It's easy to have the misconception that fibre to the node means nothing will change in your home or business but in reality it still does.
Fibre to the Node will deliver the NBN services via a single copper pair of wire, just like ADSL did and just like your regular telstra line did. the primary difference is that your telstra line could travel many kilometres, your ADSL could travel 5-7 km's. your VDSL2+ service will travel 1.5KM's
Fibre to the node, or VDSL2+ has a maximum range of 1.2KM's on good copper before the attenuation drops it below the governments standard of 25mbps. It leaves the node at 100mbps but Attenuation will drop that speed as distance increases.
This was the original technology for the NBN, before fibre to the premises. it wasn't deemed good enough, and that largely boils down to the ongoing expense of running such a short range network, the power requirements of running so many "nodes" and the real estate that NBNco will need to acquire or rent in order to house all this equipment.
the current ADSL2+ has a maximum range of approximately 5KM's, ADSL had a 7KM range, VDSL2+ can reach 1.5Km's. After 1.5KM's vdsl2's speed is more or less the same as the other DSL connections. This boils down to something called attenuation. higher frequencies do not travel well over long distances so as the copper length increases less and less signal makes it to the router. NBNco is only allowing the services to run 1.2 KM's so the remaining 300m is reserved for your home or businesses cabling.
Thus, if your property is more than 1KM from a node do not bother paying for the 100 or 50 speed tiers. you'll never achieve those speeds.
we can reconnect these systems where it's required. The nature of this service arriving on copper will make it less of an issue for the average home, business's with multiple lines will still require rewiring to run across a singular copper service via VoIP.
Homes:
The service arrives at your premises as a "naked" DSL service, telephones need to be run from the router NOT the wall socket. If your existing DSL service was having issues your new vdsl service may continue to do so, NBNco does no testing or revision to your existing cabling and thus wont identify any issues. Should you require the phone to work away from the router your home will need to have it's cabling modified so the router connects the remaining sockets. any additional sockets in the house need to be disconnected or rewired as phone points. failing to do so will introduce bridge tap faults
Businesses:
The service arrives at your premises as a "naked" DSL service, if you previously had more than 2 phone lines you will need a Voice gateway or VoIP enabled Phone system. This technology will allow any business with limited cable pairs to the MDF to get more lines as one copper pair can now potentially run dozens of phone lines dependent on which speed tier and your distance to the exchange.