While their neighbours in Langwarrin and Cranbourne, in Melbourne's east, watch the installation of Australia's largest national infrastructure project since the Snowy scheme - the national broadband network - , many households in the far eastern suburb cannot get a basic broadband service. Not even ADSL, a technology now considered insufficient.

And even the rollout of the much discussed NBN has proved unhelpful, despite petitions signed by hundreds of residents and assurances that the high-speed service would reach the suburb eventually.

IT worker Steve Barnes has been one of the chief agitators for the cause since 2003.

He managed to get an ADSL connection to his home about seven years ago when Telstra briefly lowered its service threshold, the cut-off point at which the company deems internet speeds too poor to connect.

But it works at speeds most Australians have not been forced to endure in years.

Large files can take overnight to download and he cannot watch ABC iView or YouTube videos without his internet connection "buffering" for long periods.

If two members of his family of four want to use the internet at the same time, watching a video becomes out of the question.

"If I'm working from home and my kids want to do anything, they can't," Mr Barnes said.

Some residents live too far away from the Narre Warren exchange for a reliable ADSL service, a Telstra spokesman said.

"If we can't guarantee a satisfactory customer experience in terms of the internet speed and stability customers expect we won't offer them a substandard service," he said.

But the Telstra spokesman would not give any details of which households the company had refused to connect to the internet.

But that leaves residents and businesses relying on 3G mobile internet and watching their web time closely to avoid bursting their quota and paying exorbitant fees.

A spokeswoman for City of Casey, the local government covering Narre Warren South, said it would supply NBN Co with a case for putting Narre Warren South on the early rollout program by providing information regarding the difficulties local people are facing, particularly when they have a home-based business.

But the national broadband provider has consistently said it will install the infrastructure in the most technically sound and cost-effective way, regardless of which areas were most in need.

NBN Co representatives recently announced it would change the way it would deliver the higher speed internet across Australia, relying on a combination of fibre to the premises, fibre to the node and pay TV cable.

City of Casey councillor Sam Aziz says good, affordable internet access was a growth enabler and investing in it would fuel the local economy.

"If the NBN is at least six years away, we need an intermediate solution from Telstra," he said.

The Telstra spokesman said the company looks at expanding coverage and improving capacity on a case-by-case basis where it makes commercial sense.

"Telstra has previously investigated extending the availability of ADSL to areas of Narre Warren, however it is not possible at the moment," he said.

Do you know more? Is your suburb also in an internet blackspot? Email us