Yesterday we went live with the NBN. Here's how it went.

gungsuperstar said :

justin heywood said :

Dilandach said :

…..Taxpayers don’t really have anything to do with NBN funding. It is users of the network who will pay to build it, whether they are taxpayers or not.

Crap like that just makes the rest of your argument look like…crap.

Instead of abusing those who disagree with you and making wishful claims about what will be happening in 2034, why don’t you stick to explaining the actual benefit, real or imagined, of the NBN to the nation?

Because it’s already been covered in these comments. Multiple times.

So now it’s not that the benefit hasn’t been explained. It’s just those with small minds who care only for their own self interest with their “I don’t need it so why should anyone else” attitude that can’t see the benefit.

Clearly those in this camp have never had to deal with barriers to health or education caused by distance and out-dated technology.

It’s worth noting that contractors working on the NBN rollout have been almost universal in their feedback that the copper network was in much worse shape than anyone realised, and is well beyond fixing an/or upgrading.

And to the previous poster who claimed that business can operate just fine on ADSL – 1) I haven’t seen business opposing the NBN, 2) the point was previously made that not all business in this country takes place in major cities with ready access to high speed internet.

Tell me. How will the dreams of Abbott and Rinehart to relocate 30% of you to regional Australia ever be realised if they don’t have internet fast enough and reliable enough to actually do their work?

Also don’t forget Abbott also said something about online education as well…..

I am really pleased for you Al. In my town we can only dream of ADSL download speeds of 8 MPS. That won’t be improved because NBN is supposedly coming. Well, in ten years time, if the rollout goes according to plan. Which I doubt. Sort of like parts of Australia are gifted new Maseratis at taxpayer expense while the rest make do with a dilapidated public transport system. My thoughts about that alpha hotel Conroy, the minister for communications, are unprintable.

JC said :

Al did you happen to see if any of the hardware they installed had 19″ rack mount kits? The goatface does have a point that it is a bit fugly (though as I mentioned for good reason in a retro fit). I reckon it would look quite ok in a small wall mount rack.

No none of it is designed for rack mounting. It may well be that the gear that Transact used when they did Forde is more compact. But this is the gear that NBN Co are using, for whatever reasons, such as I already mentioned. So people just need to think about how that can be routed to and accommodated in their garage. Or behind bags on the top shelf of a wardrobe, as the case may be… 🙂

JC said :

goatface said :

goatface said :

Don’t know how you could get any less hardware actually. As for yours fitting inside a box outside I take it that your house had this fitted new, where a sufficient sized box could be installed, whereas Al is a retrofit so a little different.

You have misread my comment. I don’t have LESS hardware, all of mine fits in the termination box outside (it’s smaller, not to mention neater, get it?). There is no problem with having a box like this installed after the house is built. Retrofit or not. I think the OP’s hardware setup could be improved massively if it was installed differently.

Loose the agro dude, it doesn’t help. And no I didn’t miss read, though of course you seem to have ignored my comment about your home clearly being built with FTTH in mind, thus having a box suitable, whereas Al has had a retro fit where it is not easy to retro fit an external box to fit everything in, which you seem to have confirmed is the same size. That’s the difference.

Actually, I think you did miss read. Goatface has said numerous times that his hardware is smaller than what Al’s photographed. Being smaller, it’s much easier to stuff it in a box external to the house. Nothing to do with the house being designed with FTTH or not – I take it that if TransACT were using the same hardware that Al has had installed by NBN, it probably wouldn’t have been able to be installed in a box externally either.

Not that I think there was actually any agro in anything goatface wrote, but I’d be getting frustrated faced with the same reading comprehension failures too.

JC said :

goatface said :

goatface said :

Don’t know how you could get any less hardware actually. As for yours fitting inside a box outside I take it that your house had this fitted new, where a sufficient sized box could be installed, whereas Al is a retrofit so a little different.

You have misread my comment. I don’t have LESS hardware, all of mine fits in the termination box outside (it’s smaller, not to mention neater, get it?). There is no problem with having a box like this installed after the house is built. Retrofit or not. I think the OP’s hardware setup could be improved massively if it was installed differently.

Loose the agro dude, it doesn’t help. And no I didn’t miss read, though of course you seem to have ignored my comment about your home clearly being built with FTTH in mind, thus having a box suitable, whereas Al has had a retro fit where it is not easy to retro fit an external box to fit everything in, which you seem to have confirmed is the same size. That’s the difference.

Lol, oh lord. If you haven’t misread than clearly you have failed to comprehend. You have even quoted me referring to retrofitting houses that weren’t built with FTTH in mind!

justin heywood said :

Dilandach said :

…..Taxpayers don’t really have anything to do with NBN funding. It is users of the network who will pay to build it, whether they are taxpayers or not.

Crap like that just makes the rest of your argument look like…crap.

Instead of abusing those who disagree with you and making wishful claims about what will be happening in 2034, why don’t you stick to explaining the actual benefit, real or imagined, of the NBN to the nation?

Because it’s already been covered in these comments. Multiple times.

So now it’s not that the benefit hasn’t been explained. It’s just those with small minds who care only for their own self interest with their “I don’t need it so why should anyone else” attitude that can’t see the benefit.

Clearly those in this camp have never had to deal with barriers to health or education caused by distance and out-dated technology.

It’s worth noting that contractors working on the NBN rollout have been almost universal in their feedback that the copper network was in much worse shape than anyone realised, and is well beyond fixing an/or upgrading.

And to the previous poster who claimed that business can operate just fine on ADSL – 1) I haven’t seen business opposing the NBN, 2) the point was previously made that not all business in this country takes place in major cities with ready access to high speed internet.

Tell me. How will the dreams of Abbott and Rinehart to relocate 30% of you to regional Australia ever be realised if they don’t have internet fast enough and reliable enough to actually do their work?

Dilandach said :

…..Taxpayers don’t really have anything to do with NBN funding. It is users of the network who will pay to build it, whether they are taxpayers or not.

Crap like that just makes the rest of your argument look like…crap.

Instead of abusing those who disagree with you and making wishful claims about what will be happening in 2034, why don’t you stick to explaining the actual benefit, real or imagined, of the NBN to the nation?

Al did you happen to see if any of the hardware they installed had 19″ rack mount kits? The goatface does have a point that it is a bit fugly (though as I mentioned for good reason in a retro fit). I reckon it would look quite ok in a small wall mount rack.

goatface said :

goatface said :

Don’t know how you could get any less hardware actually. As for yours fitting inside a box outside I take it that your house had this fitted new, where a sufficient sized box could be installed, whereas Al is a retrofit so a little different.

You have misread my comment. I don’t have LESS hardware, all of mine fits in the termination box outside (it’s smaller, not to mention neater, get it?). There is no problem with having a box like this installed after the house is built. Retrofit or not. I think the OP’s hardware setup could be improved massively if it was installed differently.

Loose the agro dude, it doesn’t help. And no I didn’t miss read, though of course you seem to have ignored my comment about your home clearly being built with FTTH in mind, thus having a box suitable, whereas Al has had a retro fit where it is not easy to retro fit an external box to fit everything in, which you seem to have confirmed is the same size. That’s the difference.

The reason for the telephone backup unit is that in an emergency, mobile services can quite easily fail, either due to traffic overload or damage to tower infrastructure.

Not a huge deal in Canberra, perhaps, but people (e.g. with certain medical conditions, or in certain occupations) who need guaranteed phone access should definitely activate this feature.

Martlark said :

chewy14 said :

Martlark said :

If it’s so great then why not just pay for it by the people who want it? Why is the Government spending billions of public funds on what is mostly an entertainment system?

I agree, the same should go for highways, hospitals and schools.

As for ‘entertainment’ system, LOL. Just because you only use the internet for looking at p*rn, doesn’t mean everyone else does.

The only real household use for high bandwidth is video. That’s entertainment. VOIP, downloads, games and business can all mange nicely with ADSL and DOCIS. Want more? You pay for it. Don’t make me pay just so a Labor government can look all hip and high tech.

Its such a shame that you don’t have a thought of your own but need to regurgitate the garbage that the alan jones crowd comes up with. They’re the last people you should be listening to in regards to technology. The guy should stick to what he knows best, hanging around male public toilets late at night.

It is extremely short-sighted to think that video and VOIP is all it’ll be used for. This isn’t something that will be out of date in a couple of years, fiber is a long term solution. The things that it will be used for in the future largely haven’t been invented yet or is only in its infancy. Remote surgery is one such application, would you be satisfied with a doctor having to wait for things to buffer or reconnect while you’re bleeding out on a table?

If you think that all we need is what we have, why didn’t we stick with what we had in the late 80s and early 90s? 1200 baud acoustic coupler. None of this fancy graphics stuff… text all the way. Stupid statement? Yeah, yours is equally stupid.

New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Germany, Norway, France, Sweden, Kenya, Qatar, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China have built or started building their own versions of the NBN. We’ll be left behind, there isn’t infinite minerals in the ground and industries aren’t flooding over here to set up shop. This isn’t the 50s anymore, the economy isn’t built on the back of sheep.

As for the funding, The $27.5bn Government component of the NBN is funded by debt, through the issuing of Australian Government Bonds. That is, the Federal Government offers our AAA-rated bonds to investors, at an interest rate of about 4% (depending on the term).

The NBN however, will provide a return of about 7%. This means that (once the network is operational), the NBN will begin repaying those bonds at a higher rate than what Government is paying on the debt. By 2034, the entire Government investment (including the interest) will have been repaid by the users of the network, leaving the Government owning a valuable asset (the NBN network) and no associated debt. Big users of the network (those who choose the high speed and high volume plans) will contribute more towards repayment of the debt, and actually subsidise those on smaller plans.

Taxpayers don’t really have anything to do with NBN funding. It is users of the network who will pay to build it, whether they are taxpayers or not.

The NBN is the copper network of today. Its very dissapointing that a section (usually those of age and think internet is only cats and porn) have the attitude of “got mine, flap you all.”

Gungahlin Al said :

goatface said :

You have misread my comment. I don’t have LESS hardware, all of mine fits in the termination box outside (it’s smaller, not to mention neater, get it?). There is no problem with having a box like this installed after the house is built. Retrofit or not. I think the OP’s hardware setup could be improved massively if it was installed differently.

Well I can’t see how I could have less hardware when every bit in the photo that is white is what NBN install in every premises. Apart from the power point and the wall, my only contribution is the wireless router.

The biggest box is the power supply, and two thirds of that is the battery backup. I presume that was included as part of the deal so people needing emergency phone access can install a standard (non-electric) phone and ensure it is workable during a power outage.

It does seem overkill in the era of ubiquitous mobile phones, but after all the pink batts nonsense being spun by Abbott’s crew when the NBN plans were coming together, one can understand NBN Co taking the ultra cautious path. It’s a price you end up paying when uncritical media accept what is served to them. IMO.

Again, for the third time… I don’t have less hardware. My installation is essentially the same. It is however, smaller, and installed much neater outside in the fibre termination box. As you said in your post, it’s ugly. I know I wouldn’t want it installed like that.

goatface said :

You have misread my comment. I don’t have LESS hardware, all of mine fits in the termination box outside (it’s smaller, not to mention neater, get it?). There is no problem with having a box like this installed after the house is built. Retrofit or not. I think the OP’s hardware setup could be improved massively if it was installed differently.

Well I can’t see how I could have less hardware when every bit in the photo that is white is what NBN install in every premises. Apart from the power point and the wall, my only contribution is the wireless router.

The biggest box is the power supply, and two thirds of that is the battery backup. I presume that was included as part of the deal so people needing emergency phone access can install a standard (non-electric) phone and ensure it is workable during a power outage.

It does seem overkill in the era of ubiquitous mobile phones, but after all the pink batts nonsense being spun by Abbott’s crew when the NBN plans were coming together, one can understand NBN Co taking the ultra cautious path. It’s a price you end up paying when uncritical media accept what is served to them. IMO.

goatface said :

Don’t know how you could get any less hardware actually. As for yours fitting inside a box outside I take it that your house had this fitted new, where a sufficient sized box could be installed, whereas Al is a retrofit so a little different.

You have misread my comment. I don’t have LESS hardware, all of mine fits in the termination box outside (it’s smaller, not to mention neater, get it?). There is no problem with having a box like this installed after the house is built. Retrofit or not. I think the OP’s hardware setup could be improved massively if it was installed differently.

goatface said :

Thanks for the upload, Very interesting.
I currently live in Franklin, so I have the Transact FTTH installation which is MUCH smaller. All our battery backup/associated electronics fit in the fibre termination box outside. I wonder why they have used hardware which takes up so much room?

I can’t wait for the NBN to take over franklin, it would work out much cheaper for us with the current plans.

Don’t know how you could get any less hardware actually. As for yours fitting inside a box outside I take it that your house had this fitted new, where a sufficient sized box could be installed, whereas Al is a retrofit so a little different.

Thanks for the upload, Very interesting.
I currently live in Franklin, so I have the Transact FTTH installation which is MUCH smaller. All our battery backup/associated electronics fit in the fibre termination box outside. I wonder why they have used hardware which takes up so much room?

I can’t wait for the NBN to take over franklin, it would work out much cheaper for us with the current plans.

Gungahlin Al said :

So tell me this isn’t a deal-breaker for Tony Abbott for a lot of people come September 14?

oh please

Gungahlin Al said :

At great risk of sounding like a brag, I thought I’d see what the NBN link could do yesterday. ABC iView show streaming (The Checkout – what a great show!), plus four High Definition YouTube windows all going at once, not the hint of a buffer pause. Noice one NBN.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WbjgWsQ29ag

Sweet, but your preface should probably have been along the lines of:
‘Not that anyone wants to watch 5 HD youtube clips at the same time, but as a test of throughput…’
🙂
If anything, you should have kept loading them to see if it did eventually buffer!

Gungahlin Al said :

At great risk of sounding like a brag, I thought I’d see what the NBN link could do yesterday. ABC iView show streaming (The Checkout – what a great show!), plus four High Definition YouTube windows all going at once, not the hint of a buffer pause. Noice one NBN.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WbjgWsQ29ag

Fark off, Al. It’s rude to count money in front of poor people.

chewy14 said :

arescarti42 said :

Just astoundingly badly informed.

89.4% of Australia’s population live in urban areas. There are literally only a handful of countries in the world with higher rates of urbanisation than Australia.

What he said.

The problem with this is that the definition of urban is not really a good one. It is solely based on population of a town or city and does not consider population density. For example, consider a town of 100,000 people, this is considered (major) urban regardless of the area of the town, e.g. even if it were say 10,000 sq.km in size. I don’t imagine a lot of people would consider Cairns to be urban. Further, local populations over 1000 are considered ‘other urban’ by the ABS which is quite absurd really, even Bowral is considered (other) Urban.

To think that only those living in cities deserve good services is selfish, are we not the country of equality and a ‘fair go’. Ask those living in Melbourne or Sydney if they considered Canberra to be urban, I bet the majority would say no. If they had the same views as you then they would be outraged to think of the money wasted on NBN in the ACT, in which case I hope you are happy with your ADSL.

At great risk of sounding like a brag, I thought I’d see what the NBN link could do yesterday. ABC iView show streaming (The Checkout – what a great show!), plus four High Definition YouTube windows all going at once, not the hint of a buffer pause. Noice one NBN.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WbjgWsQ29ag

dungfungus said :

…and yet the socialist government continues to borrow more.

Socialist? I don’t think that word means what you think it does.

dungfungus said :

I am not running a fear campaign but data indicates Australia has no chance of repaying the current Federal debt of approximately $300 billion and yet the socialist government continues to borrow more. The states and territories will struggle to meet their obligations as well as well. So, with the cost of servicing Australia’s federal debt being about 12 times that of other counties (we buy debt at 3.00%pa and Japan buys debt at 0.5%pa) our debt to GDP is actually 12 times what you state if you insist on comparing us to other debt riddled economies.
Still comfortable?

Any country that prints its own currency can pay its own debt. There may be consequences, but it can pay.

Merely by calling the ALP a ‘socialist government’ shows your ideology and anyone who argues purely from ideology is very suspect at all times.

You do realise that our net govt debt how is less (as a percentage of GSP) than it was in the mid 1990s. And, as the Libs tell us (time and time again) that debt was paid off under the Howard govt (ok, they sold off a few things and funded not much else), but its been done once at least (in fact, was also done in the 70s and the 40s as well).

Secondly, 0.5% is 1/6 of 3%, not 1/12

thirdly, there is nothing to stop the Aust govt borrowing from overseas

do I think the debt level is too high – yes; but if you asked me what to cut and I looked and saw 70% of the budget is spent on health and centrelink/support payments and education, then I’m not quite sure what I would cut other than middle class welfare which the Libs are desparate to keep

gungsuperstar said :

dungfungus said :

After the euphoria subsides, you may wish to report to us how much your NBN connection is contributing to increased productivity of our debt burdened nation.

And in a thread which has actually involved a reasonable level of debate, this old chestnut…

Net debt as a proportion of GDP:

– World average – about 50%
– Germany (Europe’s best economy) – almost 60%
– Europe – about 75%
– UK – over 80%
– USA – over 80%
– Japan – over 120%

Australia? About 10%. (Comfortably less than the average Australian’s debt as a proportion of income)

Australia doesn’t have a “debt burden”.

Keep running your fear campaign though. It’s apparently what the modern day conservative does in the absence of any semblance of a policy designed to improve the country.

I am not running a fear campaign but data indicates Australia has no chance of repaying the current Federal debt of approximately $300 billion and yet the socialist government continues to borrow more. The states and territories will struggle to meet their obligations as well as well. So, with the cost of servicing Australia’s federal debt being about 12 times that of other counties (we buy debt at 3.00%pa and Japan buys debt at 0.5%pa) our debt to GDP is actually 12 times what you state if you insist on comparing us to other debt riddled economies.
Still comfortable?

dungfungus said :

After the euphoria subsides, you may wish to report to us how much your NBN connection is contributing to increased productivity of our debt burdened nation.

And in a thread which has actually involved a reasonable level of debate, this old chestnut…

Net debt as a proportion of GDP:

– World average – about 50%
– Germany (Europe’s best economy) – almost 60%
– Europe – about 75%
– UK – over 80%
– USA – over 80%
– Japan – over 120%

Australia? About 10%. (Comfortably less than the average Australian’s debt as a proportion of income)

Australia doesn’t have a “debt burden”.

Keep running your fear campaign though. It’s apparently what the modern day conservative does in the absence of any semblance of a policy designed to improve the country.

thatsnotme said :

Ben_Dover said :

Is there any way of telling when the NBBN will hit particular suburbs?

(We’re in Cook.)

Not with exact dates, but this document – while a bit confusing – has details of construction start dates for areas scheduled to be rolled out in the next year. Just do a search for ‘Belconnen’:

http://www.nbnco.com.au/assets/documents/rollout-info-1-year-construction-plan.pdf

The Belconnen area you’re in (Belconnen, Bruce, Cook, Giralang, Kaleen, Macquarie, Aranda) is scheduled to start from June 2013. The construction dates are based around Fibre Service Access Modules (FSAM). There are 5 in your rollout area, with construction dates of June, July x2, November and December 2013. So if you’re lucky, and Cook is in the area covered by the first FSAM to be rolled out, as early as June. If you’re unlucky, and Cook is last, you’re looking at December, and who knows what will happen if Abbott is in office then…

Bring it on. ADSL2+ is a never ending bad joke with no punchline as far as I’m concerned. I’m in Giralang connected to the Crace exchange with ADSL2+ and my internet speeds are at the 1.5 Mb/s minimum, which is simply pathetic. There are no plans that I’m aware of to make it any better, so as far as I can tell if I don’t go for the NBN then I’ll be stuck with this crap until hell freezes over. I had friends in the US with 10 Mb/s access at home in the 1990s FFS!!!

My family all the use the internet a lot for work and play, and I’m sick of pissing away my life waiting for pages to load on RA and everywhere else. If the NBN is coming to Giralang then I’ll be signing up for it and to hell with these other fools.

After the euphoria subsides, you may wish to report to us how much your NBN connection is contributing to increased productivity of our debt burdened nation.

arescarti42 said :

gungsuperstar said :

I can throw up arbitrary stats without context as well mate:

– 31% of Australians live outside major cities
– the agricultural and resource sectors make up over 60% of Australia’s exports.

But I’ll go on:

– regional areas account for over 50% of domestic tourism and over 17% of international tourism. So “services” that you’re affixing only to urban areas are over-represented in regional areas.
– health and education – services that are also being considered “urban contributions” to the economy also exist in regional Australia (much as most of you ignore it).
– “services” being considered urban contributions exist in regional Australia.

What are the fastest growing exports in Australia?
– agriculture
– resources.

All true, but none of which justify your earlier claim that regional and rural Australia contribute far more to GDP than urban Australia. They don’t, by virtue of being a minority of the population.

gungsuperstar said :

Which suggests that you might need to provide services to regional Australia so it can continue to provide this country its growth.

No one is arguing that we don’t provide any services to regional Australia. Chewy’s comment was that we shouldn’t provide similar services (i.e. fixed line fibre to the home), due to the simply astronomical expense of laying fibre out to remote areas, where upgraded wireless and satellite services are a far better option.

gungsuperstar said :

One of the most urbanised countries in the world? Damn I hope your job doesn’t rely on you to actually know what you’re talking about…

Just astoundingly badly informed.

89.4% of Australia’s population live in urban areas. There are literally only a handful of countries in the world with higher rates of urbanisation than Australia.

What he said.

gungsuperstar said :

I can throw up arbitrary stats without context as well mate:

– 31% of Australians live outside major cities
– the agricultural and resource sectors make up over 60% of Australia’s exports.

But I’ll go on:

– regional areas account for over 50% of domestic tourism and over 17% of international tourism. So “services” that you’re affixing only to urban areas are over-represented in regional areas.
– health and education – services that are also being considered “urban contributions” to the economy also exist in regional Australia (much as most of you ignore it).
– “services” being considered urban contributions exist in regional Australia.

What are the fastest growing exports in Australia?
– agriculture
– resources.

All true, but none of which justify your earlier claim that regional and rural Australia contribute far more to GDP than urban Australia. They don’t, by virtue of being a minority of the population.

gungsuperstar said :

Which suggests that you might need to provide services to regional Australia so it can continue to provide this country its growth.

No one is arguing that we don’t provide any services to regional Australia. Chewy’s comment was that we shouldn’t provide similar services (i.e. fixed line fibre to the home), due to the simply astronomical expense of laying fibre out to remote areas, where upgraded wireless and satellite services are a far better option.

gungsuperstar said :

One of the most urbanised countries in the world? Damn I hope your job doesn’t rely on you to actually know what you’re talking about…

Just astoundingly badly informed.

89.4% of Australia’s population live in urban areas. There are literally only a handful of countries in the world with higher rates of urbanisation than Australia.

I can throw up arbitrary stats without context as well mate:

– 31% of Australians live outside major cities
– the agricultural and resource sectors make up over 60% of Australia’s exports.

Now those 2 figures alone suggest that regional Australia commits more than its fair share to the economy, while conservatives continue to argue that they don’t deserve to be as well serviced.

But I’ll go on:

– regional areas account for over 50% of domestic tourism and over 17% of international tourism. So “services” that you’re affixing only to urban areas are over-represented in regional areas.
– health and education – services that are also being considered “urban contributions” to the economy also exist in regional Australia (much as most of you ignore it).
– “services” being considered urban contributions exist in regional Australia.

What are the fastest growing exports in Australia?
– agriculture
– resources.

Which suggests that you might need to provide services to regional Australia so it can continue to provide this country its growth.

And aside from all this – the ridiculous posts above also consider manufacturing, construction and retail as “urban contributions” to the economy, when manufacturing in particular is OVER represented in regional cities (Geelong, Newcastle, Tasmania.)

One of the most urbanised countries in the world? Damn I hope your job doesn’t rely on you to actually know what you’re talking about…

Even if that was the case? Kind of presents a compelling case to better connect the regions to urban areas doesn’t it?

gungsuperstar said :

I’m sorry mate, but this is ridiculous! Regional and rural australia is the foodbowl of Australia and the resource hub of Australia. Regional and rural Australia contributes FAR more to our GDP than urban Australia by ANY measure.

You’re just astoundingly badly informed.

Agriculture isn’t even 2.5% of GDP, and mining is less than 10% (and that’s only because of ridiculous terms of trade in recent years).

As much as Australians like to think we’re a big rural/mining society, we’re just about the most urbanised country in the world, the majority of people live in capital cities, and the bulk of the economy is in services.

thatsnotme said :

So if the agriculture industry said en-mass ‘screw this, I’m sick of being isolated, I’m moving to the city’, how well do you think the services industry would go with nothing to eat?

It’d go just fine, we’d import the majority of our food like pretty much every other developed country does.

thatsnotme said :

So if the agriculture industry said en-mass ‘screw this, I’m sick of being isolated, I’m moving to the city’, how well do you think the services industry would go with nothing to eat?

They’d just import it like a lot of the labour they use.

chewy14 said :

Can you back that up with some figures?
Last I looked agriculture was less than 5% of GDP and mining was 10-15%.
And I reckon you’re pushing it by even claiming the full mining industry as regional considering the amount of FIFO workers and the temporary nature of the workforce in one location.

The services industry was 70% of GDP and manufacturing was less than 10%.

I don’t know how you could possibly think regional Australians get a raw deal if you looked at it on a per capita basis either.

So if the agriculture industry said en-mass ‘screw this, I’m sick of being isolated, I’m moving to the city’, how well do you think the services industry would go with nothing to eat?

A little (lot) off topic: I recently bought a Samsung Note 2 from this mob DWI and a very sad story ensued…
If you are thinking about buying online, please read this first: http://alankerlin.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/why-you-should-not-buy-anything-from.html

Then confirm it in the many complaint pages on Whirlpool I wish I had read first.

Then like this parody Facebook page I made: https://www.facebook.com/DWIAUS2
I don’t think businesses should get away with this sort of behaviour in the era of social media…
Thanks!

gungsuperstar said :

chewy14 said :

Gungsuperstar,
I agree with the rollout of the NBN but your expectation/assertion that regional people should be given similar services to urban Australians is ridiculous in the extreme. There is a limited amount of money and the government should clearly aim to spend that money as efficiently as possible.

I’m sorry mate, but this is ridiculous! Regional and rural australia is the foodbowl of Australia and the resource hub of Australia. Regional and rural Australia contributes FAR more to our GDP than urban Australia by ANY measure.

As I said in my previous post, if we compiled figures of GDP contribution vs Government expenditure for regional vs urban areas, it wouldn’t paint a pretty picture.

I suspect the reason we don’t compile such statistics is so as not to make it so clear to regional Australia that they’re being screwed.

Can you back that up with some figures?
Last I looked agriculture was less than 5% of GDP and mining was 10-15%.
And I reckon you’re pushing it by even claiming the full mining industry as regional considering the amount of FIFO workers and the temporary nature of the workforce in one location.

The services industry was 70% of GDP and manufacturing was less than 10%.

I don’t know how you could possibly think regional Australians get a raw deal if you looked at it on a per capita basis either.

Bring on the NBN!! We have a similar sounding problem to Palifox in Tugg, but we’re in Amaroo. A download speed of around 2.0 Mbps is average and we’re on ADSL2+ (but it’s above Telstra’s guaranteed minimum of 1.5Mbps so too bad). Anytime we see NBN movement in the street the kids get very excited. A daily utterance around here is “Can’t wait until we get NBN”. Like others, the delays are annoying but we know it will be worth it in the end. Particularly can’t wait to be rid of Telstra either!! I think we only have a couple more months to wait. Those posted speeds are awesome Al – very envious. Thanks for the post 🙂

I am curious in the speedtest numbers the NBN gives to places outside of Australia? How is it to the West Coast of the US? How about Europe? I’m especially curious about the latency to the US and Europe.

WARNING, boring stuff below:

Anyways, 8 bits = 1 Byte

8Mbps = 1MB/s, so lower case b is bit, uppercase B is Byte.

So, downloading on a connection speed of 94.30 Mbps will give you 11.78 MB/s.

A 1.4GB (1,024 x 1.4 = 1433.6MB) Movie will take about 122 seconds.

A 10GB (1,024 x 10 = 10240MB) Game/Program etc will take roughly 14 Minutes 29 seconds.

chewy14 said :

Gungsuperstar,
I agree with the rollout of the NBN but your expectation/assertion that regional people should be given similar services to urban Australians is ridiculous in the extreme. There is a limited amount of money and the government should clearly aim to spend that money as efficiently as possible.

I’m sorry mate, but this is ridiculous! Regional and rural australia is the foodbowl of Australia and the resource hub of Australia. Regional and rural Australia contributes FAR more to our GDP than urban Australia by ANY measure.

As I said in my previous post, if we compiled figures of GDP contribution vs Government expenditure for regional vs urban areas, it wouldn’t paint a pretty picture.

I suspect the reason we don’t compile such statistics is so as not to make it so clear to regional Australia that they’re being screwed.

Ben_Dover said :

Is there any way of telling when the NBBN will hit particular suburbs?

(We’re in Cook.)

Not with exact dates, but this document – while a bit confusing – has details of construction start dates for areas scheduled to be rolled out in the next year. Just do a search for ‘Belconnen’:

http://www.nbnco.com.au/assets/documents/rollout-info-1-year-construction-plan.pdf

The Belconnen area you’re in (Belconnen, Bruce, Cook, Giralang, Kaleen, Macquarie, Aranda) is scheduled to start from June 2013. The construction dates are based around Fibre Service Access Modules (FSAM). There are 5 in your rollout area, with construction dates of June, July x2, November and December 2013. So if you’re lucky, and Cook is in the area covered by the first FSAM to be rolled out, as early as June. If you’re unlucky, and Cook is last, you’re looking at December, and who knows what will happen if Abbott is in office then…

Is there any way of telling when the NBBN will hit particular suburbs?

(We’re in Cook.)

Wow! I’m positively puce with envy! Thanks for posting. 🙂

Thanks Al, great information.

I haven’t connected yet because a Sydney based colleague is moving his servers down to my house and he’s paying for the connections so I am forced to wait until he’s ready.

This will be a tele-health hub that is designed to make health services less expensive and is only viable with NBN speeds. Yep, that would be a direct saving to the proverbial taxpayer, bless their little cotton socks.

Oh, and I can download television content and tell Foxtel to shove off.

Here in the inner south, my download speed a few moments ago was a whopping 352 kb/s with line speeds varying from 2.7 to 2.8 Mb/s. I have records of download speed at 214 kb/s and that’s when it was working at all. On contacting the call centres, they tell me that they can see my modem dropping out and reconnecting, dropping out and reconnecting. dropping out and reconnecting – – -. yes, the filter is correctly installed. My neighbour told me they gave up on the landline and went full wireless. My monthly download limit is 200Gb, the bill has been paid recently so the connection has not been slowed.

If I got a consistent 6.83 Mb/s, I’d not care about the NBN. But the NBN will not be here until 2015 (if I’m lucky and the Mad Monk doesn’t reintroduce the semaphore.)

I rarely look in at the Riot Act because the site is so slow, pages take 10 seconds to load or sometimes a lot more.

Until recently I worked in a public service office with one of the larger proportions of outposted and home based workers. My section had 20 people, some of them were working from home in the ACT and others were “outposted” in Melbourne, Ballina, Brisbane and Toowoomba. The workers in Toowoomba and Ballina had enormous trouble getting their connections to work, even with equipment.supplied by the office. I don’t know how the Brisbane connection went since I finished up on the same day as the person went to Brisbane. But the Melbourne one didn’t work at all for months, despite assurances from whatever ISP was involved and the woman involved had to go into the CBD to an office branch that did have a working connection. That went on for months.

if the NBN fixes this than there will be a lot more people off the roads or moving to provincial centres where congestion hardly exists and housing is half the price.

Gungsuperstar,
I agree with the rollout of the NBN but your expectation/assertion that regional people should be given similar services to urban Australians is ridiculous in the extreme. There is a limited amount of money and the government should clearly aim to spend that money as efficiently as possible.

But even so, what’s the total government per capita spend on services for urban dwellers versus regional?

I never realised how many narrow minded people there are in this city. Simple fact this country is so far behind the world when it comes to the Internet it isn’t funny. The NBN is a critical bit of national INFRASTRUCTURE, just like the roads and is essential for this country to move forward.

The fact that many cannot see the value in it TODAY clearly shows they are not thinking about tomorrow. I challenged the naysayers to get rid of their ADSL 1 or 2 lines and go back to dial-up and see how well the Internet of today works over dial-up, even try a simple site like this. Then think it was only 10 years ago that most people in this country had dial up. At the time it was fine, indeed I remember how excited I was when I upgraded my 14.4k modem to a 56k one, only to find of course I was on a RIM so my modem would only connect at around 33k, but that was sufficient for the day.

The change to the NBN have the same effect. Sure what we do today may be faster, but if we don’t invest NOW in critical infrastructure like the NBN then we as a nation will be left behind.

PS Tony’s fibre to the node idea is more or less what Transact offers. Better than ADSL yes, as good as fibre to the home now fucking way, future proofing, no just catching up to what the rest of the world have been offering 10 years ago.

Gungahlin Al said :

So tell me this isn’t a deal-breaker for Tony Abbott for a lot of people come September 14?

It is a deal-breaker in my mind, the options for high speed internet proposed by the Libs don’t cut it.

Now to totally ignore this thread as I have to wait a bit longer for the NBN in my area!!

Richard Bender said :

Turnbull’s parrot imitation deleted

How many reports is enough? Did you just want repeated reports until you found one that said what you wanted? How were McKinsey and the ACCC reports not comprehensive enough?

On your point about funding – the first answer I would provide is that it doesn’t have to provide money. Consider it infrastructure that broadens the opportunities of Australians like roads and universities. The second answer is that the McKinsey report showed conclusively that it was affordable and would provide a return. So the point you make here is moot. I personally would’ve supported funding the whole thing out of the future fund – nation building infrastructure is exactly what it’s there for.

Oh, and it’s not lost on me how ridiculous it is that a conservative movement that wants to squash the public service suddenly values it when there’s a cheap criticism of the Government to be made. Under Abbott’s Small Government/”Big Society” dream, every project like this would be assessed in the same manner – private contracting.

You clearly have no understanding of the services available in rural and regional Australia. One of the goals of this project was to better connect regional Australia. So why would you prioritise cities that can already muster 8-24mb/s over regional areas (like Kingston in Tasmania) where 1.5mb/s wasn’t attainable? Not all Australians live in the cities Richard. Government shouldn’t govern only for cities. And when you’re talking about nation-building, it’s not at all unreasonable that you deliver to areas of greatest need first. In practical terms, what you’re arguing is akin to building another 8 hospitals in Sydney before you build 1 decent hospital in Devonport.

Apparently you don’t need services in Devonport because the land is cheaper and the air is cleaner…

Any potential return – and frankly, for nation-building infrastructure, it’s a secondary consideration – is not as important as delivering services (and opportunities) to all Australians. Much as the Liberal members of the Coalition believe regional Australia consists only of 1) unambitious people who have given up on life, 2) Indigenous Australians who do nothing but get drunk, sniff petrol and abuse their children, 3) don’t need education or health services because of their cheap land and clean air.

The Government is focussed on building a network for all Australians and to minimise disadvantage to people that don’t live in the cities. When Telstra in particular outright refused a reasonable contribution to the project, why on Earth would you allow them to duplicate services, when they would deliver them only to the areas that will deliver the greatest profit (cities), and further perpetuate that urban/regional divide that this project was designed to overcome?

It’s a view typical of too many Canberrans. So many of you work in government – and it’s not necessarily that you don’t care about people outside of the major cities. It’s that you’d rather just forget about them entirely. (Except of course when it comes to eating their food and spending their agricultural and resource royalties on your services and infrastructure)

I won’t defend the roll-out of the NBN. Of course it hasn’t gone as quickly or as smoothly as we would’ve liked – but I reckon you’d be hard pressed to show me any infrastructure project of national significance that was delivered on time. I can’t think of one. And while I’m not that old – I’m not that young either.

But why do you paint Conroy (who incidentally I’m not a fan of) as an authoritarian for stating the completely reasonable reality that the outdated network will be shut down? We still support this infrastructure – are you really arguing that Government should continue to support an out-dated copper infrastructure that duplicates what will be a far more efficient and modern network?

Richard Bender said :

It might bring benefits to people in remote areas, but they have to realise that the choice of cheap land, fresh air and a quiet environment has tradeoffs that they can’t expect city taxpayers automatically to subsidise.

Yep, living in the outback without services, stuck in a cycle of poverty is a choice that many people are happy to make!

I can take most of your post as healthy debate – but this is typical, selfish, self-absorbed small-mindedness of a city-dwelling conservative. People in rural and regional Australia are not less than you because you happen to earn a 6-figure salary and think it reflects on you as a person (it doesn’t).

People in rural Australia suffer disadvantage with regard to health, education and opportunity while they’re out there growing your food and mining the resources that build your infrastructure.

If you started trying to break down where money and resources come from vs where it’s spent – I don’t think you’d win this argument.

Ironically, your suggestion that rural Australians deserve to remain second-class citizens is completely at odds with conservative state governments around Australia. Also ironic is that Abbott, Rhinehart and co think sending more Australians to these areas is a great idea – but you don’t want them to have anything when they get there.

Apparently you think people are going to volunteer to be second class citizens for cheaper housing and clean air?

There is one thing in your entire post that I agree with – the Government shouldn’t be seeking excessive kudos. But this is because of what I said previously. This infrastructure is not a luxury – it’s actually a requirement of a first world country with an economy that leads the world, but has had to endure second world communications infrastructure and a clear divide between urban and regional Australia for too long.

And $43b was not a burden. You don’t need me telling you that our foreign debt is about 10% of GDP – much less than the world average of 50%; Japan 80%; USA over 100%. I could go on.

You use strong financial position to your advantage. This is what Conservatives support.

And so criticisms of this project all come down to the basic strategy of the opposition – senseless, boring sniping at the Government, regardless of any good it does.

Sorry, I just noticed your post about your blog. Will check it out.

Al, thanks for sharing. Did they have to dig up half your garden to get the new line in, or were they able to use the existing pipes for the old copper wiring?

Thanks for the feedback folks. As I said, there’s more detail about the physical location issues I faced over on my blog. But in a nutshell, we have two bedroom wings on the house each with separate ceiling voids. In the middle is the living space – two story with raked ceiling. Given the builder didn’t advise to install a conduit linking the two ceiling voids, the only way we could link from the main bedroom end where the Telstra box is/was to the garage is via a CAT5 cable installed before sheet-in. No new cable runs possible.

My sparky added a double power point because we didn’t have power in there – it’s just a walk-in wardrobe. It was harder (read: more expensive) than hoped because the original sparky ran all the power lines along the walls rather than drop them from the ceiling. To save a few metres of flex. Grrr.

My sparky also disconnected the Cat5 from the Telstra box (something the NBN installers are banned from touching), yanked it back into the ceiling, dropped it into the wall behind the new junction box in the robe, fitted a plug end, mounted my modem/router, on the wall (the black box) and re-routed a couple of patch cables in my Hills Home Hub in the garage. That was it for the “Alan-pays-for-this” component.

On accounts, we ditched Telstra some months back for iiNet.
On “it costs more” – wrong.
ADSL base: Home-1 $29.95 20GB
Plus line rental make that $59.90.

NBN base: NBN-1 20GB + 20GB (peak + offpeak) 12/1 Mbps $49.95 plus $10 for Netphone.

So same price, for double download speed, quadruple upload speed, and double total download.

I was on ADSL: Home-3 $49.95 100GB + 100GB (peak + offpeak) plus $30 for landline, so $80.

Now on NBN: NBN-2 100GB + 100GB (peak + offpeak) 100/40Mbps $80 plus $10 for Netphone. so $90 per month.

So we have 14 times the speed for $10 more a month. A bargain I reckon.

Martlark: don’t be dense and fall for Liberal spin. Even Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t believe the tripe he has to pump out.

I’m going on the DEEWR telecommuting trial starting in a week and will be working part of each week from home. But I’ll have a high quality video link to my boss using my existing Logitech C920 camera, so we can hang crap on each other just as much as we do in person. A sweet unit the C920 let me tell you, with no need for headphones or a separate mic. $100 you will not regret…

So think about that: every person telecommuting is working more productively away from open plan office noise, and another car off the road, reducing your taxes. (Except when they’re a cyclist like me!)

I also use it when interviewing people (inc overseas) for my blog. An add-on to Skype called Pamela records whatever is on screen. I hope to do a lot more of this because I’m pretty good at it, maybe even open a new career path. And I’m watching a lot of video lectures lately – doing MOOC astronomy courses through international universities.

Chop: the boxes on the wall cost me nothing, except the modem/router/wireless, which I already owned. Get a basic wireless router for $60, plug it into the NTU and you’re away.

More than 1000 people have viewed my blog article since I posted it this morning, and who knows how many here. It’s incredibly topical and everyone wants it. So tell me this isn’t a deal-breaker for Tony Abbott for a lot of people come September 14?

thatsnotme said :

dungfungus said :

If you are with Telstra forget connecting VOIP. Telstra are not in the business of providing free phone calls.

It makes no difference who your provider is – as long as you have data, you can have VoIP. You don’t have to get your VoIP through Telstra, there are plenty of other providers who will happily sell you those services. If you have an ADSL router that supports VoIP, then you can choose whichever provider you want.

Telstra router/modems do not support VoIP. It costs $100 to have them “unlocked”.

dungfungus said :

If you are with Telstra forget connecting VOIP. Telstra are not in the business of providing free phone calls.

It makes no difference who your provider is – as long as you have data, you can have VoIP. You don’t have to get your VoIP through Telstra, there are plenty of other providers who will happily sell you those services. If you have an ADSL router that supports VoIP, then you can choose whichever provider you want.

Your complaint about the original connection speed reminds me of that Canberra Meme pic with the distraught chick complaining about being stuck in a traffic jam for 5 minutes.

Poor diddums. Your prior internet speed far surpasses that of most of rural Australia, and they pay FAR, FAR more than your “…same price as someone in Sydney pays for an ADSL2+ service running at 20Mbps, but getting only an 8Mbps service…”

Try going back to dial up speeds – there’s a very good reason all money hungry ISPs still offer them.

gungsuperstar said :

ALP propaganda and vituperative abuse deleted.

If it’s a critical piece of infrastructure, why didn’t the Government demonstrate that by conducting a full cost benefit analysis and comparing it against other infrastructure it could build with its finite resources? It has two bodies – the Productivity Commission and Infrastructure Australia – set up to do exactly that.

Why isn’t it funding it transparently through borrowings and budgeted expenditure instead of making a dubious equity injection on the basis of a rate of return far below anything people investing their own money would accept for a project with this risk, and knowing full well that it is unilkely to ever get that return?

Why isn’t it getting the best bang for buck from limited labour resources and exposing taxpayers to lower financial risk by building fibre to the node in densely populated areas before moving on to more remote areas and then full fibre to the home?

Why is it so scared of Telstra’s and Optus’ cable in Melbourne and Sydney that it has banned those companies from offering service in competition (the same fate that will befall Transact if the NBN is rolled out in those areas of the ACT that have that service)?

When challenged on low take up rates in the areas that have the NBN now, why does Senator Conroy, instead of admitting the project might have teething problems, or that people simply might not be interested, resort to the authoritarian tactic of telling people they won’t have a choice because the Government is forcing the shut down of existing networks?

The NBN might well bring great benefits, however it does not mean that it’s necessary and it certainly does not mean the Government should look for kudos for the way it has managed the project. It might bring benefits to people in remote areas, but they have to realise that the choice of cheap land, fresh air and a quiet environment has tradeoffs that they can’t expect city taxpayers automatically to subsidise.

arescarti42 said :

Oh lawd.

Why isn’t the road network paid for just by the people who want it? Why is the Government spending billions of public funds on what is mostly a way for teenagers to do burn outs?

I’m more than happy for the Government to abolish fuel excise and introduce road user charging. It won’t do it because it knows that road user charges, set at a proper cost recovery level, would not bring in even half the revenue of what fuel excise does.

chewy14 said :

Martlark said :

If it’s so great then why not just pay for it by the people who want it? Why is the Government spending billions of public funds on what is mostly an entertainment system?

I agree, the same should go for highways, hospitals and schools.

As for ‘entertainment’ system, LOL. Just because you only use the internet for looking at p*rn, doesn’t mean everyone else does.

The only real household use for high bandwidth is video. That’s entertainment. VOIP, downloads, games and business can all mange nicely with ADSL and DOCIS. Want more? You pay for it. Don’t make me pay just so a Labor government can look all hip and high tech.

Thanks Alan – a great write-up and useful description of the process. Now, even more than before, I can’t wait for them to connect up the inner North.

c_c™ said :

Mysteryman said :

Great write up. Thanks for taking the time!

That speed is very impressive. I currently get about 7 – 7.5Mbps on an unlimited download ADSL1 plan. I like the idea of being able to get the sort of speed you get on the NBN, but the costs seems a bit prohibitive at the moment, especially considering the plans all seem to have data limits.

This really annoys me.

You’re getting 7.5mb/s now.

Upgrade to an NBN 12/1 plan at 59.95/mth. Faster net, no line rental 100gb+100gb bandwidth.

Now really boost the speed, 25/5 at $64/mth.

Now compare that a cheap ‘unlimited’ ADSL 2+ plan where you’ll habe little chance of even reaching the minimum NBN speed. $59.95/mth.

I’m willing to bet for the majority of users, the NBN offers a better option with little or no extra cost.
Not sure many users would need more than 200GB a month, and you pay no extra for a heap of extra speed.

I’m not sure why my internet needs annoy you, but it makes no difference. I’m happy there are people prepared to pay NBN prices. The faster the uptake, the sooner the plans become more competitive. The fact of the matter is that I, as well as many other people I know, am no’t prepared to pay the same amount of money for a slight speed increase (which isn’t enough to justify the hassle of changing over) with data limits and contracts imposed (neither of which I currently have). Not to mention that the peak/off-peak split is a pain in the ass. Depending on what users actually use their data for, the off-peak can be completely useless, which means some people will only be able to make use of half the data allowance.

Currently the most comparable plan would cost me $20 a month more. That’s not worth it yet. When they start offering unlimited data plans (or at the very least data allowances beyond 500gb) at a similar price to what I pay now, I’ll certainly consider it. In the meantime, 7.5Mbps is doing the job just fine.

Martlark said :

If it’s so great then why not just pay for it by the people who want it? Why is the Government spending billions of public funds on what is mostly an entertainment system?

I agree, the same should go for highways, hospitals and schools.

As for ‘entertainment’ system, LOL. Just because you only use the internet for looking at p*rn, doesn’t mean everyone else does.

Martlark said :

If it’s so great then why not just pay for it by the people who want it? Why is the Government spending billions of public funds on what is mostly an entertainment system?

Why do people that have only slightly less knowledge of technology than Tony Abbott seem so insistent on broadcasting HIS ignorance that they are stupid enough to take as gospel? You clearly don’t have the first clue about what you’re trying to criticise.

The copper line network that we currently use is beyond critical mass. It was developed 50 years ago, when the guys who invented the internet were still seeds in their daddy’s bits.

It was never designed for an internet, it cannot handle a high speed internet, which is why I live 3km from an exchange and can’t make a VOIP call.

The “entertainment system” that your naive mind speaks of will allow people to work from home, thus taking pressure off roads and the environment, off child care, and off families. It will help children to learn, because even those banished in Australia’s sparsest outposts will have real time access to major cities. It will improve university education and help families as students merely have to log on to watch, and participate in lectures in real time, rather than having to relocate or leave their families and pay $400 to live in a shoe box while having to work as well as study full time.

Going forward, it will provide patients with disability increased access to medical services, taking pressure off their carers. It will allow the business community greater access to the rest of the globe.

Still an entertainment system?

EVERYTHING your small, allegedly conservative mind supposedly supports is GREATLY benefited by the NBN; Tony Abbott opposes it because he’s too small minded to understand the benefit, and because he would say “no” to an AIDS vaccine if it was a Labor Government that invented it.

The Government built the NBN because it’s not a luxury, but a CRITICAL piece of nation building that we don’t need in 50 years, we need now.

Stop quoting Tony Abbott who will take your money to drag leaky boats back out to sea before doing anything to build your nation, and get a friggen clue before spouting garbage that you know nothing about.

“It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”

Idiot.

Martlark said :

If it’s so great then why not just pay for it by the people who want it? Why is the Government spending billions of public funds on what is mostly an entertainment system?

It’s porn as well…

Whats covered by NBNCo, and what did you pay for?

I take it the powerpoint wasn’t just floating around in there, and how much /how often do you replace the batteries?

Martlark said :

If it’s so great then why not just pay for it by the people who want it? Why is the Government spending billions of public funds on what is mostly an entertainment system?

Oh lawd.

Why isn’t the road network paid for just by the people who want it? Why is the Government spending billions of public funds on what is mostly a way for teenagers to do burn outs?

Interesting setup Al. I’ve got Transact FTTH and it is similar, but I don’t have a fibre junction box and the power supply/battery backup is considerably smaller.

My fibre line also terminates in a box in the garage, which is where the PSU and NTU is located.

Interestingly you also seem to be getting a bit better download speeds than me (I consistently get about 80-85mbit/s).

If it’s so great then why not just pay for it by the people who want it? Why is the Government spending billions of public funds on what is mostly an entertainment system?

Nice work Al.

Mysteryman said :

Great write up. Thanks for taking the time!

That speed is very impressive. I currently get about 7 – 7.5Mbps on an unlimited download ADSL1 plan. I like the idea of being able to get the sort of speed you get on the NBN, but the costs seems a bit prohibitive at the moment, especially considering the plans all seem to have data limits.

This really annoys me.

You’re getting 7.5mb/s now.

Upgrade to an NBN 12/1 plan at 59.95/mth. Faster net, no line rental 100gb+100gb bandwidth.

Now really boost the speed, 25/5 at $64/mth.

Now compare that a cheap ‘unlimited’ ADSL 2+ plan where you’ll habe little chance of even reaching the minimum NBN speed. $59.95/mth.

I’m willing to bet for the majority of users, the NBN offers a better option with little or no extra cost.
Not sure many users would need more than 200GB a month, and you pay no extra for a heap of extra speed.

Very jealous!

So how much say did you have in where the internal stuff was located? I realise you said you’ve got it tucked away in a cupboard – would it have mattered where in the house that cupboard was? Where there limits to where inside you could choose to have it located?

If you are with Telstra forget connecting VOIP. Telstra are not in the business of providing free phone calls.

Which NBN provider are you with?

Oh and my average speed is 4Mbps……lame!

I’m so jealous now 🙁

Solidarity said :

Cool.

But to be honest, i’d be over the moon with 6mbps compared to what I get now!

Me too, I pay through the nose because the I live in the centre of Tuggeranong, but the exchange for my suburb is classified as regional!! (go figure) Yet most of the suburbs over are on different exchanges that are classified as metro and as such get a much better deal…suckworthy!

So jelly. Duffy supposedly won’t get it for 3 more years(if at all if the halfwit non science believer monk gets in in the upcoming election).

Al those speeds are great.

Great write up Alan, well done.

Just a quick question as to your box on the wall, set up and service.
What was the price? monthly fee? etc

Yeah, the amount of crap on your wall is definitely a big surprise to me.

But with that said, I can’t wait to get it to upgrade from the 3.3 mb/s downloads I get from Telstra ADSL 2+…

WTF? You have to have all that crap on the wall? And here I was thinking you just needed a small socket under the desk like you always have had for phones and Net up till now.

Cool.

But to be honest, i’d be over the moon with 6mbps compared to what I get now!

Great write up. Thanks for taking the time!

That speed is very impressive. I currently get about 7 – 7.5Mbps on an unlimited download ADSL1 plan. I like the idea of being able to get the sort of speed you get on the NBN, but the costs seems a bit prohibitive at the moment, especially considering the plans all seem to have data limits.