet our neighbours to say hi. All of the houses in the street are looking fantastic - we will have a complete street in no time!

Enjoy your weekend.

Back on the boring internet topic.

Exchange boundaries and RIM information is available here:
http://www.adsl2exchanges.com.au/viewexchange.php?Exchange=KELL
http://www.adsl2exchanges.com.au/viewexchange.php?Exchange=QUAK

If you are on a RIM, you can check capacity here (don't rely on the above to be accurate):
http://www.telstrawholesale.com/products/docs/access_broadband_adslex03.xls

If you are on a RIM, these are some of the plans available:

TPG ADSL 1 - http://www.tpg.com.au/products_services/adsl_pricing.php
iiNet ADSL 1 (You have to click the Broadband 1 tab) - http://www.iinet.net.au/broadband/plans.html
iiNet ADSL 2 (Reach) - http://www.iinet.net.au/broadband/reach-plans.html
Telstra -http://www.bigpond.com/internet/plans/adsl/plans-and-offers/
Telsta Bundle - http://www.telstra.com.au/bundle_save/tbox-bundles.html

If you are not on a RIM, these are some of the much cheaper plans available:

TPG ADSL 2 - http://www.tpg.com.au/products_services/adsl2plus_pricing.php
iiNet ADSL 2 (You have to click the Broadband 2+ tab) - http://www.iinet.net.au/broadband/plans.html

Hi Glide Place,



Nice to see you back on here. I think I had a few PMs from you under a different log in ages ago when we were all dirt.

We have waved to you. We are the black car that cruises around though now we live just around the corner we normally walk.

Glad to see work moving quickly at your place and it must be good to see how fast the other one you builder did in Olsen went so smoothly.

We have met most of the street so far, and a few people in our street are on here so if you want to know who they are send me a PM and I can fill you in. I think your neighbour or mine will be the first in and I think you will be the next one in after that.



Thats a bit like us. I like to visit displays and see which design have rooms of a similar size to ours and get a feel for them. So far all of the examples we have found have felt surprisingly big.

Karry

I know that is pretty stupid. Why do recycled water but not internet? Why have a community website when know has good enough internet to access it? (I hope no one takes me seriously, I am only joking)

MHarvey-
Thanks for all the internet info really useful for all of us not in yet.

Min

HI all
Can anyone tell me what type of fencing is must in the ponds area? and how much these t;ypes of fences cost?
How much roughly is wooden fence per meter?
Need help to decide and budget.
thanks

Hi Everyone

Our plans are at Council now and we officially know our street number!! SO exciting!

Min - any news re: your frame?

missionhome: it has to be timber lapped and capped fencing in The Ponds - no colourbond. I'm not sure of the prices - perhaps you can google it.

Hi Everyone

We have been checking the progress of our build in the weekends. It remains at bricking stage. I have to say, it's fairly painful watching our bricks grow. I am thankful however that it is at least, progressing.

Hubby went on a shopping spree over the last 2 weeks and took advantage of the Clive Peeters closing sale. We picked up a new fridge and dishwasher which will be delivered tomorrow and stored in what is already a fairly crowded garage. This saves the guys from taking it up 5 flights of stairs to our rental unit because there is no lift in the building. Even so, it wouldn't have fitted in our unit so they will get their first use in the new house. Yay! We bought the F&P integrated dishdrawers so am waiting on word from the kitchen people who will quote for the matching panels.

Last week after checking out a couple of carpet shops, we decided to purchase carpet through Carpet Call. We chose a plush Redbook carpet with luxury foam for all the rooms but the gold rubber underlay for the stairs. Both the gold and foam were priced the same but the foam felt great. It's a fairly dark colour carpet but looked good against the different colours of our feature walls. Now we just need to finalise the tiles for the entrance foyer and decide if we go with timber laminate for the open kitchen/family room or stick tiles right through.

It was an expensive week as the airconditioning company also advised that we take 15, not 12 outlets originally specd and the alarm company suggested we add more internal sensors and control pads. Costs sure mount quickly. We have had a number of variations come through at around $1k each. It's just mind blowing.

Anyway, I thought I would share an update of where things are at with our build.

Finally, I noticed that the moderator removed the thread I referenced a page back about a free building seminar by the Bella Vista building inspector, HK Ryan. If you go to his website, http://www.hnkryan.com he has posted the notice there and simply asked for an email to register your interest. He will hold it when he has 20 people interested. He has about 8 at the moment.

Happy builds everyone.

Hi, I think according to my neighbour a few weeks back, the timber fence mentioned is around $70 per metre?

Hi Berny,
We saw your brickies working very late last Sat arvo, so hopefully they will be finished very soon.

We were thinking Carpet Call too it was interesting that between Norwest and Castle Hill there was a bit of a difference in cost.


By the time we got there, they were sold out of everything, the place was bare. Probably better that way anyway.



It is supposedly definitely being delivered first thing in the morning. Well the ground floor and upstairs floor anyway. Chippies are also apparently still going to be there. I will not be at all surprised if it doesnt happen though. So many times we have been expecting it that I am not actually believing it will ever happen.

I loved having a look through one of my neighbours houses with stairs, plaster and stairs over the weekend. I hope I get to that stage one day.(soon)

Looks like yours is moving along smoothly. The street number is very exciting just wait till you need to fill out a form with it listed. Fun !

Has anyone seen Acquah around lately. I cant remember if the slab was finished yet

Everyone cross fingers for us. I will update the blog from my phone if we have a frame.

Min

We chose Norwest, sure hope we were on the right side of the ledger

Thanks for the brickie update. SS is saying that we may have the gutters and fascia installed next week. We were just wondering when the roof was going to be completed. I guess that's next?

All the best Min with your frame issue and I hope it gets resolved quickly

Helloo, sorry been a silent observer of late. Definitely have heaps of updates for you all as we have finished with the slab and our frames are up as well as roof trusses. Bricks also delivered but waiting on available brick layers to complete the job.

Sorry to hear about your frames being delayed Min. They better be of high quality when they're finally delivered!!

We still have to uproot the tree that's in the way of the driveway though. Will probably swing by this weekend to do that.

Hi all. We are building in Kalina in Stage 4 release and our registration has been pushed back to 10-Sep from 30th July. Just wondering if any other Kalinaites are here.

hullo! we are in barkala way, and philandamanda are our neighbours. Our land release was about 2 weeks late to register, so I think we are pretty lucky. Why the long delays do you think? bad weather?