Now this is one of those things that people seem to be very "for" without having any qualifications whatsover.
"Broadband good, Liberal bad, Broadband good, Liberal badddddddd....." said the sheep as they trotted one by one down the race. Having an opinion doesn't automatically mean that you hate the internet (a topic for another post), just that maybe you think you're smarter than Julia Gillard (and let's face it, who of us doesn't think that occasionally?).
Anyway, reading the print edition of the Australian today I came across a couple of stories that galvanised me to put some thoughts down onto paper, or rather, onto the interwebs, so here they are.
Point One.
I think it's a bit ridiculous that the Government wants to tear up the existing copper cables that currently connect our country, so that anyone who wants a home phone will be forced to go through the National Broadband Network. Surely the point of the privatisation of Telstra was that people were sick of a Government owned monopoly in the telecommunications sector trying to control how people did things while offering expensive and mediocre service? We're going to be paying a lot of money to provide a Universal Service Obligation (currently provided by Telstra and paid for by the Government) along a fibre connection. This fibre connection will be expensive to connect to the household (whether paid for by the householder or the taxpayer, in the end someone pays) and not only that, it will require an ongoing provision and maintenance of a battery in the home, since fibre won't work without power at each end (with a copper cable the power can be sent from one end to enable the system to work). In addition, those people who simply want a cheap, low cost internet connection will be forced into the NBN's high speed service even though it's probably not appropriate for what they really want.
Why not leave the existing copper in place and allow the private telcos to continue to compete with the NBN? This will keep prices down and service up and enable real competition.
(The answer is of course that the NBN is such a dodgy proposition that it can't possibly pay for itself unless all internet users are forced to use it and nothing else and even then it probably won't pay)
Point Two.
Apparently 30% of Australian households are currently already serviced with a cable (I believe Foxtel or Optus, can't remember right now) that will provide them with internet at a speed of approximately 100Mbps (the speed which is being advertised as the big selling point of the NBN). Not only are very few customers actually utilising this opportunity for very fast broadband, but the Government is actually going to pay a great deal of money to prevent them from being able to and forcing them to use the new NBN.
Why not leave the existing cable in place and if users want superfast broadband let them use that? In the meantime, effort could be spent improving access to those non-metropolitan areas that might actually have service delivery issues.
(The answer is of course that the NBN is such a dodgy proposition that it can't possibly pay for itself unless all internet users are forced to use it and nothing else and even then it probably won't pay)
Point Three.
Points of connection. Noone actually cares about these, they don't actually mean anything. Except that the NBN wants as few as possible (I think 14) and all the other companies who have existing fibre in the ground are suddenly not happy because this will mean even less competition.
Why not let other companies use their own pipes to carry data?
(The answer is of course that the NBN is such a dodgy proposition that it can't possibly pay for itself unless all internet users are forced to use it and nothing else and even then it probably won't pay)
My big problem with the NBN is this. If it's such a great idea (and who doesn't like the idea of a Government communications monopoly) than let's have one. It'll be so good that it should be able to beat off it's competitors using copper and wireless. It should just about write it's own cost-benefit analysis. It's business plan should be so awesome it's picks up chicks in a night club just by saying "Hey! How you doin?"
When the Government is doing tricky or sneaky things such as forcing households to sign up, or paying vast amounts to remove competitive providers than there must be something wrong.
Not only that, but how many houses actually want 100Mbps download speed? Not very many at the current prices.
How about this? Why not install cable into business districts and schools and hospitals? Why not put in fibre to every single exchange in the country and add a few more? After that, let's start thinking about fibre to the household, but fibre to every exchange will speed up things dramatically.
And the reason for this big essay?
The two articles in the Oz.
The first was about how it's now possible to deliver speeds of 100Mbps over a copper cable up to 1km from an exchange. It'll do 300Mpbs 400 metres from the exchange! While this doesn't seem realistic for much of Australia, it would probably be appropriate for 10% of the country. Not only that, but it shows once again that technology doesn't stand still, while the Government is betting all its chips on the one bet.
The second is about trialling new mobile technologies in Sydney that should deliver download speeds of 100Mbps.
Notice the magic number here? Both of them are looking at the same speeds that will be offered by the NBN, but without the vast expense.
I also remember a recent article talking about how an Australian company was trialling technologies that would enable internet access via satellite in excess of 50Mbps (I don't have a link and don't remember the exact speed, but it was fast).
Basically, there's more options out there than just fibre and for the Government to deny that and actively remove other options is practically criminal (in my opinion).
That's my two cents anyway
cheers
Dr Harry
Edit: Further news to hand. CSIRO are trialling technologies using the analogue TV bandwidth that will deliver similar speeds. Now it will only work in areas with low population, but that's not the point. The point is that the Government has all it's eggs in the fibre to the home basket, while technology is developing rapidly. It's like we're living in the future!
Let's roll out fibre, but lets not make it the be all and end all. Lets encourage other options as well. In other words, lets be smart about it.
Just for something completely different, here's a photo of Angus's favourite diva!
