Australia's National Broadband Network CEO blames poor Australian internet on lack of fibre

[NightHawkeye]

nbn™ CEO blames copper for performance problems: Bill Morrow says what Australia's been thinking for about a decade

In Australia, of course, nbn™'s only wholesale rivals are mobile networks, and while 5G promises high speeds, mobile carriers see mobile data caps as rivers of gold.

Australia is, alas, almost certainly stuck with the NBN we have, but the position paper leaves an important question unanswered: the risk of using the Telstra copper was widely known, and there was no formal instruction to focus on that copper. So what drove nbn™'s board and management decisions since 2013?
...
All these issues were predictable; beyond the instruction to acquire HFC infrastructure, they were all avoidable; and the SoE documents always left nbn™ with a notional discretion to deploy more fibre than it did.
...
And that's what's missing from the position paper: that the use of Telstra copper was a political, not an economic, mandate. The costs of that political mandate are now well-known ...
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Politics in Australia hinders progress, too? Who knew?

 

[Tanj]

Politics in Australia hinders progress, too? Who knew?

Don't even get me started. Even worse, a fibre to the house solution was proposed but then tossed when the opposition party whined it would be too expensive. Now we are stuck with a system that was outdated whilst still in design, will deliver speeds any decent country already thinks is too slow, requires nodes with mains power doubling the installation complexity, and is not upgradeable to full fiber.

 

[Glass*Soul]

I suggest adding a hearty bran muffin to one's breakfast routine.

 

[NightHawkeye]

Don't even get me started. Even worse, a fibre to the house solution was proposed but then tossed when the opposition party whined it would be too expensive. Now we are stuck with a system that was outdated whilst still in design, will deliver speeds any decent country already thinks is too slow, requires nodes with mains power doubling the installation complexity, and is not upgradeable to full fiber.

It could be worse. A few years ago New Zealand had their single underseas internet cable cut and the whole country apparently went without internet for more than a week.

 

[Tanj]

It could be worse. A few years ago New Zealand had their single underseas internet cable cut and the whole country apparently went without internet for more than a week.

That's not worse because sheep don't need internet so nobody noticed.

 

[NightHawkeye]

That's not worse because sheep don't need internet so nobody noticed.

Well, now, is that about like the pot calling the kettle black?

When I drove 6000 km across last year I saw thousands upon thousands of sheep. Tasmania in particular was nearly solid with sheep stations from north to south.

 

[Tanj]

Well, now, is that about like the pot calling the kettle black?

No. Because New Zealand. You wouldn't understand.

When I drove 6000 km across last year I saw thousands upon thousands of sheep. Tasmania in particular was nearly solid with sheep stations from north to south.

What now? Tassie is 320 km at its widest, Australia 4000 km. Was it a James Bond car letting you travel underwater, or did you just do laps?

At any rate, Neu Zelland still has the highest sheep:human ratio

 

[Bob Crowley]

While the basic idea was good, ideology got in the way of an effective roll-out. Instead of starting where the money was (the central business districts of the large cities), and giving them optic fibre all the way first and then using them to gradually pay for the system to grow outwards, ideologues determined certain pro-ALP areas should get the fibre first.

There was a monumental cost blowout, especially when you consider Australia has about 8 million square kilometres and only 24 million people in that area. The largest cost component was the labour involved in replacing hundreds of thousands of of kilometres of copper and co-axial cable phone lines with fibre optic cable.

When the conservatives got into power, they decided it was too expensive to continue to install fibre to all areas, and determined to use existing infrastructure (viz. copper or co-axial cables) to the nearest fibre optic node.

And so we've got a mix of fibre optic cable, co-axial cable, copper cable, and in some remote areas wireless and another system similar to the 4G mobile phone network.

Where I live we still can't get NBN as we're what is called HFC (Hybrid Fibre Coaxial) which is just another way of saying we'll have fibre to a node somewhere and then coaxial fibre from there to our home. But it's been plagued with technical issues, so NBN are allegedly trying to sort out the techical issues before they roll out more HFC type connections.

In Australia smoke signals, mirrors on hilltops and tin cans connected with string could soon be making a comeback.

 

[NightHawkeye]

No. Because New Zealand.

You're feeling competitive with a tiny rock out in the ocean?

What now? Tassie is 320 km at its widest, Australia 4000 km. Was it a James Bond car letting you travel underwater, or did you just do laps?

I didn't say I was in a car 24 hours a day every day. Took the 10-hour ferry boat from Melbourne to Tasmania and rented another car over there. Also took the train for another few thousand km ... and even planes, too, to get around Australia.

At any rate, Neu Zelland still has the highest sheep:human ratio

Not so much that most of us would notice ...
The ratio of person to sheep in New Zealand has dropped

... apparently, the competitiveness Aussies have with New Zealand is a real thing. Who knew?

 

[Tanj]

You're feeling competitive with a tiny rock out in the ocean?

... apparently, the competitiveness Aussies have with New Zealand is a real thing. Who knew?

I did say you wouldn't understand.

 

[Tanj]

In Australia smoke signals, mirrors on hilltops and tin cans connected with string could soon be making a comeback.

Actually Bob, there's a light at the end of this tunnel, they are now rolling out FTTC, which is spades better than the other offerings, and means paying for your own FTTP will not prohibitive...although if there acceleration tech lives up to its name you wont even have to do that. Of course that only helps people not yet connected.

Never thought I'd be glad I was one of them.