But the NBN organisation may have a different perception of what constitutes the Maitland region than residents of towns like Duckenfield and Farley, who will have to wait longer for the service.

Work to provide the high-speed broadband infrastructure for the Maitland area has reached the final stage, with the roll-out taking place in parts of Aberglasslyn this week.

An NBN spokesperson said about 25,000 premises in the Maitland area would be able to connect to the network, either by fixed line, wireless or satellite, by the end of September.

Maitland, East Maitland, Rutherford, Aberglasslyn, Lorn, Bolwarra, Telarah, Morpeth, Hinton, Louth Park and Luskintyre are among the locations within NBN Co’s Maitland region boundary.

But towns such as Wallalong, Bishops Bridge, Millers Forest, Thornton, Beresfield and part of Greta fall outside the boundary.

Work in those areas is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of this year.

“The network is rolled out in modules, which means different areas and suburbs within the Maitland region are built and subsequently switched on,” the spokesperson said. 

“The Maitland region is almost complete with nearly 19,200 premises in the area now able to access fast and reliable broadband. 

“Construction to connect the remaining 6500 premises is underway and is expected to be complete by the end of September.”

The spokesperson said NBN access was not automatic after the infrastructure was complete – residents would have to sign onto a plan with an internet service provider.

East Maitland information technology engineer David Campbell said it was important to research service providers before signing a contract because “you get what you pay for” in terms of service speeds and reliability.

Mr Campbell said he had connected to the NBN about a month ago. While it was a slow process to get hooked up, he said it was worth it.

“The copper was failing around here, especially in the wet,” Mr Campbell said.

“It would disconnect every 15 minutes and you’d have to re-connect – the speed would go down by about a third. The fibre doesn’t have those problems in the wet.”