The good news is NBN Co has accelerated plans for Civic, with construction already begun. That means detailed planning is under way and the optic-fibre cable is due to be installed by the end of the year.

As well as Civic, the widened footprint for the fast-track work takes in Acton and Ainslie.

In addition, several inner-north suburbs have been pushed up the queue and are now due to have work begin within a year. They include Aranda, Bruce, Charnwood, Dickson, Kaleen and Lyneham.

Over the border, work is due to begin in Queanbeyan and Jerrabomberra within a year as well.

Further north in the ACT, some residents are already enjoying blistering internet speeds as they download the latest video on silly cat antics or catch up on TV shows.

Yes, there is a north-south divide when it comes to internet access but it was fitting that Gungahlin was chosen as the NBN's launching pad in the ACT because the new area has experienced woeful internet access.

The NBN was turned on there earlier this year at a ceremony with a big red button and lots of politicians. And it was turned on again this week when Communications Minister Stephen Conroy visited and repeated his media play of donning jacket, hardhat and gloves to help lay a cable.

It was just a coincidence of course that Mr Conroy was speaking only a few hours before Malcolm Turnbull unveiled the Coalition's vision for improved internet access.

Obviously, Mr Conroy had the advantage of talking about a system that is already running, although its progress is slower in parts of the country than originally foreseen.

Mr Turnbull is spruiking his version as ''cheaper and faster'', which is an interesting play on words. Anyone who hasn't followed the debate might think his version has faster download speeds, but they'd be wrong. In this case, faster refers to the construction time and, understandably, his simpler version could be built two years ahead of Labor's rolled-gold version.

Hence the debate about whether we really need high-speed broadband at all.

Mr Conroy's analogy is that Mr Turnbull wants to build a ''one-lane Sydney Harbour Bridge'' because it can be done cheaper and faster. ''In 1927 they could have made a decision to build a one-lane Sydney Harbour Bridge, but fortunately for the people of Sydney, they thought about the future,'' Mr Conroy says.

Unlike the very fast train and Sydney's second airport, a start has been made on the ground-breaking NBN infrastructure project.

It is being installed around the country, with construction begun or completed to 784,600 premises by the end of last December.

Once installed, the NBN will offer download speeds of up to 100 megabytes a second, or about eight times faster than the best ADSL broadband speeds currently available. About 7 per cent of homes will get 25 megabytes a second via fixed wireless or satellite connections.

The Coalition's plan would result in 71 per cent of homes receiving 25 megabytes a second, roughly twice today's Australian average.

The NBN has been ''switched on'' for more than 4000 homes and businesses in Gungahlin. That

means the cable has been laid past their door. Now they have to select a provider and place an order.

The optic-fibre cable also passes more than 800 newly built premises in the ACT, including a development in Watson and the new development in West Macgregor.

Mr Conroy revealed that the lucky residents of Gungahlin were responding very positively to the rollout.

''This is the record-breaking area - after just two months, 33 per cent, one-third, 33 per cent, have ordered the NBN, which is absolutely the best take-up rate anywhere in Australia so far,'' he said.

''Work on the fibre network is also under way in around two and a half thousand premises, just nearby in Palmerston, and we expect these homes to be ready to be switched on in June. Across the ACT, work on the fibre network has commenced to more than 20,000 homes and businesses - already commenced.''

Ewan Brown, president of the Gungahlin Community Council, has been leading the push for internet in the area.

He was pleased with this week's repeat of the turn-on but was worried that Mr Turnbull would halt the rollout of fibre to the home.

The Coalition would save money by running the optic-fibre cable from the telephone exchange to ''nodes'' on the streets, from where the internet signal would have to travel to premises along Telstra's ageing copper wire network.

Mr Brown is also concerned about how the NBN project is being managed.

''There are reports they are experiencing difficulty with the laying of the cable,'' he said.

''You see activity in the street and you see cable being pulled through and then three weeks later you see activity in the street at the same place with cable being pulled through.

''I keep on seeing different contractors, I've seen about six different names on the trucks in the street.

''Originally we had a delay because they had to replace all the Telstra pits and ducts. No one told us anything about those but we heard a rumour they might have had asbestos in them.

''I'm beginning to think this whole project is far more complex than they thought and that's resulting in delays.''

While residents who have the NBN are generally happy with the result, some problems have arisen with the installation.

''We've already had some issues about where the in-house equipment will be,'' Mr Brown said.

''Some suppliers say they are going to put it at the closest point they can run it to and you'll have to pay extra if you want it in your preferred position within the house.''

Resident Alan Kerlin has taken up the high-speed internet enthusiastically and finds his package is $10 a month cheaper, including the landline, yet provides 14-times faster download speeds.

He received the letter from NBN Co five weeks ago saying the cable outside his home had been installed and switched on.

He immediately called a provider and had the NBN running by last weekend.

He decided to run a test on just how much data he could receive over the 94-megabytes-per-second link.

''I had four high definition YouTube clips running at the same time as ABC iview was streaming and there wasn't a hint of buffering on any of them - but it was pretty noisy,'' he said.

Mr Kerlin is a keen astronomer and photographer and can see great benefits in the NBN for pursuing his hobbies.

''This opens up the potential to be able to live-control remote telescopes around the world and be looking at the image live,'' he said. ''Also, I'm often loading a heap of photos up to cloud storage, so that will happen a lot quicker.''

Soon this potential for ways to use high-speed internet access will spread to other parts of Canberra. But will the south side receive the same technology if the Coalition wins the election?

NBN Co has already let contracts for Civic and will be signing more for work in the northern suburbs and later the southern areas.

''By the middle of June 2015, construction is set to commence or be complete for 135,300 homes and businesses in the ACT,'' an NBN Co spokesman said.

It is possible that an incoming Coalition government would regard the Canberra market as so small that it would allow the contracts to continue.