Man sick of waiting for official broadband builds his own DIY network

A man who was so sick of waiting for Australia's National Broadband Network to reach his hometown decided to take matters into his own hands, building his own broadband network.

Bundaberg man Luke Baker explained that his internet speed was so bad he'd struggle to send emails.

Growing increasingly frustrated at waiting for Australia's National Broadband Network to arrive in his town, he teamed up with friends to create their own DIY network called Open Cloud Broadband.

Baker's network offers double the speed of NBN's.

The Bundaberg resident told Sunrise the final straw was when he lost hope that the problem wouldn't get sorted.

Bundaberg man Luke Baker teamed up with friends to make their own broadband network. Photo / Sunrise

"I wanted to get hold of someone to solve it. When I investigated it, it did not look like anyone was going solve it," he said.

"The only way to make it happen it was to do it ourselves.

"Find yourself a group of smart people and team up with them!"

Baker was lucky enough to have good high-quality communications connections who helped him set himself up.

The Open Cloud Broadband creator isn't finished there, he told Sunrise the company has a growth plan in place.

"Our highest sped tier is 200 megabits per second download which is double the NBN retail offering.

"it's a bit easier for us since we're just in Bundaberg. We picked this area because it was our own local frustration, whereas the NBN is trying to replace Australia's network that has taken 100 years to build... they're not doing all that bad."

Luke Baker's Open Cloud Broadband is proving so popular residents from around Australia are begging the company to come to their region. Photo / Channel 7

Baker's network offers a competitive price, saying: "Some of our lower-tier plans are better than current ADSL offerings and also cheaper."

The project is proving so popular that residents from the outer suburbs of Australia's biggest cities have begged Baker to come to their region to install broadband.

He said they may try and expand beyond Bundaberg, but that it's a big ask.