Ah, the NBN. A pretty decent idea undone by a decade of political incompetence along with, well, just general incompetence.

The project was originally about upgrading Australia’s ageing copper-based telecommunications network with high-speed fibre, but it’s been plagued by delays and political battles over the exact configuration of the network.

Under the Coalition government, plans to roll out fibre to everyone’s home were scrapped and instead the NBN is harnessing a combination of new and old technology to deliver faster speeds. But the government’s policy has been criticised for not being forward-thinking enough, and some experts have argued it’s already out of date.

The net result of all this drama is that Australians are getting ripped off when it comes to internet speed and quality, and we’re complaining about it in record numbers. Even Pauline Hanson has criticised the NBN fiasco because, wait for it, kids “keep getting beaten by gamers from overseas”.

Today NBN Co, the organisation responsible for delivering the network, issued an update on how things are going. Here’s how they headlined the announcement:

Customer experience improvement program! New levels! Sounds good, right?

Wrong.

Believe it or not, the announcement wasn’t about some new customer experience initiative. Instead today’s statement was actually about a big new delay in the NBN’s rollout. Millions of Australians previously in line to receive the NBN will now have to wait an additional six to nine months, presuming their aren’t further delays, because the “standard of service quality” on the network isn’t up to scratch.

It’s a pretty solid effort at spinning. It’s not until the sixth paragraph that the statement mentions the delay, and even then it’s described as a necessary “pause” to “raise the quality of service”. But it’s pretty easy to see through the PR bullshit, and NBN Co would have been better off just being upfront and honest about the delay rather than pretending it’s a good thing.

What’s The Reason Behind The NBN Delay?

Back in 2014 NBN Co paid a staggering $11 billion to Telstra in return for access to its cable network. The thinking was that by purchasing the existing cable network NBN Co wouldn’t have to spend as much on new fibre. But it turns out the cable isn’t up to scratch, and now the public has to wait even longer while it gets upgraded.

It’s not the the first time the cable network has delayed the NBN rollout. There have been reports of thousands of customers who were cut-off from their current ADSL connections as they were forcibly migrated to the NBN only to discover their new connections hadn’t been activated, effectively placing them in internet limbo.

The whole thing has been a mess for a long time, and today’s announcement confirms NBN Co is still experiencing major issues.

The Labor Party has wasted no time in blasting the government over the delay. The party’s communications spokesperson, Michelle Rowland, said “All this government can offer the Australian public is more spin, it is time for him [Malcolm Turnbull] to fess up that his experiment has failed.”

What does this all mean for the public? Well, if you’ve already got the NBN you’re all good, nothing is going to change. But if you’ve been waiting for a while, chances are you’re going to have to wait a bit longer. To find out when the NBN is (allegedly) coming to house, you can use this tool on NBN Co’s website.