Shit, Phil, that is rather crap. I don't get why would they put you on satellite being that close to the city!
But it maybe misinformation. eg my neighbour asked the NBN guys when can he get the connection. They told him it's going to be via aerial and he needs to wait till march/april. Yet, I reckon all he needs is to call an ISP and he'll be connected in a fortnight. He's next door, the trench would need to be 5m longer maximum.
But that "build commence" shit is just wrong. Don't even look at it. Our build was supposed to be done 2 years ago, when I've moved in!
Best not to look at the schedule at all, it's just aggravation. Although things seem to pick up, and by the reports, you can get very comparable speeds out of the fttn, too, if you're close-ish and the copper isn't absolute crap (pings won't be this good, though).
The real problem is the copper, though; or rather the state of it I reckon (surprise). And if it's bad, then you need to turn the speed down or experience frequent disconnects. (I'm reading reports on whirlpool lately, there's a lot about the Gosford area fttn rollout)